Help needed:Tabbing vocal melody

[Son of the Bunt]

Im a bit bored right now so decided to give myself a challenge, I took a song, REM's 'man on the moon' and am trying to tab the melody of the vocal (im not much of a singer). I need help and i think you might need to know this song, or atleast heard it a few times and know the song to help. The chords are Verse: C , Dadd9/11 , C
Pre Chorus: Am , G , C , D
Chorus: G , Am , C (barre) , Bm
Solo: Em , D

So the song is in the key of C right? so am i right in thinking that i should use the C major scale to make a melody line emulating the lyrics or am i totally wrong? I tried it already with the major scale and it sounds ok but if any of you guys could maybe try this out then it would be great to see your tab posted. Thanks.

[basgitarist]

This is what I got out of it.


I play bass but I assumed you played guitar so I putt it in 6string format. Maybe it's an octave too high, but oh well. Here you go. Have fun :thumb:



Verse

Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life.

e|3-------3---3-------3---3---3--|2---0--------------------------|
b|-------------------------------|------------3------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

e|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
b|--------1---1-------3-------1--|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Monopoly, twenty one, checkers, and chess

e|8---8---8---8-------8-------8--|7---5---5---5------------------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

e|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
b|--------5---5-------7-------5--|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e



Pre Chorus

Hey Andy, did you hear about this one?

e|8---8---8---8---8---7---5---5--|3------------------------------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Tell me, are you locked in the punch?

e|8---8---8---8---8---7---5---3--|-------------------------------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby

e|8---8---8---8---8---7---5---5--|3-------3-------3---3----------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Are we loosing touch?

e|3---3---3---5-------3----------|-------------------------------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e



Chorus

If you believed they put a man on the moon

e|10--10--7---8---7--------------|----10--10--7---8---7----------|
b|-------------------------------|------------------------10--8--|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


man on the moooooooooooooon

e|8---7---3/--5------------------|-------------------------------|
b|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve

e|10--10--7---8---7--------------|----10--10--7---8---7----------|
b|-------------------------------|-----------------------------10|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e


Then nothing is cool

e|----8---7----------------------|-------------------------------|
b|10----------8---10-------------|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e 1 e & e 2 e & e 3 e & e 4 e & e

[Son of the Bunt]

hey thanks alot, i didn't expect anyone to reply so quickly, i'll give it a play and see. I have a film i want to watch on tv right now but as soon as thats finnished i will try this, awesome.

[basgitarist]

Ok that's cool. Tell me what you think. corrections are allways welcome. To get the rhytym right I used tab player.

http://www.simoneperandini.com/tabplayer.htm

It may come in handy to playback certain measures so you understand how they are intended to be played. :thumb:

[basgitarist]

your movie has been playing for more then 20 houres now :upset: did you see all star wars movies....twice?

[Son of the Bunt]

hey i tried the line and its pretty good, if a bit basic, i am going to try to 'embelish' (is that the word?) it a bit by using string bends etc but thats what i was looking for. thanks! btw did you write it yourself and if so, any tips on going about emulating the lyric melody of songs with the guitar? i think knowing this kind of stuff may help me with phrasing etc. Did you start in a particular key/scale? thanks man great help. sorry i took ages to try it and reply, i have been a combination of busy/tired/busy for the last 2 days but i appreciate your help.

[Son of the Bunt]

oh and i also got that tab player program you mentioned, pretty sweet little program.

[basgitarist]

to phrase it I just listened to the way he say things. it's a pretty easy melody in which he used mostly one syllable per second. To tab it I just listened what he sang. Pause the music and sing.

Ta ta da da ta da da da daaaa
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life. :P

after singing I started searching the notes on the neck. While searchig I found I was playing the notes in a certain pattern. C-Lydian starting on the fifth degree. When I realised that it went a lot easier.

when ever I play a melody. I find myself using a lot of hammer-ons.

In stead of playing the first G in the verse, I would play 2h3 starting on the last 16th note of the last bar. You could also put vibrato on a delicate note like are we loosing touch Further more to emulate the piece which is
man on the mooooooooooon. The moon is a rising note. So you can use slides. Or on guitar it may sound better to use a bend.

Hope my approach gave you some new ideas. See you around :thumb:

[Son of the Bunt]

yes thanks alot man, thats more than i asked for. And as i have been reading up my music theory i understood every word you said, it was even simple to me as i have been delving into the more comlicated realms of chord construction etc... thanks again!

[basgitarist]

hehe no prob :thumb: