I really want tabs for the take me with u live 1985 video on youtube, does anyone have a good ear?? I'd be super chuffed if tabs could be created!

DiamondBoyo1999 said:

I really want tabs for the take me with u live 1985 video on youtube, does anyone have a good ear?? I'd be super chuffed if tabs could be created!

What specific parts are you looking for apart from the record version?

I have a good ear, but tab is such a pain to write. Is it the lead bit you're interested in?

If you can't play from ear,
you just can't play.
Find a different hobby, please.

nayroo2002 said:

If you can't play from ear,
you just can't play.
Find a different hobby, please.

Chillax, everyone starts somewhere and tabs are a great resource for people wanting to get the hang of things

nayroo2002 said:

If you can't play from ear,
you just can't play.
Find a different hobby, please.

No

nxx said:

I have a good ear, but tab is such a pain to write. Is it the lead bit you're interested in?

It's the solo bit that he does after he does the dancing with Wendy, he also presses on a distortion pedal?

DiamondBoyo1999 said:

nxx said:

I have a good ear, but tab is such a pain to write. Is it the lead bit you're interested in?

It's the solo bit that he does after he does the dancing with Wendy, he also presses on a distortion pedal?

You don't want a tab, you want a solo transcription.
You're basically asking for too much for free.

You can try this service, I was pretty impressed when I tried it on the Sunset Sound Piano Medley, but then again it was just piano and nothing else.

So before using this you'll first have to try to extract the audio with this one, or this one, or an equivalent.

But frankly, given the ruckus The Revoution does underneath, and the crazy bendings and slides all over this solo, I doubt you'll be able to come up with anything usable.

You'd better go by a ear, using Youtube's speed setting: just slow it down by at least half, and be patient and tenacious.

Playing "à la "Prince" requires a lot of mastering in bendings, vibratos, and a lot of other chops, so trying not to be harsh "à la nayroo2002", above all it requires a (very) seasoned guitarist.

Agreed, it wouldn't be worth anyone's time to transcribe that solo, it's a lot of work.

Also, respectfully I would suggest that anyone who is early enough in their guitar journey to still be relying on tab... probably won't be able to play that solo at full tempo.

If you fancy taking a crack at it yourself, just slow it down and break it into sections. It'll mostly be little licks and runs in A, and if you're familiar with Prince's habits as a player there aren't really any surprises in there.

nxx said:

Agreed, it wouldn't be worth anyone's time to transcribe that solo, it's a lot of work.

Also, respectfully I would suggest that anyone who is early enough in their guitar journey to still be relying on tab... probably won't be able to play that solo at full tempo.

If you fancy taking a crack at it yourself, just slow it down and break it into sections. It'll mostly be little licks and runs in A, and if you're familiar with Prince's habits as a player there aren't really any surprises in there.

I don't know if I agree with that, tabs can be helpful for people to get a good idea of fingering and exectuion, and an idea of what to expect - it doesn't mean they can't play the lead (which isn't that crazy anyways) at the proper tempo

Well, I searched on YouTube and found more than one... which city / version is the one you want transcribed? The few I did watch have a fairly bad live sound too, and the guitar isn't as clear as one would like to do a note by note transcription. I do standard notation transcriptions not TAB.

[Edited 7/9/25 14:43pm]

DiamondBoyo1999 said:

I really want tabs for the take me with u live 1985 video on youtube, does anyone have a good ear?? I'd be super chuffed if tabs could be created!

You do realize that the end vamp is actually "Controversy", yes?
And, it's a one-chord jam, so you could just keep playing along until you get what you're
looking for, or go off on your own tangent with the "Controversy" riff in mind...

Ndorphinmachina said:

Slightly off topic, but in general, it's pretty difficult to find resources for learning Prince songs. The big hits are always there, but looking for album tracks, or B-sides is tough. There's one guy on YouTube, Jason something (reed?) who's got a ton of Prince songs broken down on guitar. A lot of the more obscure songs too. If anyone has any tabs and/or video tutorials for the acoustic version of Space though...

With respect, that guy is kinda clueless though, it's always quite bad in terms of timing. Just bear that in mind if you use his videos to learn from, it might get you started but trust your ear if it sounds off.

Danny Eddy also has some nice videos, worth looking him up on Youtube. He's an Australian guitar teacher with a bit of a specialist focus on James Brown and Prince and stuff like that.

Will take a listen to Space acoustic mix to see if I can help, what have you got so far?

I will say though, as some who has been playing and dissecting Prince's guitar work for 40+ years, he was definitely a creature of habit! I found that once my ears got developed enough and I knew his tendencies as a player, it became quite easy to unpack any of his songs.

"Space (Acoustic)" is pretty much the same riff over & over.
Try the unreleased Madhouse version!

nxx said:

Got it, yeah At the risk of being slightly annoying (apologies if so) speaking as someone who sometimes teaches guitar a little bit, I find it is best not to rely on tab and low-quality Youtuber tuition, and instead work on functional ear-training and harmony... like, you can use Transcribe or Youtube to slow down any song to help you figure it out section by section. Nowadays you can even use AI tools to do an okayish job of stripping out the vocals too, which can help. I know it's the longer way to success but it is better for your musicianship in the long run.

I had a bit of a gap between jobs earlier this year and I thought about starting some sort of Prince-focus guitar tuition thing online, but I found I was just too shy on camera, and there are some scary people out there etc. If I can find a way to do it more safely I will. My idea was to focus on less famous songs, more deep-dive stuff, and the harder-to-hear rhythm parts that are often a bit buried in the mix, rather than the flashy lead stuff.

nayroo2002 said:

If you can't play from ear,
you just can't play.
Find a different hobby, please.

You could absolutely try any song anytime and see if you get through it.
If it's difficult, keep trying until your sixty years old!
After sixty, you realize, "shit, i can't do it"
It' fun to try, though, if you have nothing else to do...

nayroo2002 said:

nayroo2002 said:

If you can't play from ear,
you just can't play.
Find a different hobby, please.

You could absolutely try any song anytime and see if you get through it.
If it's difficult, keep trying until your sixty years old!
After sixty, you realize, "shit, i can't do it"
It' fun to try, though, if you have nothing else to do...

Eh, not a fan of gate-keeping music. Guitarists aren't all geniuses, anyone can learn this. It just takes work.

nxx said: