"vietnow"
rage against the machine - evil empire (1996)

tabbed by sebastian kienzl <seb "at" riot.org>
nov 2001

=========================================================================
this file is my work and represents my interpretation of this song.
you may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.
=========================================================================

standard tuning.


this is the riff played in the intro and during the first part of
each verse:

A|--4-4-4-4-4-4---4-4-4-4-4-4----|--4-.-.-.-----4-4---4-4-4-4-4-4---|
E|--2-2-2-2-5-5---2-2-2-2-5-5----|--2-.-.-.-----5-5---2-2-2-2-5-5---|
                                    ^ 12 times

the first pattern is played once, the second pattern three times.


fade this in after the intro:

e|--2-----
B|--2-----
G|--2-----


second part of the verse ("...crosses and kerosene"):

D|---4----4--4----4--4--4------
A|---4----4--4----4--4--4------
E|---0-h2-2--0-h2-2--2--2------
     d    u  d    u

this is the chorus ("shut down tha devil sound"):

----2-2-------------------------------
----2-2-------------------------------
----2-2-------------------------------
---(x-x)------------------------------
---(x-x)------------------------------
----2-2-0---2---0----5b---5br----0----

repeated twice.
i think the first two strokes sound best when you try to hold the bass-string
with your thumb and the high three strings with the forefinger with the
A and the D-string muted.

----2-2---------------------------------2-2----x-x-x-.-.-.------
----2-2---------------------------------2-2----x-x-x-.-.-.------
----2-2---------------------------------2-2----x-x-x-.-.-.------
---(x-x)-------------------------------(x-x)---x-x-x-.-.-.------
---(x-x)-------------------------------(x-x)---x-x-x-.-.-.------
----2-2-0---2---0----5b---4b5r-----0----2-2----x-x-x-.-.-.------

the whole chorus is repeated twice...there are no rakes at the end of the
2nd turn.

that's the "is all the world jails and churches?"-part:

e|--15-14-15-14-.-.-.-.--
B|--14-14-14-14-.-.-.-.--

i'm quite sure tom uses a whammy-pedal here (set to an octave down):

D|--11---------u--------------9-----------d----------
A|--11---------u--------------9-----------d----------
E|--9----------u--------------7-----------d----------
    bend from down to normal  bend from normal to down

that's the little fill after the 1st bend (pedal at normal):
A|--9-7-9--9-7-9----


right after that "the riff" is played again with an additional bend (octalized):

B|--12---b14---vvvvvv---------------------------------------------------------


then there's this off-beat break:

D|--x-5---x-4----
A|--x-5---x-4----
E|--x-3---x-2----


the ending is the second part of the verse with some rakes.

and of course:

e|--12-12-12-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-13-13-13-13-.-.-.---


as always, try to get as close as you can to mr. morello.
it's a good practise to enhance your timing.

http://mind.riot.org