The Band:
Chris Cornell - vocals
Tom Morello - guitar
Brad Wilk -drums
Tim Commerford - bass
This band formed after Zack de la Rocha left the original band name
"Rage Against the Machine." All of the members are the same,
but they needed a heavy-hitting frontman that would equal or surpass
the angst and political anarchy of de la Rocha. They found it in Chris
Cornell, former Soundgarden guitarist and vocalist. Cornell actually
left the project before anything was really being accomplished because
he felt that the band wasn't going in the direction that he wanted to
go. He rejoined them not long after with a renewed sense and the musical
bond that the band soon would endure allowed them to finally become
Audioslave. The band found their singer, and Cornell finally found a
band again.
Drop D Tuning
Their song "Show Me How To Live" is in drop D tuning. In
drop D tuning the low E string is tuned down one whole step to D. This
enables the guitarist to play power chords with a single finger. If
your favorite band uses drop D tuning and you want to experiment with
this tuning, by all means do so. What ever you do, don't learn the guitar
in drop D tuning-you'll get all mixed up.
To tune your guitar to drop D tuning, first make sure your tuned to
standard tuning. Then you'll want to tune your low E string down two
steps to D (we drop it down one step, hence the name). See the picture
below. You can use the audio clip below to tune your low E string to
D for drop D tuning.
Intro
The intro to this song is fun! Begin this measure by placing your 1st
finger on the "G" string on the second fret. Place your 2nd
finger on the third fret on the "B" string. Allow the "D"
string to remain open. Play that once, and then just use your 1st finger
to barre the second frets on the "low E", the "A"
string, and the "D" string. If you follow the timing well,
then all of these measures for the intro are finished! You just learned
the intro by playing two chords! These chords if you are curious are
D5 and E5. They are also listed at the top of the tablature.
Here's what it sounds like looped at the normal tempo of 92 bpm:
Verse
The first and third measures are identical.
To begin the verse, listen to the sample first to understand how crucial
the timing here is. The song isn't that difficult, but the timing is.
The first and third measures begin with a hammer-on. Remember that a
hammer-on is when you go from a lower note to a higher note, only striking
the first note(s). Begin by playing the "low E" string ( which
is tuned to "D", but lets leave it as the "low E"
to avoid confusion. Just make sure you have remembered to tune it down!)
Play that string once, and then hammer-on with your 1st finger and barre
the "low E ( drop D)" string, the "A" string, and
the "D" string. Pick that out according to the tablature.
Now, you will need to perform a few mutes, but just notice that on the
tablature you will be playing the same notes throughout this measure.
The best bet in getting this part figured out is by just listening to
the first part over and over to get the timing down. In this measure,
you will only be using your 1st finger, so experiment a little with
it to get the feel down.
The second measure is pretty cool. Begin this by muting a little,
and then hammer-on from the open "A" string note with
your 1st finger to the first fret on the "A" string.
Then, you need to play it open again. Perform a few mutes, and
then use your 1st finger to hit the "D" string on
the second fret. Next, just barre your 1st finger over the second
frets of the "low E ( drop D) " string and the "A"
string. Play that twice, and then just move your 1st finger
to the fifth fret on the same strings. Lift off of the strings
to allow a few open D notes to end the measure!
Here's what it sounds like at the normal tempo of 92 bpm:
