Mercenary

A brilliant song. Fun to play, but you have to be careful, because

the main "riff" sounds bad if you don't play it just right. Also,

Belinda Carlisle has a very high range, so you might not be able

to hit some of the notes if you're singing, but tuning down has

sounded very bad when I tried it. But do what you want. Notes:

1) Wow, this song was a bitch to figure out. And I thought the

main acoustic part (guitar 1) was tough. I can barely hear

the electric lead (guitar 2) throughout the chorus, so a lot

of this is speculation on my part. It should sound decent

the way I've tabbed it out here. The blank spots on guitar 2

are probably where I couldn't figure out what the guitar was

doing. I can't vouch for the accuracy of guitar 2. I tried

my best, I swear to you.

2) Obvious from the transcription, but guitar 1 is a 12-string

acoustic, guitar 2 is a clean (flanged? chorused?) electric

guitar, guitar 3 is a distorted electric. Guitar 3 only

really comes in during the prechorus and chorus. During the

chorus it muffles itself a lot for a percussive sound. BTW,

if you have to ditch one guitar, kill guitar 3. It adds

color, but who has 3 guitars live?

3) Watch out for the changes. The intro is based on an eight-bar

pattern, but the verse is a six-bar pattern. Confusing, but

an interesting series of changes.

4) No solo, per se. Just all 3 guitars blasting away at chords

for 8 bars. Gotta love that.

"Mercenary" (Jane Wiedlin, Kathy Valentine, Charlotte Caffey)

Recorded by the Go-Go's