The Misfits Songbook - Help

 Lyrics and Chords or Tabs for Guitar and Bass to all songs recorded by the Misfits between 1977 and 1983 
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All of The Misfits' songs are actually among the easiest you could choose to play on the guitar. Just about all of them can be played using nothing but power chords, played with downstrokes only (just listen to We are 138...). Occasionally there's also a short solo played on one or two strings. On top of that, the distortion is usually very heavy so no one will be able to hear if you're playing the right chords anyway. Here's still a beginners guide on how to play the Misfits' songs found in The Misfits Songbook.
INDEX:

  • Power chord chart
  • Other chords
  • Tablature notation
  • Guitar vs. Bass
    •
    POWER CHORD CHART

    Power chords are used in virtually all of The Misfits songs. I believe Franche' Coma stated that he used barre or open chords on the Static Age songs, but power chords sound just fine. This power chord chart shows all the power chords. Note that there are two versions of each chord. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one to use, I usually go for the one that's physically closest to the previous chord in the song. (Hey, it's only punk rock!)

    How to read the chart: The images represent the fretboard, with the low E string to the left and the high E string to the right. The dots show which strings that should be fretted and at which fret. The number that is shown at the top left of some of the chords shows which fret that is the topmost in the figure. If there's no number, the figure's top fret is the top fret of your guitar. When you play power chords, only three strings shall be struck at a time. The strings that are marked with a cross should not be played.

    If you want to keep the chord chart open as a reference while browsing the songs, click the Detach button.
      Db Eb   Gb Ab Bb
      9[11][11]XXX
    X466XX     		[11][13][13]XXX
    X688XX     		  244XXX
    X9[11][11]XX     		466XXX
    X[11][13][13]XX     		688XXX
    X133XX
    C D E F G A B
    8[10][10]XXX
    X355XX     		[10][12][12]XXX
    X577XX     		022XXX
    X799XX     		133XXX
    X8[10][10]XX     		355XXX
    X[10][12][12]XX     		577XXX
    X022XX     		799XXX
    X244XX
    C# D#   F# G# A#  
    9[11][11]XXX
    X466XX     		[11][13][13]XXX
    X688XX     		  244XXX
    X9[11][11]XX     		466XXX
    X[11][13][13]XX     		688XXX
    X133XX     		Chord Chart

    (C)1998

    The Misfits
    Songbook
    More information on power chords can be found     here.
    OTHER CHORDS

    A couple of other chords are also used in some of the songs. The Em chord is used in London Dungeon and the C#m chord is used in Children in Heat.

            Em:022000     C#m:X46654

    TABLATURE NOTATION

    Whenever there's a riff in a song, that does not consist of chords only, it's usually shown as tablature notation. It can look something like this (from Come Back):

     
          prechorus bass riff:
    G|---------------------------------|
    D|-----1-1-4-4-1-1-----1-1-4-4-1-1-|
    A|-2-2-------------2-2-------------|
    E|---------------------------------|

    The lines that are shown correspond to the strings of the instrument (bass or guitar). The top line is the highest pitch string, and the bottom line is the lowest pitch string. Numbers are written on the lines to show you where to fret the string with the left hand. If a zero appears, this means play the open string. Like standard musical notation, you read from left to right to find out what order to play the notes.

    For detailed instructions on reading and writing tab, see Howard Wright's     Guide to Tab Notation.

    GUITAR vs. BASS

    This site focuses primarily on the guitar works of the Misfits. When there's a distinctive bass riff in a song it's usually shown as tablature notation. If you can't find any bass tab in a song, you can practically always assume that the guitar just doubles the bass, e.g. when the guitar plays a C# chord, the bass plays a C# note. This might not always be true, but it is most of the times.

    This chart shows you where on the fretboard the notes are located ("blank" frets are either a flat or sharp note, e.g. both A# and Bb are found on the 6th fret of the E string): 
        G||---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|
    D||---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|
    A||---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|
    E||-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
Fret:   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  11  12
    [ TOP OF PAGE ]
    Last revised: September 17, 1998.
    Send comments & questions to: punk.tabs@usa.net.