"She's Not There"

Backdated, archival post

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Yester-day I watched the Zombies' concert at The Water Rats (be aware that there are a lot of quickly flashing lights in the video).  It's a great performance.  Tom Toomey and Steve Rodford both have brief solos in "She's Not There," which is a new feature, and it was good to see Jim Rodford playing his Mustang bass.  The last time I saw it was during the Breathe Out, Breathe In sessions.  And Rod Argent includes a quotation of Bach's Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 in the solo in "Hold Your Head Up."

Anyway, I was reminded of the guitar riff that's been included in live versions of "She's Not There" since at least 2011.  There were a couple times I'd thought it sounded pretty easy, and I finally figured it out last night.

In my recording, I have just the bass part that links the first chorus and the second verse and that guitar riff.

Here's the tab:

I referenced four different videos of live performances (on KEXP, SummerStage, the first Vintage TV appearance, and this second Vintage TV show at The Water Rats) to be as accurate as possible in that tab.  (There's also the DVD of Live at Metropolis Studios, which I think may be the first appearance of that riff, but I didn't feel like digging it out.)  I figured it out from audio recordings, and I was playing the last note in the third phrase (an A) as an open string, but in each of those videos, Tom Toomey plays it on the fifth fret of the E string.

I hadn't really considered the origin of this phrase before, but after figuring it out, I have a suspicion that Rod Argent's behind it.  He wrote the song, so it makes sense, but there's also one of his trademark three-note chromatic phrases at the end (G G# A).