Chords for Steve Vai "How to Play Building The Church" Presented by Berkleemusic.com & Guitar Player Magazine
Tempo:
73.225 bpm
Chords used:
C
Ab
Am
D
B
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[C] [D]
Hey folks, today I'd like to discuss with you [N] the track Building the Church.
Building the Church is a song that's on my record called Real Illusions Reflections.
I had this technique, you know, I obviously wanted something in the song to be unique.
So I had this riff that I had written a long time ago for this piece of music that I never
released, it was called Apanishads, and it involved this tapping.
So I knew I wanted to do some kind of a tapping thing that I'd never done before.
It was kind of very difficult, and although when you see it done now on the video or whatever
it looks relatively effortless, I had to start note by note by note by note.
And the riff goes [C] like this.
[D] But really when I [B] started this, it was [Ab] like this.
Getting one note to sound good.
[F]
[G] [C] [Am] And it wasn't even that easy, it's hard to kind of like fake how bad I played it, because
I know it so well now.
It's a very odd kind of a linear series of notes because I'm using three fingers here
and two fingers here.
So you've got this round of notes.
The riff is.
[Db]
And that's five notes, but I'm playing them as thirty-second notes, so it takes time for
them to revolve [Ab] around and land on the beat again, [B] which is really one of the cool aspects
of the song, of the riff, that gives it that popcorn crazy kind of a feel, [C] because it's
like [Am] when [Ab] [A]
[C] [Am] [C] [A] [Ab] [D] it turns around I still have a few beats left, and I [G] ended off with two and two,
so it's [C] like.
[Ab] So the hardest [N] part of doing this riff is this muscle right here.
When I was practicing this riff I had to set up something to rest my arm, because it just
got so painful.
I could only do it for a few minutes at a time before you've got to go like this, and
then after a while you just can't do it.
So I had to actually rest my arm in order to be able to be in this position for hours,
and hours, and hours, because that's what it took me to be able to get it.
So I mustered up the mental attitude, and I got excited about it, because for me the
idea, I saw it, I saw it, I saw myself on stage ripping this thing out, and I heard
the chords, and I said, okay, I have to do this, this is what I'm here for.
[Bb] [Am] [Dm]
[Cm] [Dm] [Am] [N]
Hey folks, today I'd like to discuss with you [N] the track Building the Church.
Building the Church is a song that's on my record called Real Illusions Reflections.
I had this technique, you know, I obviously wanted something in the song to be unique.
So I had this riff that I had written a long time ago for this piece of music that I never
released, it was called Apanishads, and it involved this tapping.
So I knew I wanted to do some kind of a tapping thing that I'd never done before.
It was kind of very difficult, and although when you see it done now on the video or whatever
it looks relatively effortless, I had to start note by note by note by note.
And the riff goes [C] like this.
[D] But really when I [B] started this, it was [Ab] like this.
Getting one note to sound good.
[F]
[G] [C] [Am] And it wasn't even that easy, it's hard to kind of like fake how bad I played it, because
I know it so well now.
It's a very odd kind of a linear series of notes because I'm using three fingers here
and two fingers here.
So you've got this round of notes.
The riff is.
[Db]
And that's five notes, but I'm playing them as thirty-second notes, so it takes time for
them to revolve [Ab] around and land on the beat again, [B] which is really one of the cool aspects
of the song, of the riff, that gives it that popcorn crazy kind of a feel, [C] because it's
like [Am] when [Ab] [A]
[C] [Am] [C] [A] [Ab] [D] it turns around I still have a few beats left, and I [G] ended off with two and two,
so it's [C] like.
[Ab] So the hardest [N] part of doing this riff is this muscle right here.
When I was practicing this riff I had to set up something to rest my arm, because it just
got so painful.
I could only do it for a few minutes at a time before you've got to go like this, and
then after a while you just can't do it.
So I had to actually rest my arm in order to be able to be in this position for hours,
and hours, and hours, because that's what it took me to be able to get it.
So I mustered up the mental attitude, and I got excited about it, because for me the
idea, I saw it, I saw it, I saw myself on stage ripping this thing out, and I heard
the chords, and I said, okay, I have to do this, this is what I'm here for.
[Bb] [Am] [Dm]
[Cm] [Dm] [Am] [N]
Key:
C
Ab
Am
D
B
C
Ab
Am
[C] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Hey folks, today I'd like to discuss with you [N] the track Building the Church.
Building the Church is a song that's on my record called Real Illusions Reflections.
I had this technique, you know, I obviously wanted something in the song to be unique.
So I had this riff that I had written a long time ago for this piece of music that I never
released, it was called Apanishads, and it involved this tapping.
So I knew I wanted to do some kind of a tapping thing that I'd never done before.
It was kind of very difficult, and although when you see it done now on the video or whatever
it looks relatively effortless, I had to start note by note by note by note.
And the riff goes [C] like this.
_ _ [D] But really when I [B] started this, it was [Ab] like this.
_ _ _ Getting one note to sound good. _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _ And it wasn't even that easy, it's hard to kind of like fake how bad I played it, because
I know it so well now.
It's a very odd kind of a linear series of notes because I'm using three fingers here
and two fingers here.
So you've got this round of notes.
The riff is.
_ _ [Db]
And that's five notes, but I'm playing them as thirty-second notes, so it takes time for
them to revolve [Ab] around and land on the beat again, [B] which is really one of the cool aspects
of the song, of the riff, that gives it that popcorn crazy kind of a feel, [C] because it's
like [Am] when [Ab] _ [A] _
[C] _ _ [Am] _ [C] _ [A] _ [Ab] _ [D] it turns around I still have a few beats left, and I [G] ended off with two and two,
so it's [C] like. _ _
_ [Ab] So the hardest [N] part of doing this riff is this muscle right here.
When I was practicing this riff I had to set up something to rest my arm, because it just
got so painful.
I could only do it for a few minutes at a time before you've got to go like this, and
then after a while you just can't do it.
So I had to actually rest my arm in order to be able to be in this position for hours,
and hours, and hours, because that's what it took me to be able to get it.
So I mustered up the mental attitude, and I got excited about it, because for me the
idea, I saw it, I saw it, I saw myself on stage ripping this thing out, and I heard
the chords, and I said, okay, I have to do this, this is what I'm here for.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [Dm] _ [Am] _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Hey folks, today I'd like to discuss with you [N] the track Building the Church.
Building the Church is a song that's on my record called Real Illusions Reflections.
I had this technique, you know, I obviously wanted something in the song to be unique.
So I had this riff that I had written a long time ago for this piece of music that I never
released, it was called Apanishads, and it involved this tapping.
So I knew I wanted to do some kind of a tapping thing that I'd never done before.
It was kind of very difficult, and although when you see it done now on the video or whatever
it looks relatively effortless, I had to start note by note by note by note.
And the riff goes [C] like this.
_ _ [D] But really when I [B] started this, it was [Ab] like this.
_ _ _ Getting one note to sound good. _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _ And it wasn't even that easy, it's hard to kind of like fake how bad I played it, because
I know it so well now.
It's a very odd kind of a linear series of notes because I'm using three fingers here
and two fingers here.
So you've got this round of notes.
The riff is.
_ _ [Db]
And that's five notes, but I'm playing them as thirty-second notes, so it takes time for
them to revolve [Ab] around and land on the beat again, [B] which is really one of the cool aspects
of the song, of the riff, that gives it that popcorn crazy kind of a feel, [C] because it's
like [Am] when [Ab] _ [A] _
[C] _ _ [Am] _ [C] _ [A] _ [Ab] _ [D] it turns around I still have a few beats left, and I [G] ended off with two and two,
so it's [C] like. _ _
_ [Ab] So the hardest [N] part of doing this riff is this muscle right here.
When I was practicing this riff I had to set up something to rest my arm, because it just
got so painful.
I could only do it for a few minutes at a time before you've got to go like this, and
then after a while you just can't do it.
So I had to actually rest my arm in order to be able to be in this position for hours,
and hours, and hours, because that's what it took me to be able to get it.
So I mustered up the mental attitude, and I got excited about it, because for me the
idea, I saw it, I saw it, I saw myself on stage ripping this thing out, and I heard
the chords, and I said, okay, I have to do this, this is what I'm here for.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [Dm] _ [Am] _ [N] _