The Guitar Blog

Truth be told, I haven’t heard the original Tatsulok by Buklod prior to Bamboo’s, which irks me to no end. And while I honestly prefer the original, Bamboo has done well to put their stamp on their version. Bamboo’s distinct style of rock-influenced alternative pop has changed little over the years, and what comes out is, sans lyrics, a Bamboo song.

The Intro

The intro is handled mostly by the bass, but I’ve seen performances where the guitar player follows along with simple arpeggios and letting the last note ring out and feed back, kinda like this:

	 ~~~~~~~~~~
e |-------------------------------------------------------
B |-------------------------------------------------------
G |-----10------------------------------------------------
D |---7---------------------------------------------------
A |-9-----------------------------------------------------
E |-------------------------------------------------------

If that sounds/looks at all familiar, that’s probably because Hallelujah uses much the same lick, just a step lower.

The Verse

The verse follows a pretty standard progression over Bm: Bm-A, Bm-G, Bm-A-G-F#m. Listen to the song to figure out when to change chords, which goes like this:

Bm                A
Totoy bilisan mo, bilisan mo ang takbo
Bm                            G
Ilagan ang mga bombang nakatutok sa ulo mo
Bm                A
Totoy tumalon ka, dumapa kung kailangan
G                        F#m
At baka tamaan pa ng mga balang ligaw

The Pre-Chorus

The pre-chorus chords are G-F#m twice, then Bm-A-G-F#m:

G		   F#m
Hindi pula’t dilaw tunay na magkalaban
G		   F#m
Ang kulay at tatak ay di syang dahilan
Bm		        A
Hangga’t marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
G		        F#m
At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman

The Chorus

The chorus reminds of the charismatic song “Sole Salvation”, because of the progression (with different strum patterns, of course): it’s in Bm-F#m-G-A. Play along to the song, you’ll see how the chord changes come along better when you do.

Bm		       F#m
Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
G          A         Bm
Di matatapos itong gulo

The Guitar Solo

Here’s where it gets tricky, because the timing’s a bit off. Using the same beat we have with the chorus, we have:

Bm - F#m - G - Em (replacing A - Bm in the chorus)
Em (extended) - A - F#m - Bm
Em - F#m (palm muted)

That’s what I meant by the tricky timing: the last measure only has two bars compared to the previous two, which had four apeice. After that palm-muted F#m, the song shifts into the pre-chorus, then chorus, and ends. Listen to the song closely and you’ll get it.

Lead Ideas

The following videos are pretty much identical in how I approached the phrasing, with minor differences: the first video I stuck exclusively to playing over the B minor and B minor pentatonic scales. In the second video I threw in passing licks over B Dorian whenever I slowed down, and B Phrygian whenever I did a scale run, B minor (aeolian) for everything else, and always looking to resolve in D.

B-Minor
e |----------------------------------------------7--9--10-
B |------------------------------------7--8--10-----------
G |---------------------------6--7--9---------------------
D |---------------------7--9------------------------------
A |-----------7--9--10------------------------------------
E |-7--9--10----------------------------------------------

B-Phrygian
e |----------------------------------------------7--8--10-
B |-------------------------------------7--8--10----------
G |-------------------------------7--9--------------------
D |---------------------7--9--10--------------------------
A |-----------7--9--10------------------------------------
E |-7--8--10----------------------------------------------

B-Dorian
e |----------------------------------------------7--9--10-
B |------------------------------------7--9--10-----------
G |---------------------------6--7--9---------------------
D |-----------------6--7--9-------------------------------
A |-----------7--9----------------------------------------
E |-7--9--10----------------------------------------------

sample lick, as seen in the second video

~sweep~ - arpeggiate
p.      - pull off
h.      - hammer on
b/r     - bend/release
ph.     - pinch harmonic

      ~sweep~          p.  p.       b/r    p. h. p.    ph.
e |-------------------------------------------------------
B |------7-10----8--7--9-7-9-7----------------------------
G |-----9-----------------------9--9(11)9--7--9--7-----7--
D |----9------9-------------------------------------9-----
A |---9---------------------------------------------------
E |-------------------------------------------------------

Full Lyrics