SSB - Hallelujah by Bamboo
July 6th, 2006
I have a confession to make: I like Bamboo. I still like Rivermaya after he left (I was more affected by the departure of Perf de Castro), but I’d pick Bamboo over Rivermaya music-wise any day of the week, twice on Sundays. They’re one of the few bands who’ve actually made their own sound; a huge contrast to new bands recently who’ve piggybacked on the success of Coldplay, Linkin Park, The Care and Silverchair.
Hallelujah is off of Bamboo’s second album, and my favorite thus far; I love the wah wah in the verse and Bamboo’s vox work is amazing in this track. As with most Bamboo songs, the lyrics alternate from being a rallying cry to a love song to… something. Some rap verse. You can view the lyrics here.
For quick reference, I made this tab for most of the song elements:
Breakdown - the Intro
The intro is a bit tricky, but simple one you get the hang of it; pay close attention to your palm muting and dead notes.
Breakdown - the Fills
There are two fills of note: the one during the verse and the one just before he raps:
For the second one, use a slight sweeping motion to “bleed” the notes together, but have a care not to make it sound like a chord and separate the notes.
Breakdown - the pre Chorus, Chorus, and post Chorus
Again pretty straightforward; refer to the tabs above. An important thing to remember is that when using distortion, you almost always want to palm-mute.
Breakdown - the Solo/Expanding the Song
I love soloing in the key of A minor; my fingers reach well across all strings and notes for this scale with little discomfort or compromise. It’s also the easiest minor scale to learn coming from the major scales, and I find I can play it without even thinking. Next to B minor, it’s also my favorite key tone-wise; it’s agressive without being too emo or angsty. The preceding passage was done with hardly a thought as to composition, so I can’t post the tab: I honestly forgot what I played! Still, if you play around with the scale, I’m pretty sure you’ll hit the same notes I did 
That’s it for this installment of Single Song Breakdown. If you have a song you want tken apart, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do. Till then, keep rockin \m/
4 Responses to “SSB - Hallelujah by Bamboo”
July 6th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Wow, awesome post. I really learned quite a few things here. I agree, the A minor solo is among the easiest, it helped me play the solo part of this song during a school number.
I know this song is very old, but it’s my all-time favorite. Can you do a breakdown of Goo goo dolls’ Iris? Not the lame rip-off by Ronan Keating. Sheesh!
Thanks and I’ll be sure to come back here
July 6th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
I’ll give it a shot Jhay
I didn’t know Ronn Keating did a remake on that! Dami nya lagi rine-revive ah :p Thanks for dropping by!
July 7th, 2006 at 3:38 am
[…] We take a break from the OPM sound trip to take on Jhay’s suggestion for this next installment of Single Song Breakdown: Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. It’s off the soundtrack for City of Angels and their album Dizzy Up the Girl. If you’re one of the few who haven’t sang their hearts out to this track while pining for a girl, you can get the lyrics here. […]
May 9th, 2007 at 2:29 am
[…] that sounds/looks at all familiar, that’s probably because Hallelujah uses much the same lick, just a step […]