Undertow Bass Tab

		
		Ver 1 Ver 2 Ver 3 
	

Undertow Tabs:

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Song: Undertow
Artist: Tool
Album: Undertow
Tabbed By: Jason Lapointe (jizmogg@yahoo.ca)
Previous Tab: Jeremiah Jones

The previous tab was fairly close, but messy and incomplete
Here's my version, 100% accurate...
* And remember, it's Tool, so drop D

Intro (x8)
G|------------|
D|------------|
A|---0-0-3----|
D|-6-------0--|

VerseA (x4)
G|-------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------|
A|---0-0-3--x-6-----5----6--6-6-5-5-5--|
D|-6------------0-----0----------------|

VerseB (x4)
G|---------------------------------------|-----5-7-|
D|---------------------------------------|-5-7-----|
A|------------6-----5----6--6-(6-5-5-5)--|---------|
D|-6/7--10--x---0-----0------------------|---------| 
       third time through there's this fill ^
       instead of the (6-5-5-5)

Pre-Chorus                   
G|------------|-------------|-------------------|
D|------------|---2p--------|------2-x----------|
A|------------|------3p--0p-|----------3-x-0-0--|
D|-2b---------|-------------|-2-xx--------------|
   ^BIG bend                 ^this section (x4)

Chorus (x2)
G|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|-5-x-x-3-x-x-5-x-x-2-x-6-x-5-x-x-3-x-x-5-x-x-2-x-3-x-6-x-|
                    chorus ends here first time around ^

End Chorus
G|-------------|
D|-------------|
A|----1-----5--|
D|-6-----3--0--|

Then another run through from the top up until the chorus...

Second Chorus
G|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|-5-0-0-3-0-0-5-0-0-2-0-6-0-5-0-0-3-0-0-5-0-0-2-0-3-0-6-0-|(x2)

G|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|-5-x-x-3-x-x-5-x-x-2-x-6-x-5-x-x-3-x-x-5-x-x-2-x-3-x-6-x-|(x4)
                          chorus will end here ^ from here into...

Chorus Ending/Bridge Intro
G|---------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------|
D|-2-0-3-0--5--0--7--0---10---0---11---0-|

Bridge (x2)
G|----------------------------------------------------|
D|---3----------------------------3-------------------|
A|-5------3-----------x-x-xx-xx-5---------------------|
D|------5---0-3--3-0-----------------5-6-5-0---3---6--|

G|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---3----------------------------3--------------------------------|
A|-5------3-----------x-x-xx-xx-5------3-----------(3h5-5-3h5-5-5)-|
D|------5---0-3--3-0-----------------5---0-3--3-0------------------|
     another fill, but second time around different ^

Bridge Fill
G|-----------------|
D|-----------------|
A|-5-3-0-5-3-0-5-3-|
E|-----------------| then...

G|--------------------------------------------|
D|---3----------------------------3-----------|
A|-5------3-----------x-x-xx-xx-5-------------|
D|------5---0-3--3-0-----------------5-6-5-0--|

Bridge Continued... (x4)
G|----------------------------|
D|---------------------0-3-0--|
A|---------0---3---4----------|
E|-3---6----------------------|
                   ^will end on this note, then...

Pre-End? (x6)
G|---------5------10-----5---|
D|-0-3-0-7---0-12----0-7---0-|
A|---------------------------|
E|---------------------------|

True End
G|-----------------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------------|-----------------|
A|-----------------------|-----------------|
D|-5-0-0-3-0-0-5-0-0-2-0-|-5-0-0-3-0-0-2-0-|
  (x3)                    (x1)

Whew... long but hopefully not too confusing. As always, listen to
the song a few times to get familiar with it and the tab should
be easy to follow then.


Taken from BASSMASTA.NET - http://www.bassmasta.net

Source: http://www.bassmasta.net/t/tool/126628.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture JO3H Average	#1 by JO3H 3VAN2 at Apr 4, 1970 at 1:20 AM EST
	Until you guys hear this song LIVE, you do not comprehend just how really damn amazing it is. The band changes beats in a way similar to a whole flock of birds changing direction in mid-flight. It goes fast...then slow...then fast...then slow. One direction, then the other, and back again. They all have such unity and control over the pace of this song that it makes me wanna worship them even more! LONG LIVE TOOL! AND LONG LIVE UNDERTOW!!!

No Picture Nyle Average	#2 by Nyle Leddy at Jan 29, 1972 at 12:48 AM EST
	some of you are on the right track, but most have no idea what tool is talking about. i love tool, because they make little people like you ponder on these meanings, when if you wanted to, you could just go find them out for yourself. eightball, good job, you realized that it isnt about drugs. tool wants you to believe what they do focuses on drugs, so they can laugh at you. the truth, they hate drugs. this song, Undertow, i can tell is actually talking about Tool being in the astral dimension, by projecting there, this must have been when they first started to astral project. astral is such a beautiful place, it pulls you in, and when you come back into the physical dimension, you want to go back, and you feel like you are always on your knees. when you die, your soul stays in the astral world, which is why tool says 'why dont you kill me'. this is just tool trying to say how shitty our world as we know it is, and how much more comfortable astral is. dialate your pineal.

No Picture krutch-bass-man Wanna Be	#3 by krutch-bass-man at Nov 10, 1973 at 11:33 PM EST
	Nah, it's not about drugs, no tool songs are.

No Picture Nikky ♠ Average	#4 by Nikky ♠ at Jul 23, 1976 at 1:45 PM EST
	My theory is that the Undertow in this song is A Drug. This Drug could be anything, it depends on what the listener wants it to be. Maynard writes songs which have a thousand interpretations, not one of them necessarily right. It depends on what the listener needs the interpretation to be. For example, one person's interpretation doesn't necessarily have to be another's. As long as the one interpretation works for you, and you can relate to it and/or learn from it, that's fine. Anyway, I'm totally off the subject- back to Undertow. This song is portraying a drug- be it a chemical substance which alters the way your body or mind works, or, in my case, the media, television, America, etc. These are all Drugs because they are addictive and harmful. So this song is talking about how the drug, being an Undertow, pulls you down into misery, convincing you on the trip down that you are having fun, that you are happy, etc. It will strike you dumb, make you feel comfortable, too comfortable, and then brings you down and makes you numb and uncomfortable and lost. This is my interpretation of the song, and I can relate to it a lot... I have to deal with Undertows all the time, everyone does. It's not easy trying to resist their powerful pull. I welcome any opinions on my entry and will never refuse to read other people's interpretations.

No Picture sam Wanna Be	#5 by sam smith at Oct 23, 1987 at 7:57 AM EST
	I kind of agree with Makoe that this is a song about addiction, especially ecstacy. I think that Eightball just has the right idea, just the wrong song. That is just my opinion though. The song to me shows the path of how an addiction (the undertow) takes over a person's life. Also, how does under for the second time and under for the third time have to do with life dictating someone? That just does not connect. Also, just because a band doesn't get addicted to drugs doesn't meant they can't write a song about it. Look at Metallica for example. Their song Master Of Puppets was a song about drug addiction. Metallica never has and never will do drugs. Peace I hope my thoughts make sense and that I haven't offended anyone.

No Picture Neal Average	#6 by Neal Chuenprateep at Apr 7, 1996 at 12:43 AM EST
	I didnt like the song at first because i was a fan of Tool's new stuff before i discoverd the old. But i gave it a fair chance and now i think its great. I cant really relate to the astral projection interpretation because i dont really understand that whole thing well enough. Im not to sure about the drug interpretation either, Tool seems to often go deeper than just drugs.

No Picture M4rk Lead Player	#7 by M4rk at Sep 15, 2000 at 9:44 PM EST
	yeah, i'll run with that, but i'd put it more towards a drug addiction of some kind, like herion, i'd put this towards the lyric "and it's half as high as heaven and half as clear as reason." you see, there's two points in getting high. There's the low point, when you're straight, and there's your high point, the point of euphoria. When you first get high, it's the best high you'll have, and you will never get THAT high ever again, and when you come down, you'll never get down to where you were before. So the wave of your conscienceness between being high and being straight meet in the middle, hence "it's half as high as heaven" but that's just what i reckon.

No Picture Casey Average	#8 by Casey at Jul 16, 2004 at 4:51 AM EST
	this song puts a feeling deep down in me..its like a bucket of acid..its good..this song..is just amazing