3 Dog Night Shambala -- Any of you know and play it?

I haven't played that one in years, Dennis, but I'll give it a go... it walks up to an E, then D, then A (first with C# in the bass). I'm just showing the riffs:

---------0-----2---------
---------0-----3---------
-------1-----2-------2---
-0-1-2-----0-------2-----
-----------------4-----0-
-------------------------


The second time through the riff, dispense with the C#:

---------0-----2----------
---------0-----3---2-2----
-------1-----2-----2-2----
-0-1-2-----0-------2-2----
-----------------0--------
--------------------------


I love Three Dog Night and was just thinking the other day it would be cool to learn some of their songs. So, thanks for the post!

Cool Tom, I'll try your stuff tomorrow night. I've improvised on what I heard (without looking on the net for a few nights based on my bizarre arpeggio pattern) and saw this:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/three_dog_night/shambala_crd.htm

I hated it because it was really not my pattern and I'm terrible at straight string-to-string arpeggios. So I'll give your version a whirl as soon as I get home from work

Another song (yea, I'm going back) by 3 dog I'm massively itching to play is Never Been to Spain.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/three_dog_night/never_been_to_spain_crd.htm

I love both songs and I hope I can learn both then introduce them to the band for all of us to learn. But I've already decided I'll have to kill them all (just kidding) if they change when I've learned it in the original key!

I checked out the tab you referenced... it's just plain wrong. Your ears will tell you that first run is a chromatic run, not an arpeggio. It's also two slightly different riffs, as I showed, not one.

For the most part, the chords look right... with one exception:

A D A D A
Tell me how does the light shine in the halls of Shambala


is how I do that line... but as I said, it's probably been at least ten years since I've done that tune, so I'm doing this from faded memory.

I've never done TDN's version of Never Been to Spain, but I remember doing the original a long time ago... too long ago to remember, though. Next time you come over, bring the CD, and we'll figure it out.

Dr. Tom, sounds like I need to take a drive south to see you about this. Oddly, those two songs are quite important to me so I want to do them pretty close to right. I love listening to them so I want to do them right. Once I do, I pray the lead singer doesn's change the key because I'll likey knock him out cold! I'm adamant about putting out those songs (mostly Shambala) in the original key.

Dennis,

I hope you learn this tune, since it's so important to you. But for me, it's one of those songs I'm going to be content to admire from afar. Even if I were able to get the music down cold, I'd never (ever) be able to sing it. that "aaah aah oooh ooooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ... road to shambala" line would just set the neighbors dogs to howling if I tried it. :P

-- Scratch 8)

Yea, I wondered about the singing. It gets SO HIGH with the vocals. So even if I get it down on guitar I'm guessing the band (if they even take it) will lower the key. At that point I'll cry. :cry:

It's almost a yodeling technique - the first three pitches in normal voice, the next five in falsetto if my memory serves me right. Because it's a falsetto, a lower key might not sound the same... maybe split the vocals? If the singer can hit the first falsetto note, have everyone else do the other four an octave lower - still recognizeable for the audience, and the singer can pick it up in normal voice with the 'yeah yeah yeah'

Well, I'd like to get a good version even it it's not the original thing. When I first started guitar, I wanted to make everything ‘like the record.' As the months passed and I saw cover bands I found out most of them just get by with their version (Lord knows, often in a different key) of it. I'm all for what ever works. I've tried arpeggiating different ways and on that A part I've messed with hitting some tight chords and each sounded decent.

Well, I'll burn a cd of ‘Spain' and ‘Shambala.' I'm ready to come down to see you. And I'll even bring my guitar for the first time because learning something intellectually often doesn't hit my fingers for quite some time. I'm likely in the bottom 10% for learning stuff quickly. It takes me ages to get things unlike most people.

Even my best friend can practice something for 10 minutes and get it. I can't. I have to take the written music home and play with it for short periods over many days to even get close.

The original is by B.W. Stevenson - same guy who originally wrote "My Maria" which Brooks and Dunn recently had a hit with. He was a good songwriter, singer but I heard the cocaine got him sidetracked. Saw him at a little bar in Huntsville, Texas called the Abbey Inn when I was in college (Sometime between 1970and 1976)

Here's what I tabbed out a long time ago. I know there's a few more notes in the second or third section of tab but this pretty much captures the essence of the song.


NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN - Three Dog Night (Key of E / 45 then 90 BPM)

HERE'S SOME TAB THAT'S CORRECT, CAUSE I JUST DID IT OFF THE RECORD... WELL WAV FILE ON MY COMPUTER RUN THROUGH TRANSKRIBER, MY POWERED MIXER AND OUT MY MONITORS ANYWAY. THERE MIGHT BE A FEW OTHER NOTES HERE AND THERE SINCE THERE'S A BASS AND TWO GUITARS BUT WHEN YOU COMBINE IT TOGETHER THIS SOUNDS REALLY GOOD TO ME...


INTRO: 2X

Um... there's no transcription software out there that will replace the human ear yet. Your tab is not correct, no matter what technology was used.

The first one I posted is the way I've played it at gigs. It's easily recognizable to people, and very easy to play.

When I saw how different your tab was from mine, I got the record out... my first one is 'wrong' in that the Three Dog Night version uses an arpeggio in most places rather than a chord strum:

-------0---------------------
---------0-----3-------------
-----------------2-------2---
-0-1-2-----2-0-----0---2-----
---------------------4-----0-
-----------------------------


Um... there's no transcription software out there that will replace the human ear yet. Your tab is not correct, no matter what technology was used.

The first one I posted is the way I've played it at gigs. It's easily recognizable to people, and very easy to play.

When I saw how different your tab was from mine, I got the record out... my first one is 'wrong' in that the Three Dog Night version uses an arpeggio in most places rather than a chord strum:

-------0---------------------
---------0-----3-------------
-----------------2-------2---
-0-1-2-----2-0-----0---2-----
---------------------4-----0-
-----------------------------


You're right about the ear thing... and yes I'm playing along to the original recording... you might want to check it out instead of going off of memory. I know I sometimes gradually change the way I play things and pretty soon you forget that. Then when you compare what you are doing to the original recording you realize that your version has changed over years of playing. It's really a matter of personal preference and playing style.