Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff

The Allman Brothers Band track "Whipping Post" first appeared on their 1969 self-titled debut album (pictured). It went on to become a rock classic, with the live version of the song (from the At Fillmore East album) finding its way onto a couple of prestigious song lists: Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" and The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll".
The Intro is apparently in 11/4 time. Who knew? I certainly didn't. Even Gregg Allman, the song's composer, didn't know. When I tabbed the parts I've posted here, I viewed each staff as three bars of 3/4 time with a bar of 2/4 time at the end. It seems Allman viewed it much the same way, as he relates here:
"I didn't know the Intro was in 11/4 time. I just saw it as three sets of three, and then two to jump on the next three sets with: it was like 1,2,3--1,2,3--1,2,3--1,2. I didn't count it as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. It was one beat short, but it didn't feel one short, because to get back to the triad, you had two steps to go up. You'd really hit those two hard, to accent them, so that would separate the threes. ...[Duane] said, 'That's good, man, I didn't know that you understood 11/4.' Of course I said something intelligent like, 'What's 11/4?' Duane just said, 'Okay, dumbass, I'll try to draw it up on paper for you.' " (source: Wikipedia)
So after reading that (and discovering that I'm in the dumbass club with Gregg
), I could have changed the tab to make it 11/4 by removing the bar lines, making each staff one bar of music instead of four bars. But I decided not to because I think it's actually easier to follow the way I originally tabbed it...and if even the composer was thinking of it that way, it can't be too wrong. Tabbed here is the Intro and a dual guitar part after the first Chorus. The tab is of the studio version.
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - "Whipping Post" (G. Allman)
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/varriffs.txt
I don't have sound on my computer yet, so I couldn't be sure which version of the song to link to at YouTube. Just from looking at the page, though, this one looks like it's the studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99KiEOxXId8

I guess you're just asking for it when you think a tab is going to be quick and easy.
Formed in Oakville, Ontario in the mid-1970's, Saga was built around the core of the final line-up of the band Fludd. Throughout much of the band's long career, they've enjoyed greater success in Europe than they have in North America. This was true right from their early years; their synth/guitar/electric drums-driven progressive rock style was embraced overseas, while going largely unnoticed in the US. They enjoyed modest success at home in Canada with the singles "It's Time", "See Them Smile", and "Don't Be Late".