Performance Notes
HOW TO PLAY THIS MONTH’S SONGS
By Jimmy Brown
“CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE”
Black Sabbath
AS HE HAS done for several other classic Black Sabbath songs, such as “Sweet Leaf,” “Into the Void” and “Supernaut,” Tony Iommi recorded “Children of the Grave” with his Gibson SG tuned down one and one half steps, to C# standard (low to high: C# , F# , B, E, G# , C# ), which not only makes the guitar’s strings considerably slinkier and easier to fret, bend and pick, but also lowers the pitch of the instrument, which adds “heaviness” to the tone.
Iommi kicks off the song with a “galloping triplets” motif on his open 6th string, for which he combines swing eighth notes and eighth-note triplets, with bassist Geezer Butler octave-doubling the part. At section B (bar 5), Iommi proceeds to double his own notes an octave up, strumming E octaves on his bottom two strings. This opening rhythm figure is best picked or strummed with two downstrokes for the eighth notes followed by updown-up for the triplets.