Why choose “You give love a bad name”?
I ran a poll on YouTube asking whether or not I should tab and cover “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi on bass. Over 400 people voted and 85% of them said “Yes” that I should do it. The overwhelmingly positive response solidified my choice to do the song because it meant that a lot of people wanted it.
One reason I took this approach is that in the past, I’ve done covers of songs that I thought would be great, only for them to get almost no views, like my cover of “N.I.B.” or “I Want You Back“. As time goes by, some of these songs do better, some don’t. One of the factors that affects how one of my covers does is if there’s another version out there that people go to instead.
“Psycho Killer” is one of those. There’s already an incredibly popular version of it out there that I didn’t realize. With that one, I also think that my choice of fingering affected it as well. I didn’t use the popular fingering in the chorus, because I found video evidence of Tina Weymouth and followed her.
To avoid this, I decided to try to put out a poll and figure out if it was a desired tab. There could be another version people use, the song could be too easy, or just not a priority for people. If that was the case, they could vote “no” and I wouldn’t have done the song.
Since it was overwhelmingly in favor of the song, I chose to do it. People might not like an existing version and want a better one, there might not be one at all, or it could just be a popular song.
For whatever the reason, my viewers wanted the song. I gave it to them 🙂
about THE TAB
I did my first pass of the tab live on stream. I got what I felt was pretty close, but it definitely needed some work to get it finalized to share with everyone. This first pass that I do is my rough draft. It’s good enough for personal use, but not good enough to share.
The song was in the Guitar Hero video game series, and so it’s easy to find the isolated tracks online (since people have ripped them out of the game). Sometimes the isolated tracks for a song are someone else’s playing trying to pass off as the original, but I’m inclined to trust the ones that come out of the guitar hero games because you can easily look up if it’s from the original master or not. For the guitar Hero isolated tracks, multiple people often post the same ones.
To tab, I usually make a guess on what the tuning of the song is. Sometimes I have an educated guess from playing it before, but it’s not always right. In the live stream, someone said the song was in Eb. After looking at the live videos, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s in E standard based on the frets and notes played live. In the research below, you can see for yourself if you agree with that assessment.
Note: original bassist is Alec John Such, but was replaced by Hugh McDonald (who played bass on Livin’ on a prayer [uncredited] and Runaway) in 1994.
RESEARCH
(You can skip this section if you feel like it 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3IWezqlbcM
(Isolated track, sounds like fingers)
0:12 – quarter note slide into the riff
bar 6 – 3rd fret is held til next measure
bar 10 – stacatto first note, long last note
0:31 – ties beat 4 of bar 14 to the first 8th of bar 15 and does that pattern thru the verse
0:56 – has grace note 8h10
1:04 – beat 1 of bar 32 is 16th notes, like I Tabbed in the live stream
1:13 – arpeggio at end of measure indicates position stays low on neck, not high like I tabbed live
1:21 – quarter note beat 4 of bar 40, not 2 8ths
1:26 – bar 43, rests on last beat before bar 44 (pre verse)
2:08 – bar 65 down beat is full length and not shortened (like bar 69)
2:28 – bar 75 beats 3 and 4
2:38 – 16th notes at end of bar 80, then quarter down beat of bar 81
2:57 – confirms my rhythm in bar 90
3:13 – bar 98 tie
3:19 – beat 4 bar 101
3:24 – beat 4 bar 103
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jloftizlJNg
(rock hall induction 2018 | obviously tuned down from Studio for Bon’s voice)
1:37 – Hugh Mcdonals, Jazz bass & fingers
1:46 – Hugh at start of chorus, fret hand visible. looks like frets 3,4 and shifts to 1 not 6 for Bb
2:49 – chorus, 5 string jazz, fingers, confirms frets 3,4 1 type fingering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzpEl_HLEqk
(Hugh, 5 string jazz bass, fingers)
6:06 (far)
6:33 – expected positioning, not using 5th string
6:54 – 3rd fret (matches my tab)
Lots of quick shots for general positioning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIF8_DqW44
1:21 Alec, P-bass, and looks like a pick on a 4 string bass
1:29 – pick w/ p-bass
1:59 – near frets 3,4,6
2:02 – same
3:21 – doing a fill into the dropout chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhabY4RiIOk
2:55 – hugh, uses 1 not 6
4:42- same
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn52c3z6KAw
1:15 – p/j bass with a pick
2:41 – holds note (kramer bass)
2:58 – 6 not 1
3:59 – on E, not 1 on A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTdvCnX_22I
1:38 – Hugh, same as before, but Telecaster bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPLfRZkJdbE
(Howard Stern 2000)
0:30 – Hugh with a p/J bass, sliding into pre verse with frets 3 & 1 on A
2:22 – good shot of hugh on his normal fingering
2:39 – another decent shot in solo
It’s hard to see any shot of the bassists because of Jon and Ritchie being the focal point of the camera (as expected). I wish I could see more throughout the song, but it is what it is.
Additional THOUGHTS
After looking at live videos, it looks like Hugh and Alec fret the chorus riff a little differently. I chose to use the fingering that had less shifts. It might be a little harder because of the stretch, but It’s simpler in my opinion. It’s also the way I’ve played it in the past, so I’m a little biased.
Feel free to switch up the fingering to suit your playing style.
Also, feel free to use a pick. Alec used a P-bass with a pick, Hugh uses a Jazz bass with his fingers. There are a couple reasons I played You Give Love a Bad Name with my fingers though. The tone of the bass in the isolated track sounded like it used fingers. I could be wrong there, but that’s what it sounds like to me.
Also, Hugh used his fingers and has been the bassist with Bon Jovi longer than Alec was with the band. I’m sure if Jon (bon Jovi) cared, he would have said something over the years about it.
Lastly, I enjoy playing it with my fingers and often don’t get the chance to use my fingers anymore. I do my best to emulate the original playing and more often than not, a pick was used.
Where can I get bass tabs for “You give love a bad name”?
You can find links to the play along (YouTube) and Downloadable tabs here for “You Give Love a Bad Name” and my other covers.
https://samboatmusic.com/bass-tabs/ is a resource for you to find the tabs you need quickly and easily.
It’s a searchable and Sortable table with information and links for my songs.
As my catalog grows, it’ll be updated to stay current and as useful as possible for you.
Is that all?
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