Ice Cream Man is almost like an old blues standard that Dave wanted to
do. Then the band took the tune and rocked it out. Dave actually plays the
acoustic guitar in the intro. The guitar is tuned down a half-step and to
an open E chord. That is E B G# E B E from high to low. It's a basic
12-bar pattern (excluding the first two bars of intro) going E A E E A A E E
B A E E (one bar for each chord). Here is the intro in tab with the guitar
tuned properly. I use my thumb and middle finger to pick the notes, use
what-ever is easiest for you.
|----------------------|----------------------|------------------------------|
|----O----O----O----O--|----O----O----O----O--|------------------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|------------------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|----repeat both bars----------|
|------------O----2----|--3----2----O----2^0--|------------------------------|
|--O----4--------------|----------------------|------------------------------|
Another riff thrown in before the A sometimes starts on the low E
string and ascends E F# G G#. This riff is also right before the heavy
guitars come in. The distorted guitars also play the basic blues but in
positions at the 7th and 5th fret. I actually have the entire transcription
including a very acurate solo. If you want more, be specific.(It's very
hard to get the tab right on a computer like this. I also know just about
everything there is to know about Eddie Van Halen. If you want any more
information I'll try to oblige. I'm using a friends account, and I will
return E-mail through him.
Keep on riffin',
Josh "Slosh" Hollis
C/O walters@cs.fsu.edu
(
geocities.com/galandil/VanHalen) (
geocities.com/galandil)