Title:

Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm

Level:

Intermediate

Must Have An Understanding of:    

Repeat Signs Tablature Eighth, Quarter & Sixteenth Notes 4/4 Time Signature Reading Different Chord Charts Tied Notes Dotted Notes Rests

Chords used:

All Root 5 & Root Six 5th Chords

Alternative Help:

Lyrics Midi Text Tablature Text Free Print Page

If you don't already know, this is an old Michael Jackson song he released in the early 90's. This version played by Alien Ant Farm is a little faster and uses all guitars. For the beginners trying this song your main obstacle will be the speed. Remember, start slow and in time then work your speed up. There's no point in trying it fast first up, you'll only practice it with mistakes.

Intro Riff

Watch you timing, the first A5 chord is played on the 4th half beat, marked red
(1&2&3&4&). Remember, start slow then work up the speed. To get this riff sounding correct, make sure you put in the rests. Listen to the midi above and hear where the notes are cut short, those notes are rests. Listen to the midi below to hear how it sounds without rests.

of all chord & rhythm parts

The F5 at the end of the 1st bar below is sometimes refereed to as being pushed. Normally it would fall on the 2nd bar 1st beat, but in this case it is played 1/2 a beat earlier. This happens a lot in this song.

Pre Chorus

Chorus

The chorus starts from the 2nd bar, once again the A5 at the end of the 1st bar comes in 1/2 a beat early

Lead Break

The lead break starts from the A5 at the end of the 2nd bar. The A5 chord is held for 2 bars while the bass plays the intro riff, then the guitar starts a slow pick slide for 7 beats and on the 8th beat the pick slide speeds up. A pick slide is when you scrape the pick along the length of the string. They usually start from the bridge and finishing up at the nut, for this pick slide however start at the nut and finish up at the bridge. This effect works best on the 3 wound strings (Thick E, A and D). Use the side of your pick when scraping the strings

Speed, Speed, Speed, Speed, that all I can say for the lead solo. Listen to the slow audio below first (half speed) and when you feel confidant with that, then you can attempt the original speed.

of solo riff

Audio - Windows Media Of The Lead Solo (Slow) - 71kb

Audio - Windows Media Of The Lead Solo (Normal Speed) - 52kb

Listen To The Full Midi (Guitar Only)

Listen To The Full Midi (Full Backing)