BELA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES - "flight of the cosmic hippo" Tablature

|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Artist: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (Bass: Victor Wooten) |
| Title: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo |
| Album: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo |
| |
| Tabbed by Andrew Ker (adk@comlab.ox.ac.uk) |
| A Member of the BTA Army - http://www.basstabarchive.com |
| |
| You may distribute this as long as you include this header. |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|

Notes:

This is a great piece to play, as long as you have a fretless to play it on
(it doesn't work on a fretted bass...) The bad news is that it really needs
a 5-string. For people like me who can't afford one, this is arranged for
4-string but with *Drop C# Tuning* (i.e. C#ADG from bottom up). You have to
be able to slide up to the bottom D, but this isn't a great tuning to play
in so you might prefer C#G#C#F# - in which case you'll just have to work out
the differences yourself.

Please send me any corrections! Enjoy.

Key: . = short note (all others are long, listen to the song for exact lengths)
\ or / = slide down or up (see below)
h = hammer on
x = ghost note or some note too short to work out

This piece is all about slides! You'll need to listen to the song to see what
sort of slides go where. "/8\" means slide up to the 8th fret (quite quickly)
and back down, generally starting and finishing one fret (i.e. one semitone)
lower. Sometimes the slide off goes further down. "/8\/\/\" means you slide up
to the 8th fret and then up and down between 7th and 8th frets. Sometimes you
have to play a note, let it ring for a long time, and then slide up or down as
it is fading away.

Introduction:

G |---------------|----------------|--------------|-------------|
D |---------------|----------------|--------------|-------------|
A |---------------|----------------|--------------|-------------|
C#|/1\----/8\----/|1\----/8\/\/\---|1\----/8\----/|1\----/8----/|



First verse:

G |--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
D |--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
A |--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
C#|1\----/8\----/|1\----/8\/\/\---|1\----/8\----/|1\----/8---8--|

G |--------------|--------------|----------------|------------------|
D |--------------|--------------|----------------|------------------|
A |--------------|--------------|----.-------.---|-----.------------|
C#|1\----/8\----/|1\----/9-----/|8---8--/9---9--/|10---10--/11---12\|

G |--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
D |--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
A |--------------|----------------|--------------|------.-.-.-.-|
C#|1\----/8\----/|1\----/8\/\/\---|1\----/8\----/|1\----8-6-4-3-|

G |--------------|--------------|----------------|------------------|
D |--------------|--------------|----------------|------------------|
A |--------------|--------------|----.-------.---|-----.------------|
C#|1\----/8\----/|1\----/9-----/|8---8--/9---9--/|10---10--/11---12\|



Interlude:

G |----------|----------|----------|----------|
D |----------|----------|----------|----------|
A |-----5----|4----3----|2----1----|----------|
C#|6---------|----------|---------/|7---/6\---|

G |----------|-----------|---------------|------|
D |----------|-----------|---------------|------|
A |----------|-----------|---------------|------|
C#|4----8----|9----7----/|6---5-4----3--2|------|

G |-----------|-----------| |-----------|-----------|
D |-----------|-----------| (3 times) then |-----------|-----------|
A |-----------|-----------| |-----------|-----------|
C#|1---/3----/|4----/3\---| |1---/3----/|4----8---8-|

(slowly slide up towards the 5th fret)
G |----------|-----------|---------------|------------|
D |----------|8----6-----|---------------|------------|
A |5----6----|----------/|5---4-3----2--1|--------/---|
C#|----------|-----------|---------------|------------|
(quietly slide off at the end of the bar)
G |----------|-----------|----------------|-----------|
D |----------|8----6-----|----------------|-----------|
A |5----6----|-----------|----------------|-----------|
C#|----------|----------/|6---5-4----3--/2|---------\-|



Second verse:

This is the really fun bit. Lots of slide and vibrato,
and enjoy the low notes. Make that fretless sing!

G |------------------|------------|------------------|----------|
D |--7-\3---5--------|------------|--7-\3---5\-------|----------|
A |-------------7-/8-|----5-/7----|-------------7-/8-|----------|
C#|------------------|------------|------------------|----------|

G |------------------|------------------|--------------|--------------|
D |--7-\3---5--------|------------------|--------------|--------------|
A |-------------7-/8-|----12---/15---13\|12--12\11--11\|10--10\8--7--5|
C#|------------------|------------------|--------------|--------------|

G |------------------|------------|----------------|----------|
D |------------------|------------|----------------|----------|
A |------------------|------------|------.---.-----|----------|
C#|--8-4---6----3-/4-|----1-/3--\-|/8----6-x-4-3---|----------|
.
G |------7-----------|-------------------------|--------------|--------------|
D |---7----7\5-------|-------------------------|--------------|--------------|
A |------------------|-------15----13(h15)(h13)|12--12\11--11\|10--10\8--7---|
C#|----------------3/|4\-----------------------|--------------|--------------|

Then repeat the interlude as above.



End:

G |---------------|---------| |---------------|----
D |---------------|---------| (3 times) then |---------------|----
A |---------------|---------| |---------------|----
C#|/1\----/8\----/|1\-------| |/1\-----/8\---8|----