Big Machine (The Goo Goo Dolls)

I love it when guitarists think out of the box to come up with interesting tones through alternate tuning. Like many modern GGD songs, John Rzeznik experiments with octaves and open strings to achieve a raw, bell-like drone when playing simple 2-finger chords and big strums.

For the muso's wanting to learn this tune, the guitar's in a really cool tuning: Open Dmaj7
D A A A C# C#

Ok I admit, I'm cheating because I use a Variax with Workbench to change the tuning of my guitar digitally. :P

Capo on the 1st fret to play along with the recording (which is in A#). When GGD does this live, they play in A.

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• Justin Chan
• Pop Rock
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• Goo Goo Dolls
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• Big Machine
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[sleepyrnr1]

that's the best cover of big machine I've heard...I've looked for the tabs, and seen several other videos, but none of them quite seem to nail it--what's your secret?

[ChanBP]

@sleepyrnr1 Thanks man :) No secret, really, just practice and knowing where your chords/scales are on an open tuning (the fretboard topography is SO different on a tuning as radical as GGD's).

[this1ssteve]

omg, i had an idea for inventing something that allows you to translate standard tuning into alternate tunings when i finished school... im both devastated but want one of these things now. do you need that specific type of guitar to use this variax workbench? or can i use my own electric?

[ChanBP]

@this1ssteve Hi there, thanks heaps for the kind comment. Yes you need a Line 6 Variax electric series. I use a Variax 700, but there are also the 300 and 600 models which have the same electronics. You can also rip the electronics out of a Variax and mod your present electric (I don't know how to do this, but I've seen others who have on youtube). Workbench is a software, so you need the hardware to connect the Variax to your computer. I use a Line6 PODX3.

[DaveDragon10]

Excellent video. By the way, i'm buying a guitar at the end of the month and was wondering if the Epiphone 1966 G-400 SG Standard Cherry is a good purchase? i've been playing for a year or 2.

[ChanBP]

@DaveDragon10 Thanks mate! Nice choice of guitar, one of my mates tells me that it's versatile to cover a wide range of genres; with the tone all the way up it has a trebly bite (it's best sound: '70s classic rock!) guaranteed to cut thru the mix, with the tone/volume rolled down and on the neck pickup it can be used even for jazz, warm, rounded, but not muddy. It's a set-neck too, so it's gonna have a nice, resonant sustain. I think it's a good buy.

[sleepyrnr1]

@ChanBP I've only been playing about a month, but I'd love to learn this song--if it's not too much trouble, could you send me the tabs?

[this1ssteve]

awesome cover btw