“Universe in a Bruise” is one of the most dramatic songs on the FINAL BOSS album.
Alongside its deep emotional core, it explores the detuning possibilities of my “Frankenstein Guitar” more extensively than any other piece on the record.
In this tune, I go quite far with my triple detuning system. I use several Keith Banjo Detuners on the headstock, Timara String Drops, and a large number of detunable bridge transitions between chords throughout the song.
Because of this, recreating the piece exactly on a normal guitar without a detunable bridge can be very difficult.
There is also some use of my Schlagwerk FrameBuzz as a snare in the chorus sections.
Aside from the extreme detuning mechanics, the song is technically more restrained than some of the other pieces on the album. Most of the music is built around fingerpicked harmonics, some drumming, and tapping.
Since I am busy managing detunings on both sides of the guitar, I intentionally kept the playing techniques more focused in order to fully explore the sound of the retuned strings and the emotional movement between the chords.
I am sure there are creative ways to adapt this song for a more standard guitar setup, using the fretboard and more traditional fingerings instead of the full detuning system.
The melodies remain just as heartbreaking and beautiful either way. If you do want to recreate the song exactly as I play it, all detuning systems, switches, drums, harmonics and performance techniques are explained thoroughly throughout the tablature with detailed text notes.
This is one of the most detailed tabs I’ve ever created. The tablature is provided in Guitar Pro 7 and PDF formats, and the package also includes the album version of the track in WAV format.