Sisters of Mercy Guitar Lesson : Alice

In this Sisters of Mercy guitar lesson, I’ll share a tab transcription and show you how to play Alice.

A little background:

Cover for The Sisters of Mercy Alice single

Alice was originally released as a 7” single, with Floorshow on the B-Side. It was later released with two more tracks on what is known as the Alice EP. Finally, and my own introduction to the song, this version appears on Some Girls Wander by Mistake. This is the version we’re working with here.

The Sisters of Mercy re-recorded Alice for the Under the Gun single. Adam Pearson is credited as the guitar player.

Gary Marx and Ben Gunn were the guitar players at the time of the original version’s recording – both received credits in the liner notes for Alice. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything definitive as to who played what on the recording.

The guitar sounds relatively clean and chimey on the studio recording, but in live recordings it often has some dirt or distortion. In live videos, from 1983 and 1985, this part is played on a 12-string electric; later videos show it played on six-string electrics.

In any case, it sounds equally good played on an acoustic guitar as an electric through a cranked up amplifier.

Why is this a good song for a beginner?

  • No chord shapes of chord changes, just single notes
  • You really only play one string at a time for most of the song.
  • It gives you a chance to practice:
    • Moving from playing on one string to another
    • Using more than your index finger to fret notes
    • Alternate picking
    • Slides
    • Hammer-ons

Alice as Played by The Sisters of Mercy

The transcription

Follow along below or click the button to download the tab:

Introduction

The song starts with drums and then an 8-bar guitar introduction. Bars 1 and 3 are particularly tricky . Some of the notes are held longer than you might think. That said, on various live recordings, particularly later ones, it sounds like the entire introduction is played the way it is in bars 5 and 6.

(Click here if you need help reading tab)

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--------5-----|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--|--8--------7--0--0--5--0--|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

Using Fingers Other Than Your Index Finger

If you’re new to guitar, it can be tempting to play everything with your index finger. You can certainly do that here. However, with Alice, because you’re almost always playing an open string in between the fretted notes. This gives extra time to get your fingers where they need to be, so you can get those other fingers into the action.

The goal is to minimize the movement required of your fretting hand.

If you use your pinky to play the note on the 8th fret to start the riff, you’ll see your ring finger is already hovering over the 7th fret, and your index/pointer finger is over or close to the 5th fret. Those are the first three fretted notes, little to no shifting of your fretting hand required.

For the next measure, you can play it a number of different ways. This part of the fretboard has the widest frets. The size of your hand and how nimble your fingers are will determine the best fingering to use.

The one that requires the least movement requires the biggest stretch: index finger on the second fret, middle finger on the 3rd fret, and pinky on the 5th fret.

For smaller hands or less nimble fingers, playing the 3rd fret with your index finger and the 5th fret with either your ring finger or pinky may be easier. You then would shift your index finger down to play the 2nd fret. You won’t be able to escape the jump from the 2nd fret to the 5th fret with your pinky, but the open string in between gives you time to shift your hand and still be able to play in time.

The first fret will always be played with your index finger, as it is the closest finger to it.

Alternate Picking

You can play this whole song with downstrokes (striking the string in a downward movement of the pick) for every note. However, once you learn how, you will find it easier to play if you use alternate picking. Alternate picking is moving continuously between picking downstrokes and upstrokes (striking the string in an upward movement of the pick).

The keys are to play the upstroke as loudly and cleanly as you play the downstroke, and to keep the pick moving steadily up and down.

I’ll create a future lesson for this, but in the meantime, if you’re having trouble with it, let me know.

A Section (Main riff)

This is probably the riff you think of when you think of this song. The entire riff is a two-bar phrase and it’s repeated four times.

The fingering for the introduction should serve as a guide here: pinky on the 8th fret, ring finger on the 7th, etc.

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

B Section

If you need practice moving between strings, this section is for you. The guitar part moves over to the 1st string (the high E string) for the next four bars before switching back to the 2nd string (B string) to repeat the same riff from the A section twice.

For the first half, you can just assign your pinky to the 8th fret, ring finger to the 7th fret, and 5th and 3rd to your index finger. Play the second half of this section with the same fingering as the A section.

E|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--5--0--0--7--0--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--5--0--0--3--0--
B|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--0--0--2--0--0--2--3--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

C Section (Chorus)

In this section you’ll be playing notes alternating between two strings.

Use your index finger when playing the 5th fret, and your ring finger for the 7th. If you find that stretch difficult, you can use your pinky instead of your ring finger on the 7th fret. In either case, your goal is to minimize any unnecessary shifting or stretching.

This section also brings us a slide and a hammer-on.

To play a slide, pick a note and then, without lifting your finger, moving it to the destination fret – i.e slide your finger up or down to the destination note. In fancy terms, this is a glissando. In the tab, the slide is shown using a forward slash. For the slide written as 3/5, play the 3rd fret with your index finger, and while it’s ringing, slide your index finger up to the 5th fret without lifting your finger off the string.

To play a hammer-on, pick the lower note, leave your finger there, and using another finger, fret the next note, but do not use your pick to play it. The idea is that the string will vibrate long enough to play the first note as well as the successive note or notes, one after the other, without needing to be plucked again.

Hammer-ons are shown using the letter ‘h’.

For the hammer-on written as 5h7, play the 5th fret with your index finger, and then while it’s ringing, fret the 7th fret with your ring finger or pinky.

If either the slide or the hammer-on are tripping you up from playing the whole song through along with the recording, you can always pick the individual notes instead. Just make sure you practice them so you can eventually play them, too.

E|-----7-----7--------7-----7--7--------
B|--5-----5------3/5-----5---------5h7--
G|--------------------------------------
D|--------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------

Ending

The song consists of repeating A, B, and C sections until the end of the song where it changes up a little bit.

The very end of the song is the first half of section C, and it ends on a very satisfying ringing open B string.

E|-----7-----7--------7-----7--7----------
B|--5-----5------3/5-----5--------5h7--0--
G|----------------------------------------
D|----------------------------------------
A|----------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------

Tips for Learning How to Play Alice by The Sisters of Mercy

1)Listen to the song paying attention to the single note guitar part. Pay particular attention to the intro riff. I must have transcribed the first four bars at least three different ways because of how it sounds to me vs how it sounds when I slow everything down with software.

2)Learn the song in pieces. I’ve broken the song down into sections here to facilitate this. 

3)If the tempo is too fast to play along with at first, find the song on YouTube (I’ve linked it earlier in the lesson) and use the ½ speed playback functionality.  Or, if you have a copy of the song on MP3, you can use Audacity (free to download) or other apps to slow it down so you can play along.

4) In the intro, the third bar, where you play and briefly hold 8th fret on the 2nd string, it can be hard to get the timing right – if you’re struggling, play it like this instead:

E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
B|--8--0--0--7--------5-----|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--|--8--0--0--7--0--0--5--0--|--3--5--5--2--5--5--1--0--
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------

It’ll still sound right and even match how The Sisters played it live many times. Don’t let a small thing like that trip you up and keep you from learning the rest of the song!

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