Iowa Bass

Iowa
by Slipknot
from the album Iowa
Transcribed by Mike Moore
 
Tuning: Drop B, down 2-1/2 steps
Low to High: F#-E-A-D
 
I'm quite confident this is the correct tuning for strings 2 & 4, as he uses them open
in the song. I know the guitars have a low A, but the bass has a low F#.
Given the way fingerings would work (in the intro riff alone), this tuning
is absolutely the most likely.
 
I'll add rhythm notation where I believe it worthwhile:
q = quarter (1/4) note
e = eighth (1/8) note
et = eighth (1/8) note triplet
s = sixteenth (1/16) note
X(d) = dotted X-note
 
 
[Intro] (0:32)
  (let 1st-string notes ring throughout)       (repeat for ~2 minutes)
D |-16--------------------|-16--------------------||
A |-----0h14--------------|-----0h14--------------||
E |----------------14-----|----------------14-----||
F#|-----------0-----------|-----------0-----------||
 
 
[Pre-Verse] (2:36)
                       (x7)   e   e   e   e    e   s  s   e   e
D |---------------------||-----------------------------------------|
A |---------------------||-----------------------------------------|
E |-/14---14------------||---/14--14--14--14--/14--14-14-/14--14---|
F#|----------0---0---0--||-----------------------------------------|
("slide" may also be hammer from 12th fret)
 
 
[Verse Riff] (2:59) + [Verse 1] (3:22)
 (bend is somewhat drawn out; it is around a 1/2-step, but sometimes bigger)
D |----------------------------|------------------------------|
A |----------------------------|------------------------------|
E |-14b(15)-----14-----14--12--|-14b(15)-----14---------------|
F#|----------------------------|------------------------------|
 
                                 q(d)        e  e   e   e   e   (x4)
D |----------------------------|--------------------------------||
A |----------------------------|--------------------------------||
E |-14b(15)-----14------7--10--|-14b(15)----------------12--14--||
F#|----------------------------|-------------0--12--15----------||
                                               (He will sometimes hammer-on here)
 
 
[Post-Verse 1] (3:45)
 (bend still drawn out and even bigger on average, sometimes 1-1.5 steps)
D |------------------------|--------------------------||(x3)
A |------------------------|--------------------------||
E |------------------------|--------------------------||
F#|-5b(6)-----5------5--3--|-5b(6)-----5-----5--0--3--||
 (exact rhythm/number of notes played may vary) 
 
D |------------------------|------------------------------|
A |------------------------|------------------------------|
E |------------------------|----------------------12--14--|
F#|-5b(6)-----5------5--3--|-5b(6)-----0--12--15----------|
 
 
[Verse 2] (4:08)
 
D |----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
A |----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
E |-14b(15)-----14-----14--12--|-14b(15)-----14-----------|-14b(15)-----14------7--10--|
F#|----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
 
  (1st ending)                       (2nd ending)
     q(d)       e  e   e   e   e  (x2)  q(d)      e  e  e  q
D |--------------------------------||---------------------------|
A |--------------------------------||---------------------------|
E |-14b(15)----------------12--14--||--14b(15)------------------|
F#|-------------0--12--15----------||-------------0--0--0--0----|
 
 
[Post-Verse 2] (4:31)
 (using B or F# as 2nd-to-last note seems varied/improvised)
D |-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
A |-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
E |-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
F#|-5b(6)-----5----5--0--3--|-5b(6)-----5----5--0--3--|-5b(6)-----5----5--5--3--|
 
  (1st ending)                    (2nd ending)
    q(d)     q    e  et et et (x2)
D |----------------------------||---------------------------|
A |----------------------------||---------------------------|
E |----------------------------||----------0--2--5----------|
F#|-5b(6)----5----5---0--0--0--||--5----5-----------10--12--|
 
 
[Verse 3] (4:54)
 (same as Verse 2)
D |----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
A |----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
E |-14b(15)-----14-----14--12--|-14b(15)-----14-----------|-14b(15)-----14------7--10--|
F#|----------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------|
 
  (1st ending)                      (2nd ending)
     q(d)       e  e   e   e   e  (x2) q(d)      e  e  e  q
D |--------------------------------||--------------------------|
A |--------------------------------||--------------------------|
E |-14b(15)----------------12--14--||-14b(15)------------------|
F#|-------------0--12--15----------||------------0--0--0--0----|
 
 
[Post-Verse 3] (5:16)
     q(d)     q    e  e  e     q       e      q    e  e  e
D |-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
A |-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
E |-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
F#|-5b(6)-----5----5--0--3--|-5b(6)---5pb(6)--5----5--0--3--|-5b(6)---5pb(6)--5----5--5--3--|
 
  (1st ending)                          (2nd ending)
     q        e     q    e et et et (x2)
D |----------------------------------||------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------||------------------------------|
E |----------------------------------||------------------------------|
F#|-5b(6)---5pb(6)--0----0--0--0--0--||-5b(6)--5pb(6)--0-------------|
 
 
[Interlude/Intro Reprise] (5:39)
   (let 1st-string notes ring throughout)      (repeat for ~3.5 minutes)
D |-16--------------------|-16--------------------||
A |-----0h14--------------|-----0h14--------------||
E |----------------14-----|----------------14-----||
F#|-----------0-----------|-----------0-----------||
 
 
[Pre-Verse] (9:11)
                       (x5)                    (x2) e   e   e   e    e   s  s   e   e
D |---------------------||----------------------||--------------------------------------|
A |---------------------||----------------------||--------------------------------------|
E |-/14---14------------||-/14---14-------------||-/14--14--14--14--/14--14-14-/14--14--|
F#|----------0---0---0--||----------0---12---0--||--------------------------------------|
 
 
[Verse 4] (9:33)
 
D |----------------------------|---------------------------|----------------------------|
A |----------------------------|---------------------------|----------------------------|
E |-14b(15)-----14-----14--12--|-14b(15)-----14------------|-14b(15)-----14------7--10--|
F#|----------------------------|---------------------------|----------------------------|
 
  (1st ending)                       (2nd ending)
     q(d)       e  e   e   e   e  (x2) q(d)     e  e   e   e  e
D |--------------------------------||----------------------------|
A |--------------------------------||----------------------------|
E |-14b(15)----------------12--14--||-14b(15)--------------------|
F#|-------------0--12--15----------||-----------0--0--12\--0--0--|
 
 
[Post-Verse 4] (9:54)
                                       (repeat with improvised variations for ~1.5 mins)
D |-------------------------------|-------------------------------||
A |-------------------------------|-------------------------------||
E |-------------------------------|-------------------------------||
F#|-5b(6)---5pb(6)--5----5--0--3--|-5b(6)---5pb(6)--5----5--5--3--||
 
 
[Outro] (11:40)
 (drum beat out)
     e  s s e  e  s s e  e  e     e  s s e  e  s s e  e  e  (repeat for ~2.5 mins)
D |----------------------------|----------------------------||
A |----------------------------|----------------------------||
E |----------------------------|----------------------------||
F#|--6--6-6-6--5--5-5-5--3--5--|--6--6-6-6--0--0-0-0--0--3--||
 
I believe he mostly repeats as written above. But I think he occasionally throws in
some variations on the final two notes (mainly the first one):
     D |--------||--------||--------|
     A |--------||--------||--------|
     E |--------||--------||-----2--|
     F#|--0--0--||--2--3--||--0-----|
 
 
[Bass Outro] (14:11)
 (all percussion out)                                      (x2)
D |----------------------------|----------------------------||
A |----------------------------|----------------------------||
E |----------------------------|----------------------------||
F#|--6--6-6-6--5--5-5-5--3--5--|--6--6-6-6--0--0-0-0--2--3--|| 
 
D |----------------------------|----------------------------|
A |----------------------------|----------------------------|
E |----------------------------|-------------------2--------|
F#|--6--6-6-6--5--5-5-5--3--5--|--6--6-6-6--0--0-0----2--3--|
 
     q    e  q    e  e  e     q   e (let ring out)
D |------------------------|-----------------------|
A |------------------------|-----------------------|
E |------------------------|-----------------------|
F#|--6----6--5----5--3--5--|--6---6--0-------------|
 
 
************************************
| h   Hammer-on
| p   Pull-off
| b   Bend
| pb  Pre-bend (or retain bend)
| /   Slide up
| \   Slide down
************************************
X