Judas Be My Guide - Iron Maiden
Ste, barleycorn@infinito.it

Here's my transcription of this song, chords & a bit of tabs.

This is a brief comment I found in Baeleron's Iron Maiden
Commentary (http://www.truemetal.org/ironmaiden/lyrics/index.html,
don't ask me how I got there, I just don't know):

"Judas Be My Guide is a short but incredibly catchy song with
an excellent chorus and good guitar solos. This is one of
Maiden's shortest song with lyrics, next to Futureal. I'm not
sure what the lyrics mean though, or how Judas relates to them.
It might be about the meaninglessness of life"

I don't want to spend a word about the bullshit contained in the
lyrics. If you like to think that nothing is sacred and nothing's
ever been, this is really not my business.
Anyhow... think of how powerful music is. This song makes you
stand up and jump and shout... though you disagree with every
single word Bruce sings.

Now, music.

>>>> Song structure & chords:



All chords played like this:   ||||||  or like this: ||||||
                               |*||||                *|||||
                               ||||||                ||||||
                               ||**||                |**|||
                               ||||||                ||||||

just find the right position.




intro:   Am | Dm | (Dm)   Am | Bb | (Bb)...
      ...Am | Dm | (Dm)   Am | Bb | Gm |

solo 1:  | Dm C | Dm C | C Bb | Dm C |
         | Dm C | Dm C | C Bb | Dm C |

       Dm                  C
Lights out, we leave in a world of darkness
    Gm                 Bb      F
No doubt, everything's up for sale
    Dm                C
We sleep, all of the world is burning
    Gm                Bb     F
We pray to god for a better deal
Dm Em       F  G    Bb           F  G
Nothing is sacred, back then or now
Dm Em         F  G       Bb                      F   G
Everything's wasted, is that all there is? Can I go now?

Dm C     Dm C    C  Bb   Dm C    Dm  C
Judas my guide, whispers in the night
Dm C     C Bb   Dm C
Judas my guide

       Dm             C
Fight wars, die in a blaze of glory
      Gm              Bb      F
Come home, meat in a plastic sack
      Dm                 C
Fall down, pray to your god for mercy
    Gm                  Bb        F
So kneel, and help the blade cut clean
Dm  Em      F  G    Bb           F  G
Nothing is sacred, back then or now
Dm  Em      F     G    Bb                        F      G
Everyone's wasted, is that all there is? Is that it now?

Dm C     Dm C    C  Bb   Dm C    Dm  C
Judas my guide, whispers in the night
Dm C     C Bb   Dm C
Judas my guide

Dm C     Dm C    C  Bb   Dm C    Dm  C
Judas my guide, whispers in the night
Dm C     C Bb   Dm C
Judas my guide

bridge: | Dm | Dm | Bb | Bb |
        | C  | C  | Gm | Bb |

   Bb          C            Dm          C
I live in the black, I have no guiding light
      Bb       C        Am
I'm whispering in your dreams

solo 2: | Dm | Dm | Bb | Bb | C | C | Dm | Dm |
        | Dm | Dm | Bb | Bb | C | C | Gm | Gm |

Dm C     Dm C    C  Bb   Dm C    Dm  C
Judas my guide, whispers in the night
Dm C     C Bb   Dm C
Judas my guide

Dm C     Dm C    C  Bb   Dm C    Dm  C
Judas my guide, whispers in the night
Dm C     C Bb   Dm C   Dm
Judas my guide




>>>> Tabs

Maybe one day I'm going to post the solos; I haven't figured them
out yet. Just use the D pentatonic minor or the F major scale.
For now, here's a few licks from the intro & bridge.

intro:

Am Dm                            Am Bb                             Am Dm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------6---5---------6---5---8---6-5-------6---5---------6---5---8-6-5-8--
----------7---5---7-----7---5---5---------7---5---5---7-----7---5----------
----------------7-----------------------7-----------7----------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           Am Bb            Gm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------6---5-----6---5---8-6-5---6---8-6h8-5------------------------------
----------7---5-----7-----------5---7--------------------------------------
----------------7-----------------------------5----------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


bridge:

lead guitar:

Dm                    Dm                     Bb                     Bb
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----6h8h10----8------------6h8h10----8------------6h8h10----8--------------
------------10---9----10-----------10---9----7------------10---9----7-------
-------------------10---------------------10---------------------10---------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                      C                      C                      Gm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----6h8h10----8------------6h8h10----8------------6h8h10----8--------------
------------10---9----10-----------10---9----10-----------10---9----7-------
-------------------10---------------------10---------------------10---------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                      Bb
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----6h8h10----8------------6h8h10----8-------------------------------------
------------10---9----7------------10---9-----------------------------------
-------------------10---------------------10--------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

while another guitar keep repeating this (I'm really not sure about this
part, but it sounds good):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----3h5h6-3-5--------------------------------------------------------------
---------------5---7--------------------------------------------------------
-----------------7----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy
Ste