Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? Music by Frank Zappa From the CD "Roxy and Elsewhere" Transcribed by Mark Hawling chooka@zipworld.com.au This piece also appears on YCDTOSA II and has a few extra embellishments, but this is basically the tune as it appears on Roxy. Throughout the piece are a large number of noisy blocks of sounds that appear to be random chords, just blocks of noise. Sometimes they get slid around a bit too. These appear in Frank's sheet music for songs such as Penis Dimension in the "Frank Zappa Songbook" as just a black block. They appear to be used here primarily for punctuation and to provide the tension between the sections. The whole piece is played super fast and working out the timing for when each of the riffs comes in is very tricky. I haven't counted it out as yet. Main Theme 2x ||---------------------------------------||----------------------------- ||---------------------------------------||----------------------------- ||*---4-------0-------------------------*||----------------------------- ||*-------2-3---------0h2-0---0-2-0-----*||----------------------------- ||--3-----------3-----------3-------3----||----------------------------- ||---------------------------------------||----------------------------- These represent a low, sliding block chord. ----6-------------------||-------------------------------------------- ------------------------||-------------------------------------------- 3-----------------------||---x---------------------------------------- ------4---5-1-2-3-2-----||---x---------------------------------------- --------------------3---||---x---------------------------------------- ------------------------||---x---------------------------------------- Fast fanfare type riff ---------------------------------------------||------------------------- 14----15-15-14----15-15-14----15-15----------||------------------------- 14-16-------14-16-------14-16----------------||------------------------- ------------------------------------15-16-12-||------------------------- ---------------------------------------------||------------------------- ---------------------------------------------||------------------------- Quick descending riff that follows with another low block chord ---------------------------------------------------------||------------- 14---13-12-----------------------------------------------||------------- -------------15-14---13-12---11----------------------x---||------------- --------------------------------15---14-13---12-11---x---||------------- -----------------------------------------------------x---||------------- -----------------------------------------------------x---||------------- The above riff has an ascending riff played against it as seen below ---------------------------------------------------------||------------- ---------------------------------------------------------||------------- -----------------------------------------------------x---||------------- 3----4--5----6--7----8--9----10-11---12-13---14-15---x---||------------- -----------------------------------------------------x---||------------- -----------------------------------------------------x---||------------- This is followed by this second sort of theme ------------------------------------15-14-------15-14------------------- ------------------------------13----------13----------13-12------13----- ------------------------15-13----13----------12---------------15-------- ------------13----15-16------------------------------------------------- 12-13-16-15----16------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------15-14-------18------------------------- -------------------------13------------15-13--------------------13------ 14-14-12-14-14------15------14------------------14-16--------12----12--- ----------------------------------------------------------15------------ -----------------14----------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13----------13-12----15------------------------------------------------- ---12----12-------14---------------------------------------------------- ------15---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Then back to the main riff above. But after playing it through the second time this section follows. This has the chord arpeggios played by Ruth which are the chords shown on the top three strings. The notes on the fourth string are played against these chords. George Duke adds some embellishments on top of this. This is then followed by another ambiguous noisy block chord. -2-----14----2-----2------------------------------ -0-----12----0-----0------------------------------ -0-----12----0-----0------x----------------------- -7--9--7--9--7--9--7--9---x----------------------- --------------------------x----------------------- --------------------------x----------------------- This heavy, scary riff follows. Sometimes played with harmonies or a melody on YCDTOSA II. Just a root5 bar chord also gets used. George Duke inserts some silly Moog sounds. 3x ||-----------------------------------||--------------------------------- ||-----------------------------------||--------------------------------- ||*-------------------------------x-*||--------------------------------- ||*-------------------------------x-*||--------------------------------- ||--4---3---1---4-4-4-4---3-3-1---x--||--------------------------------- ||--------------------------------x--||--------------------------------- This is the same riff as earlier but with a different ending that leads into the little solos. ------------------------------------15-14-------15-14------------------- ------------------------------13----------13----------13-12------13----- ------------------------15-13----13----------12---------------15-------- ------------13----15-16------------------------------------------------- 12-13-16-15----16------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------15-14-------18----------------------- -------------------------13------------15-13-------------------------- 14-14-12-14-14------15------14------------------14-16----------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------14--------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --9----------15--------------------------------------------------------- --10---------15-17----17------------------------------------------------ --11-11-11------17-17-16------------------------------------------------ -----11-11---------17--------------------------------------------------- -----9--9--------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The bass then plays this descending pattern for the solos. Just an octave type pattern as seen directly below. This is played for each bar and descends as shown A, G#, G, F#, F, E, G. A nice melody on the Roxy and Elsewhere album has a high C droned during the bars from the A# to the F, then a high B against the E and then a high D against the G. Sounds nice. Root of each bar. etc ||------------------------------ ||------------------------------ ||*----------------------------- ||*-----8-------8-----8-----8--- ||------------------------------ ||--6-6-----6-6---6-6---6-6----- then for each of these tonics... 2x --------------------------------------||------------- --------------------------------------||------------- -------------------------------------*||------------- -------------------------------------*||------------- --------------------------------------||------------- -5-----4-----3-----2-----1-----0---3--||------------- After this the whole tune repeats again from the beginning.