Rush: Vapor Trail
From the album Vapor Trails (Anthem Records)
Copyright 2002 Core Music Publishing
Music by Lee and Lifeson
Lyrics by Peart

Transcribed by Travis Lausch

This song was a very hard song to transcribe, as there are layers upon layers of
guitar tracks. My best approximation of the main riff (played behind the verses)
calls for a 12 string guitar, but it seems to be an octave higher than written.
The pre-chorus and chorus parts are played with distortion, but set to more of a
"crunch" sound than a heavy metal overdrive. The 2nd verse fill is apparently
overdubbed a few times, and sounds a little different every time it is played.
Finally, we get to the solo, which is performed with volume swells (if you're a
Rush fan, you know this technique already!), and possibly a delay. The part after
the solo was recorded, and played back backwards. Just use volume swells to emulate
the sound. the outro is based on the riff played before the solo, but with some variations.
This was the hardest to do (which is why some of it was still blank...)
since this is where there are many overlapping guitar tracks. Have fun with this
song. anyone who believes that Alex Lifeson made his guitar parts simpler on Vapor
Trails should try tabbing this. Any comments, corrections, or additions will be more
than welcome!

2021 edit: updated the main riff and chorus of the song to reflect how it's actually played. Plus, I 
updated the overall formatting of the tab to reflect current UG rules.


Intro
w/phaser (backwards gtr.)
e|------------------|
B|--5--5--5--5p3p0--|
G|------------------|
D|------------------|
A|------------------|
E|------------------|

Main Riff
  12 String Guitar
e|-------0-----------0------|-------0-------------0-----|-----0-----------0------|
B|---------0-----------0----|-----------------------0---|---0---0-------0---0----|
G|o---11-----11---11-----11-|----11------11----11-----0-|------------------------|
D|o-9-----------9-----------|-12------12----12----------|-0-------12-11-------11-|
A|--------------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|
E|--------------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|

e|-----0---------0------|
B|---0---0-----0---0----|
G|-------------------0-o|
D|-9-------9-7---------o|
A|----------------------|
E|----------------------|


Pre Chorus
e|-------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------|
G|o-5-5-x-5-5-x-5-5-x-x-5-5-x-x-o|
D|o-5-5-x-5-5-x-5-5-x-x-5-5-x-x-o|
A|--3-3-x-3-3-x-3-3-x-x-3-3-x-x--|
E|--3-3-x-3-3-x-3-3-x-x-3-3-x-x--|

Chorus
e|--2-2-2-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2--|
B|--3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3--|
G|o-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-o|
D|o-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-o|
A|-----------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------|

e|----------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------|
G|o-5-5-x-5--5-4-4-5-5-4-4-5-5-4-4-o|
D|o-5-5-x-5--5-4-4-5-5-4-4-5-5-4-4-o|
A|--3-3-x-3--3-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-3-2-2--|
E|--3-3-x-3--3-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-3-2-2--|

After 1st Chorus (over Verse riff}
N.H.---------------
e|-------------------|
B|-------------------|
G|o-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-o|
D|o-----------------o|
A|-------------------|
E|-------------------|


2nd Verse (Lead w/main riff)
e|----------------------------------------|
B|--0-0-7p0-0-10p0-0-12p0-0-10p-0-0-12p0--|
G|o--------------------------------------o|
D|o--------------------------------------o|
A|----------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------|

Chorus - Same as Chorus 1


Pre Solo (w/verse riff)
   (w/dist.)
e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------------|
A|-2~~~~~~-0---------|---------5~~~~~~/9~~~~~~-|
E|-----------3~~~~~~-|-0~~~~~~-----------------|
 |
 | (w/dist.)
e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------------|
A|-2~~~~~~-0---------|---------5~~~~~~\4~~~~~~-|
E|-----------3~~~~~~-|-0~~~~~~-----------------|

Solo
(Volume swells and long delay throughout)
e|---------------|------------------|-----------------|------------------|
B|---------------|-12~~~~-10~~~~-12-|----------12~~~~-|--------------15--|
G|--7~~~~/11~~~~-|------------------|-11~~~~----------|-7~~~~/11~~~~(11)-|
D|---------------|------------------|-----------------|------------------|
A|---------------|------------------|-----------------|------------------|
E|---------------|------------------|-----------------|------------------|

(no swells, delay off, clean tone)
e|-14-1414-1414-1414-1414141414-|------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|-15-1515-1515-1515-1515151515-|
G|------------------------------|------------------------------|
D|------------------------------|------------------------------|
A|------------------------------|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|------------------------------|

e|------------------------------|------------------------------|
B|-10-1010-1010-1010-1010101010-|-10-1010-1010-1010-1010101010-|
G|------------------------------|------------------------------|
D|------------------------------|------------------------------|
A|------------------------------|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|------------------------------|

Play w/pre solo after 3rd Chorus
(backwards guitar)
e|--12~~~~~~~~~~~--12--10p8p7-8-7\5~~~~--|-----------------|------------------|
B|---------------------------------------|-----------------|------------------|
G|---------------------------------------|--10\9-----------|------------------|
D|---------------------------------------|--------9/10~~~--|--9---9---9---9---|
A|---------------------------------------|-----------------|------------------|
E|---------------------------------------|-----------------|------------------|

Outro:
Play around with Pre-Solo riff

e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------------|
A|-2~~~~~~-0---------|---------5~~~~~~/9~~~~~~-|
E|-----------3~~~~~~-|-0~~~~~~-----------------|

e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-4~~~~~~-----------------|
A|-2~~~~~~~~---------|-------------------------|
E|-----------3~~~~~~-|---------5~~~~~~~~~~~~~--|

e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------------|
A|-2~~~~~~-0---------|---------5~~~~~~/9~~~~~~-|
E|-----------3~~~2~~-|-0~~~~~~-----------------|

e|-------------------|-------------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------------|
A|-2~~~~~~-5~~~~~~~~-|-9~~~~~~~~~~12~~~~~~~~~~-|
E|-------------------|-------------------------|

There are like a million variations on this, just end on a Bm

-------------------
| Tab Explanation |
-------------------

|     |
|     |
|o   o| = repeat signs
|o   o|
|     |
|     |

~ = vibrato
/ = slide
p = pull-off
h = hammer on
x = left hand mute
N.H. = natural harmonics