You Cant Quit Me Baby

Song

Artist: Queens of the Stone Age

Song: You Can’t Quit Me Baby

Album: Queens of the Stone Age (1998)

My Favourite QOTSA song, but not it’s not been tabbed very well so here's my

interpretation (You will most likely have to listen for timing) -

Verse Riff - This is played near enough entirely through the song, Nick Oliveri and

Michael Shuman play the riffs in slightly different positions on the Fretboard like so -

Nick

D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—-10h12--|
 C|------------------12------------|
D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—--12----|
 C|------------------12------------|

Michael

D#|--------------------------------|
A#|-----7--5-7-5----5—-5h7---------|
 F|-0-0----------7-----------------|
 C|--------------------------------|
D#|--------------------------------|
A#|-----7--5-7-5----5--7-----------|
 F|-0-0----------7-----------------|
 C|--------------------------------|

However in this tab I'm mainly focus on Nick's way of playing the song.

[Note - Some live variations include just simple hammer-ons and pull-offs but not moving

too far away from the general groove of the bass line.]

For the lines - 'This life is a trip when you're psycho in love' and 'I want you to

notice when I'm not around' the bass goes something like this -

D#|------------------------------------|
A#|--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--|
 F|------------------------------------|
 C|------------------------------------|

Then it resumes to the normal riff repetition.

D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—-10h12--|
 C|------------------12------------|
D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—--12----|
 C|------------------12------------|

After the guitar solo/bridge part and when josh sings ‘You’re solid Gold I’ll see you in

hell’ and when he goes ‘ahhh ahhh’, I think the bass mixes between –

D#|--------------------------------------------------|
A#|----------------------------------7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-|
 F|-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-----------------|
 C|--------------------------------------------------|
D#|--------------------------------------------------|
A#|----------------------------------7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-|
 F|-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-----------------|
 C|--------------------------------------------------|

And a variation of the main riff which I think goes like this

D#|---------------------------------|
A#|---------------------------------|
 F|-------14--12-14-12-----12-12h14-|
 C|-10-10--------------14-----------|

Then back to the main riff

D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—-10h12--|
 C|------------------12------------|
D#|--------------------------------|
A#|--------------------------------|
 F|-0-0-12--10-12-10----10—--12----|
 C|------------------12------------|

When it comes to the Outro on the album the bass lines pace increases then it is just

general “noodling”.

Sound –

Usually the sound for the bass is achieved with an overdriven valve amp, but if you

don’t have the space to overdrive your valve amp a distortion or fuzz pedal should do.

From what I’ve seen live Oliveri tended to use Fender Precision basses and Jazz basses

with Seymour Duncan quarter pounder pickups and flatwound strings. Amp wise usually a

Ampeg SVT with 8x10 cabinets. While Shuman uses a 50’s style Precision bass and an Acoustic 360.

Any questions contact me at – alex.peers@hotmail.co.uk