Foreigner's Cold as Ice -main rhythm part and solo

This is one of my favorite rock songs. I just never have gotten tired of it. For me, some rock songs, especially the ones many could call "classic rock" I've just gotten tired of hearing. Not this one. It just has such a memorable verse and melody, Lou Gramm's great singing, and that great guitar solo! In this post I am going to transcribe to the best of my knowledge, the main verse section of this song (that memorable keyboard part) and the solo.






Now, I have seen this song tabbed different ways-in different keys, with or without solo. Not wanting to get int From what I hear on the mp3, this song is in the key of Eb minor. I have seen it tabbed/described as E minor or C minor, but to my ear, its Eb minor. You can use more open chords to play the song if you tune down to Eb (from the 6th string on up to the 1st string: Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb) or you can just leave your guitar in standard tuning. For this description, I used standard tuning.

Here are the chord charts I made for the song's main, signature part-It is essentially just a pattern of these chords played together to get that signature Cold as Ice verse: Eb 7 sus4th/Eb minor, (oops-soory this is B6 not B13!) *B13 /B (click to enlarge)




(*these chords are probably not exactly the ones played on the keyboard as they might be Eb sus4th, instead of Eb 7th sus4th, and the (B6)B13 I am not so sure of but they still sound very close, and are easiest to play.)

The tricky part (at least for me) is getting your pinky to cooperate and move where you want it to as this is the finger that moves to form those chords in the verse. I show that I am keeping my 2nd finger on the 7th fret note (F#) so as to be ready when I play the Eb minor chord. You can do an easier version of this by making a Eb7 sus4 chord, and then taking off just your pinky to make a Ebmin7 chord. Also, you could go from the (B6)B13 chord, taking off your pinky again to to form a B7 chord-maybe not as nice-sounding as the "regular" B chord, but ok.

Here is the solo as I hear it. If you think it has any mistakes or flubs let me know. That last harmony guitar part I just ad libbed. Maybe you might have some different ideas about that part. (Click to enlarge)





some notes about the solo:
-those ascending two-note patterns are hammer ons and pull offs, but can be picked as I noted
-both those bends on the 16th fret- 6th string are a quick bend up, not really letting the bent note ring, before hitting the note on the 14th fret 6th string
-I noted that Mick sounds like he slid down the neck before doing the second ascending run, but its hard to tell exactly what is done at that point
-I use my first and second fingers on the ascending runs, just moving those fingers for each little two-note part till I get to the 11th fret -6th string and there I use my first and 4th finger (in a more natural pentatonic lick positioning) You can just as easily use your 3rd and fourth fingers to do that ascending run, then slide your 1st finger up to the 12th fret -5th string for that little two-note lick before the pentatonic lick

check it out-let me know how you like it!!
MG



Related Tags: Foreigner Cold+As+Ice guitar chords guitar+solos classic+rock