frequently asked questions (and things)
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did you figure out all these songs yourself?
no. the past 6 years i've made friends with many other airplane fans who have contributed to this collection. i have also gotten many of the arrangements directly from paul kantner himself. i've tried to give credit every where that it is due. special thanks to: roberto gamio puente, lily armstrong, steve kelsey, paul kantner, david freiberg, and joey covington.
why don't you post tabs?
i have for a few songs that really do require it- mine and steve's take on 'spare chaynge' come to mind. otherwise, though, i don't find it necessary. i give the key that the chords are in, and the mode that the lead guitar and the vocal melodies are in. i trust that one can figure out the guitar solos to their own taste, considering that the airplane was big on improv- it seems that a 'fixed' tab would be misfitting. however, if you really do need help getting started on a particular riff, then holler at me via email and i'll try to help you out.
are the contents of the 'chords' page everything that you have?
well, no. i have some things that are not posted (but will be!) because in their current state, i do not have them typed out to my liking, and some that i have yet to even write down. i hope to have absolutely every song that i know/have chords to on here eventually!
are there any airplane song collection books?
yes. there was a recent one, published a couple years back by alfred publishing co. called "jefferson airplane tab anthology" that is a must have. the key signatures in it are..... a bit wack, but the chords and the tabs are awesome. there is another one published in 1968, that is extremely hard to come by and thus very expensive. however, i recently happened to find a pristine copy of it at a thrift store- it is an incredible resource. it has the scores for the entirety of baxter's (1967). i had most of the chords anyway, but it contains some great guitar and bass tabs. due to the age of the book, i am unable to make scans of the pages without damaging it. however, if anyone is truly interested, i can copy sections out by hand.
i have the chords to a song you dont. can i send them to you for submission on this site?
yes! i would love that. i would also love to get your ideas on what i may have wrong, and what may be improved. my email is on the home page!
whoa! you've gotten in touch with paul and david?!
the internet is magical. david freiberg is a facebooker who always responds to messages concerning songs- he is often a great help, no matter how much or little he may remember. paul kantner has an online message board that he himself moderates on the jefferson starship website. he has always been more than willing to help when i've asked questions. he also is great at explaining his techniques. if it hadn't been for his explanation of open c tuning, i would have never figured out 'hijack' myself! in addition to being super helpful online, i've had the pleasure to see the current jefferson starship several times and speak with paul and david.
how many times did you see the airplane? did you go to woodstock?
uh, zero, and no, because i wasn't alive. believe it or not, i'm only in my 20s. i've been obsessed with the airplane and related projects since i first saw them on the woodstock movie when i was 10 years old. there's tons of us zealous airplane fans who are not even or just barely are adults! i rue the fact that i wasn't alive to see an airplane show. fellow youngster airplane fans and i have discussed the assembly of some sort of time machine.
i notice you have absolutely no jefferson starship material post-dragonfly. why?
simple and plain, i don't care for much of their post 1974 material and have never really tried to figure any of it out. that being said, i do love the song 'fast buck freddie'. but if you have any good transcriptions of that stuff, send it in! i'll post it despite my tastes. but please, only jefferson starship songs, no mickey thompson starship songs. i don't suppose i need to explain myself on that.
what equipment did the airplane use?
paul used rickenbacker 366/12 twelve string electric guitars for most of the airplane stuff, although in the seventies he sometimes played a regular ol' fender strat. jorma used a guild thunderbird on surrealistic pillow. for most of the subsequent airplane stuff, he used a gibson 345 stereo guitar, with the body pick-up being the wah channel and the neck pick up being the fuzztone channel. he used an ampeg scrambler fuzz box. both paul and jorma used fender twin reverb amps. on the volunteers album, jorma used a fender strat on some songs. jack played an alembic bass from 1970 (possibly late 1969 too) onward. before that, i believe he used a guild hollowbody. if you would like to achieve a similar tone to jorma's guitar, a wah pedal and an octave fuzz is necessary (clones of the ampeg scrambler are out there- the pink elephant by creepy fingers is particularly good for the early 70s airplane/hot tuna sounds jorma had).
