“Wipeout” isa sue phenomenon, a piece ‘of Americana, One of a small handful of surf records o be heard beyond the West Coast reached Number Two in 1963, charted again thee years later, and remains a part of the essential musical legacy of the early 1960 The epitome of surf rock atinude and perfor- mance, “Wipeout” was the only hit forthe Susfaris, a quintet from Glendora, Calforia, land serves beautifully as a ime capsule of the ‘era and genre “Today “Wipeout is as pervasive as ever in cour culture, appearing in various and sundry contexts from oldies collections and movie soundtracks to K-Mart commercials ‘THE FORM Believe it oF not, “Wipeout” is a 12- bar blues. Wel, nor exactly. While not 44 blues in character or intent, “Wipeout” is nonetheless predicated a il MAMMAL Ws i v toy ‘on the same overall form and structure as many ofthe classic tunes by Muddy Waters, Howlia’ Wolf and B. B. King, and coatains many sinilar characteris ties; be, a recurring guitar riff and improvised soloing. Each section (or chorus, as itis WIPEOUT blues instrumentals, dominated by a catchy ‘main riff which i its central theme or hook, This i established in the fist chorus or bead cof the tune. Here each chord of the 12-bar progression has ts own movable melodic par ticle based on a simple 4-note idea introduced inthe hstbar. This procedure patllels a well known practice found in many vocal pieces with movable riffs such as Lite Richard’s “Lucile” Jeff Beck's “Rock My Plimsoul” or ‘The Beatcs' ‘Binhday." The note-to-chord relationship in the fst 8 bars is inescapable (Fig. 3. The C (chord) uses a G-D-B-C ‘melodic figure and the FV) uses a CEMEF melody that i its literal transposition up a Fourth, moved to match the chord. The G and F parts of the progression follow simular chord based movements, THE SOLO ‘Lead guitarist Jim Puller (who sports an ‘early 60s custom color Stat to die for on the album cover) tums ina textbook toes-on the- nose solo in “Wipeout.” Melding Chuck ‘Benry-inspired double stops with the quirky stro (ban) called in contemporary instrumental parlance) is 12 bars in length, and incorporates the same proportions, relationships and harmonic moves of 1,1V and V in the chord progression [Fig 1 as tadbtional blues music from Chicago oF Texas, “The basic 12-ber sections are orga nized into larger themac areas, which. are easily grasped in a form chart This provides a kind of structural road rmap—its big picture ata glance. The form chart for “Wipeout” (Fig. 2 reveals that it is arranged in 12-bar choruses of head (eiff/érum break/head/drum —break/guitar solo/drum break/bead out ‘THE RIFF “Wipeout,” like countless rock and. (bm otaae Notes ‘by Wolf Marshall sur-ock phrasing of Dick Dale and the prim tivism of garage guitar, and appropriately drenched in revert, was the primer for inn erable fledgling rack guitarists who grew up In California, or anywhere else near a radio. At fas heart isthe same movable riff conscious- fess we sw in the main theme sections, oly these are movable lea! ifs The phrases are physically moved from chord position to ‘chord position, up and down the fretboard, ‘mainaining a very close scale-to-chord rela tionship. Charactedscally, Fuller exploits the blues-oriented dab of playing minor penta- toni licks against major background chords IPig. 41a given in rock ol ofthe era For more on: 1) 12-bar blues progressions, see The Wolf “Marbail Guttar Method: Basics 1 2) Movable sis, see The Wolf Marshall Guitar ‘Metbod: Bases 2 3) Minor pentatonic and blues progressions, see The Wolf Marshall Guitar Method: Basics Zand 3 GurawOne © Vowmen 27WIPEOUT As Recorded by The Surfaris (From the album BEST OF THE SIXTIES/Priority Re ‘Tablature Explanation page 24 c F ‘Music by The Surtaris a or iar ia ie fag Intro, Fast Surf Rock J = 181 (Geashing/asettolauhgte) (rum) (a5) Bl sayres (chee) 28 GurarOne © VounenWipeout Fl c a End Rhy. Fig. NU ' ‘ Woe ~ ' ‘ To Coda @ Ne ~ ' VNUs ~ ' Noe ' GurTaROne © Voune tl 29———__2 Guitar Solo 2 Gu 2: iby Fig 1 c DS. al Coda Vee Play 4 Times and Fade 30 GumTaROne © Voue