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Iron Maiden – Powerslave

Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 through EMI Records in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. It was re-released by Sanctuary and Columbia Records in the United States in 2002.

The songs “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “Aces High” were released as singles. Its cover artwork is notable for its Ancient Egypt theme. That theme, taken from the title track, was carried over to the album’s supporting tour, the World Slavery Tour. This began in Warsaw, Poland, on 9 August 1984; it is widely regarded as being the band’s longest and most arduous tour to date, and led to the live album Live After Death.

The release contains a musical re-telling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the lyrics of which include some lines from the poem. At 13 minutes and 45 seconds in length, this was Iron Maiden’s longest song for over 30 years until it was surpassed by the 18-minute “Empire of the Clouds” from the 2015 album The Book of Souls.

Powerslave is notable as the band’s first album to feature the same personnel as their previous studio release. This lineup would remain intact for two further studio releases. It is also their last album to date to feature an instrumental piece, and the only one until Senjutsu (2021) in which longtime member and guitarist Dave Murray does not have a songwriting credit.

Disclaimer: All transcriptions are provided "as is" for purely EDUCATIONAL purposes. All other uses are prohibited. All copyrights in the original works remain the property of the owners.

Read here for details on how I make them and my committment to accuracy.

Tracklist

001 - aces high bass tab

  • Instrument: 4 String Bass Guitar
  • Page Count: 10
  • Format: Interactive PDF
  • difficulty Level: Advanced
  • Tuning: E Standard (E-A-D-G)
  • Key(s): F#m, Am Em, Bm
  • Download Size: 1.4MB

002 - 2 minutes to midnight bass tab

Nothing here yet, my dude...

003 - losfer Words (big 'orra) bass tab

This track is harmonically more complex than you'd think. I've marked up the C Section as have 3 key changes within the Riff because choosing a Diatonic Key or Mode didn't work. The closest choice maybe would have been C Lydian as it starts with C Major and D Major but C Lydian has an Em and a Bm where the riff has Eb and Bb before resolving back to C.

For that reson, I've marked it as 2 bars in C Major, 2 bars in D Major and 4 bars in C Dorian for the resolution.

There are a couple of other sections where Steve is play an F# in a Chord progression that has an F♮5 in it. To keep the transcription clean and easy to read I've marked up Steve's line as being in D Lydian but I have a feeling the guitars are in D minor (hence the F♮5).

It's a bit of a mess but I've done my best to make it clean and tidy to read.

  • Instrument: 4 String Bass Guitar
  • Page Count: 9
  • Format: Interactive PDF
  • difficulty Level: Advanced
  • Tuning: E Standard (E-A-D-G)
  • Key(s): A Dorian, Em, C, D, C Dorian, D Lydian, F Mixolydian
  • Download Size: 1.5MB

004 - flash of the blade bass tab

Nothing here yet, my dude...

005 - the duellists bass tab

  • Instrument: 4 String Bass Guitar
  • Page Count: 16
  • Format: Interactive PDF
  • difficulty Level: Advanced
  • Tuning: E Standard (E-A-D-G)
  • Key(s): Em, Bm
  • Download Size: 1.4MB

006 - back in the village bass tab

Nothing here yet, my dude...

007 - powerslave bass tab

Nothing here yet, my dude...

008 - rime of the ancient mariner bass tab

Nothing here yet, my dude...

Iron Maiden Discography

Below are the other albums for which there are transcriptions. Click the album covers to go to their pages and get the transcriptions.

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