I saw a request for this song a while ago. I wasn’t gonna do it
‘cause I thought it was a completely impractical song to wanna know how to
play (kinda like NIN’s “Closer” or something like that) for the simple fact
that without a very SPECIFIC kind of guitar, the song is unplayable!
Eddie uses a Steinberger on this one. For those of you that don’t know,
Steinbergers are those $1900 suckers that look like little boxes with a
guitar neck comin’ out of them. Steinberger also is the only company
(that I know of) that has what’s called a Trans-Trem vibrato system. This
allows the guitarist to pull up or push down on the trem bar and lock it
into place so that the pitch of the strings remain in tune, but are
TRANSposed to a different tuning. A wonderful invention if you ask me.
No more tuning down 1/2 step or anything like that. This system ALSO
does other cool stuff: By magic, it keeps all of the strings IN TUNE when
you pull up or push down on the bar. Like, you could strum an A chord
and pull up on the bar and make it sound like a C chord. For an example
of this gadget at work, try listening to “Get Up” from Van Halen 5150.
Eddie isn’t sliding his fingers, he’s pulling up on the fuckin’ bar! And
then for the solo, he locks it into place a few half-steps up!
Anyway, the only reason I decided to tab this song is ‘cause I figured if
you had a capo that was easily and quickly removed, you COULD concievably
play this song accurately. So whip out them capos kiddies, and put ‘em
across the 3rd fret…
~~~~~~~~

Tab explanation:
everything’s basically straight-forward except for a few things…
“t” above the tab means tap that note with your picking hand
“sl” above the tab means slide to that fret with your tapping finger
“nh” means it’s natural harmonics until the end of the “…”

Summer Nights
by Van Halen
tab by Paul D.
pdmytrewycz@music.transy.edu

(For the sake of accuracy, I have tabbed this song as it would ACTUALLY be
played. With the capo on the 3rd fret, your open notes are technically
all gonna be 3’s in tab. So until I indicate that you are to remove
the capo, all 3’s mean that you leave the string open and let the capo do
the rest. 🙂 For example, the first chord here is SUPPOSED to look like
a standard “G” shape, but the tab looks funny because the 3rd fret is
really your “open”. Is that confusing enough?…)

w/fingers:

||---------5-------3---|---------------------|---------5-------3---|-------
||-6-------6-----6---6-|-6-------6p5---3-----|-6-------6-----6---6-|-------
||-3-----3-5---5-------|-3-----3-5-------5---|-3-----3-5---5-------|-------
||-3---3-----3---------|-3---3---5---5-----5-|-3---3-----3---------|-------
||---------------------|-5-5-----3-----------|---------------------|-------
||-6-6-----------------|---------------------|-6-6-----------------|-------
----------------------|---------5-------3---|---------------||
6-------6p5---3-------|-6-------6-----6---6-|-6---------5---||
3-----3-5---------5---|-3-----3-5---5-------|-3-------3-5---||
3---3---5---5---5---5-|-3---3-----3---------|-3-----3---5---||
5-5-----3-------------|---------------------|-5---5-----3---||
----------------------|-6-6-----------------|-6-6-----------||

w/pick:

----------------|-----------------------------|-------------------|--------
6-6-6-6-6-6-----|-6-6-6---5-5-----------------|---6-6-6---6-6-----|--------
3-3-3-3-5-5-----|-3-3-3---5-5-----------------|---3-3-3---5-5-----|--------
3-3-3-3-3-3---x|-3-3-3---5-5---3-7p5p3-------|---3-3-3---3-3---x|--------
----------3---x|-5-5-5---3-3-----------7p5p3-|-----------------x|--------
6-6-6-6-------x|-----------------------------|-6-6-6-6---------x|--------
--------------------------------|---------------------|
6-6-6---5-5---------------------|---6-6-6-6-6-6-------|
3-3-3---5-5---------------------|---3-3-3-3-5-5-------|
3-3-3---5-5-----------8---------|---3-3-3-3-3-3---xx|
5-5-5---3-3---3h5h6h7---7p6p5p3-|-------------3---xx|
--------------------------------|-6-6-6-6-6-------xx|

(nh w/bar)

-------------------2~~~-|-----------||
6-6-6---5-5--------3----|-----------||
3-3-3---5-5------2-2----|--5--/---7-|| at  return to standard
3-3-3---5-5------2-0----|--5--/---7-|| position (remove capo)
5-5-5---3-3------0------|-----------||
------------------------|-----------||

When you’re back in standard, you’re ready to begin the main part of the
song, which has the following chord progression with a few variations:
And [G/B]it’s played like so…
[G/B]

|-3-3-3-------|-3-3-3---------------------|---3-3-3-----|
|-3-3-3-3-3---|-3-3-3-2-2-----------------|---3-3-3-3-3-|
|-0-0-0-2-2---|-0-0-0-2-2-----------------|---0-0-0-2-2-|
|-0-0-0-0-0---|-0-0-0-2-2---0-4p2p0-------|---0-0-0-0-0-|
|-------0-0---|-2-2-2-0-0-----------4p2p0-|---------0-0-|
|-3-3-3-------|---------------------------|-3-3-3-3-----|

w/bar

3-3-3-------------------------|---3-3-3-----------|-3-3-3------------------
3-3-3-2-2---------------------|---3-3-3-3-3-------|-3-3-3-2--2~~~----------
0-0-0-2-2---------------------|---0-0-0-2-2-------|-0-0-0-2--2~~~----------
0-0-0-2-2-----------5---------|---0-0-0-0-0-------|-0-0-0-2--2~~~----------
2-2-2-0-0---0h2h3h4---4p3p2p0-|---------0-0-------|-2-2-2-0--0~~~----------
------------------------------|-3-3-3-3-------x--|------------------------
||----------------------|-----------------------------|
||----------------------|-----------------------------|
||-2-------------------|-2---------------------------|
||-0-4---x-2-4---------|-0-4-------------------------|
||----2-----0-2---0h2p0-|---2-----------------x-4p2p0-|
||----------------------|-------0h2p0-3p0-4-5---------|

--------------------|--------------------||--------------------------|
--------------------|--------------------||-7/97/97---9---10---7/9-|
2-------------------|-2-----------------||-------------9---9----7/9-|
0-4---x-2-4---------|-0-4---------------||-7/97/97---9---9----7/9-|
--2-----0-2---0h2p0-|---2----------------||-------------7---7----5/7-|
--------------------|-------0h2p0-3/4p0--||--------------------------|
-----------------------|------------------------------|
7/97/97---10---9---7-|-7/97/97---9---10---7---9--|
------------9----9---7-|-------------9---9----7---9--|
7/97/97---9----9---7-|-7/97/97---9---9----7---9--|
------------7----7---5-|-------------7---7----5---7--|
-----------------------|------------------------------|
---------------------------------|---------------------|
-----1211------10-----7-----65-|---------------------|
---------------------------------|-2-------------------|
0h12----11-0h10----0h7---0h6--(5)|-0-4---x-2-4---------|
---------------------------------|---2-----0-2---0h2p0-|
---------------------------------|---------------------|
------------------|---------------|
------------------|-3-----3-3-----|
2-----------------|-2-----2-2-----|
0-4---------------|-0-----0-0-----|
--2---------------|---------------|
------0h2p0-3/4p0-|---0~------2~--|

t t t t sl t

----------------------------------------------------||
3-3-----3-3-3---------------------------------------||
2-2-----2-2-2---------------------------------------||
0-0-----0-0-----------------------------------------||
------------2~--0h4-12p0h4-12p0h4-12p0h4-12/1412p7-||
----3~----------------------------------------------||

Then it’s back to the G D G/B A progression again for the chorus.
Then comes the solo for which Eddie locks his Trans-Trem 1 step DOWN!
(i.e. DON’T ASK! I’m not gonna tune my guitar 1 step down just to figure it
out.) Then, after the solo, Eddie brings the Trans-Trem back up to the
FIRST position (1 1/2 steps up) and plays the little beginning part again.
And then again back to standard for another chorus bit (“Ahhhh, summer
nights…”).

For the outro, I think it’s just that main chord progression with something
like this over it…
(let ring)
nh…………….. nh……

||---------------------|------------------|-------------||
||-------12----------7-|-----7------5-----|----12-----7-||
||----12-----------7---|---7----------6---|-12------7---||
||-12---------12-7-----|-7-------7------7-|/12-----/7---||
||---------------------|------------------|-------------||
||---------------------|------------------|-------------||

After that, I’m not sure, it starts to fade out and it’s tough to hear.
I guess you could just flub it from there…

Good luck!