What?! Another song already? Yeah! I figured this one out real quick, so rather than wait a week, I thought I’d throw it up now. Besides, “Under A Glass Moon” was delayed a few days, so I’m making up for it.
Not much to say about this one. It’s pretty straight forward, but it’s a lot of fun (the whole song is fun actually, do yourself a favor and learn the whole thing).
Two big beasty solos in a row and my longest video yet! This solo isn’t as long as the Jeff Beck one, but there’s a lot more going on.
To be honest, I don’t understand why people love this solo so much. I’m not a fan of John Petrucci’s playing (or Dream Theater in general) and this solo was no exception. The whole thing sounds very clunky and awkward to my ears. The chord changes hit like a freight train, with the band abruptly changing grooves and Petrucci hitting the new root note right on the downbeat. That’s the sort of thing you’re told to do when you first start learning to improvise (just to show your teacher that you’re aware of the chords changes), then never do again.
HOWEVER, it is quite fun to play; I will admit that. It’s challenging, and there are a lot of interesting ideas and cool techniques in here that are worth mentioning. For example, the Emaj7 arpeggio in bar 4 uses a great two-string shape that allows you to quickly move across the strings. I did a whole lesson about it actually! You can check that out here.
So, anyways, I’m not totally solid on this one, but I’m not interested in working on it any more. It simply doesn’t do anything for me, and I’d much rather learn or work on something that does. That said, here it is:
The Copycats will be playing at Shady Nook in Brea again Saturday, April 18th. Swing on by if you’ve never been. It’s always a fun night.
First time covering some Jeff Beck! I’ve actually been playing this solo for years. It’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s also the ONLY Jeff Beck solo on the list, which is ridiculous! What about “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, “Where Were You?”, or “Beck’s Bolero”? Needless to say, I’d definitely place this tune higher on the list and add those others, but that’s beside the point.
This solo is a beast. It clocks in at a minute forty, but it doesn’t feel that long when you’re playing it; it’s just a real slow tempo. This one requires lots and lots of listening. Tabs and notation aren’t going to help much here. If you are using a transcription (the one in the Guitar World book is actually pretty solid), then just use it for a basic idea, then try to emulate the sound on the recording. Beck is all about nuance and subtlety, and his playing is very vocal. Just getting the notes isn’t enough with this one. You have to feel it.
Pro-fé-cia has a few shows coming up in the next couple months, including a couple local shows.
We’ll be playing Dirty D’s X-treme Band Showcase in San Bernardino next Saturday. We go on at midnight, but there are lots of great bands on the bill, including our good friends Sangre, Army of Darkness, and Contortion. Darrell’s shows are always a great time too, with plenty of food and drinks, so spend the whole day hanging out and support IE metal.
We’re also playing the Spring Breakdown Festival in Whittier on April 25th. This is a big festival set up by our good friends over at Dead Sea Records featuring Escape The Fate, Otep, Ill Niño, our frequent road-mates Black Oil, and tons of other great bands local and touring. It should be a ton of fun.
We’re also playing Force Fest in Guadalajara on May 9th with Judas Priest, Overkill, Carcass, Bujeria, Wehrmacht, Vital Remains, Death Angel, and many more. We’re working on some additional Mexico dates (because we love Mexico SO much) that will lead up to the show. More details on that once everything is booked.
Fox & the Red Hares will be in and out of the studio in the next couple weeks finishing up our EP.
Here are a few photos from this past week:
Here it is, #100 on Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”
This solo is pretty simple, but totally killer. Give it a try.
Seeing as I can never make up my mind about which solo to figure out each week, I decided to apply some sort of structure to my weekly lesson series. I was thinking about doing another Bon Jovi tune, and when I saw that “Wanted Dead or Alive” was number 100 on Guitar World’s list of the 100 greatest solos, the choice was simple.
This list was chosen by their readers, so it shows their biases; there isn’t a single jazz player on the list, no country, very few straight blues, and few songs that predate 1968 (with the only entry from the 50’s being Johnny B Goode. So, while I find the idea of the “greatest solos ever” not including Rock Around the Clock, Au Privav, and other landmark recordings to be quite silly, all the solos on the list ARE great.
However, there seem to be several versions of this list! I purchased the book which purported to contain the 100 solos from that poll, intending to use it as a master list, only to discover that the solos were not ranked in the book. I assume this was due to publishing rights as there were a few guitarists who had multiple solos on the list, but not in the book. Those that were omitted were just replaced with other solos (some of which are odd choices, but still excellent solos).
There are two versions of this list I will be working from, which you can find below. I will be working my way backwards from #100 to #1. Whenever these ranked lists differ, I will pick whichever song is actually in the book (or whichever I prefer should neither be in there). I won’t be learning these solos from the book though, as the point of me doing these regular videos is to buff up my own transcription skills.
So, publishing rights sorta mucked up my initial plan, but I think this will still be very fun.
Here are the lists:
RateYourMusic
And here is a video where I basically say everything you just read:
Pro-fé-cia will be playing the Xtreme Band Showcase presented by Dirty D of X103.9 on Saturday, March 21st. This will be our only local show for some time. We will also be playing our new material for the first time in the US. These songs have been getting a great response from the crowds in Mexico. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them too.
Also on the bill are our good friends Sangre, Army of Darkness, Contortion, and many others. It should be a great night of IE metal.
Better late than never, right?
It’s starting to become apparent that I can’t count on a free block of time at the studio anymore, but that’s a good thing!
I’m still going to try my best to bring you all another solo tutorial each week. Today’s was recorded in my room. The sound is a bit better, but the lighting is atrocious.
Anyway, 18 & Life: I think it’s safe to call this tune a classic, and this solo is great. Scotti Hill says he wanted to write a solo you could whistle, and I think he delivered. The phrases flow across the bars and changes wonderfully, and it’s super catchy.
Careful with that last lick. It’s not too hard, but don’t get lazy and phone it in.