So to catch you up on what has been happening with my project, the strings on my Les Gibson broke, the strings on my Fretlight sound like they could break any minute, and I spent a bunch of time learning the entire song, when I should have just been focusing on one specific solo. I of course went with Friedman's super complex solo that is quite possibly one of the most famous Megadeth guitar solos out there. Watch this video of Marty Friedman playing it live (solo begins at 3:06): As you can see, this solo is quite complex and uses a combination of major and minor pitches, different scales, and has some lengthy stretches between frets in some parts (especially that tapping part near the end. Specifically the one stretching from the 19th fret to the 10th fret on the high E string). And let's not forget the half step, whole step, and one-and-a-half step bends that are used in the piece. Now you might be wondering: "How are you progressing with learning this solo?" And by answer: "Not as bad as I was expecting it to go." When I listened to this song at the very start of Genius Hour, I was so overwhelmed by the solo, and never thought I would be able to learn it. However, after several hours of looking at tabs on Songsterr, watching and re-watching tutorials, and having cramped fingers, I was able to figure out the majority of the solo. Now, there is one part at the very end of the solo that uses the 24th fret, which I unfortunately do not have, so I am going to resort to playing about 7/8th's of the solo, and leaving that last bit to the legendary guitarist himself. During this project, I have gained a ton of respect for Mr. Friedman and Megadeth as a whole. The technicality of the solo and song show just how talented of a player he really is. I have one thing in mind, and that is if/when I get a new guitar (a Jackson or a Dean would be nice), I am going to learn this full song to the best of my ability, so I can say that I learned one of the most complex, and best Megadeth songs out there. There's just one thing. I still think Metallica is better.
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This week, I was able to work more on the solo of the song. I only worked on it for about an hour this week, which was honestly better than last week, but I feel like if i really wanna nail this solo then I'll need to work on it more. I have gotten pretty good at playing the verses and choruses up to speed. Then the bridge is pretty easy, and the initial build up to the solo isn't too bad, but the actual solo itself is very tricky, especially up to speed. I ended up watching this video in order to help me out: A couple of the things that I am having the most trouble with in playing the solo, is 1. bending the notes up to the right pitch, 2. sweep picking, 3. stretching my fingers, and 4. tapping notes quickly. The note bends I'm sure I will get on my own, just by practicing them a lot. I don't know how to sweep pick, so I will probably have to watch some tutorials on that. As for the stretching of my fingers, and especially my pinkie, I have no idea how I will do that. I severely doubt that there is a video out there that will tell me how to stretch my fingers farther, so I might just have to quickly move up and down the fretboard. For tapping the notes, I think I'll just have to sort of exercise my fingers into moving that quickly without strumming, and without hitting any of the other strings.
The song essentially repeats itself, except for the pre- and post-solo verses, and the outro. So I have the vast majority of the song complete, but those things. A lot of stuff still needs cleaning up, and I have yet to find the right tone that matches that of the song. This coming week, I'm gonna try to work on it more, especially the solo. I also need to work on my video editing skills, but I don't think I need to go super in depth with that, because that is not what my project is about. In the last blog, I contemplated playing along with a backing track, and I decided that I am going to do that, just so it will sound like the actual song and not just guitar playing, and to help me stay on time. I will not lie, I didn't do much this week. I mostly spent the whole week working on the solo, and continuing to practice the verses and choruses. I also learned the Bridge, which wasn't that hard, just palm mutes and power chords. The Pre-Solo Verse is a little complicated and still needs more work, and the actual solo itself is pretty difficult, so I'm going to need to dedicate a bigger portion of my time working on that. I had a friend of mine put new strings on my Les Paul, but when he was putting the low E string on, it snapped and neither of us are sure why. Because of that, I am still using my Fretlight guitar, which is still working good, but it could probably use some new strings as well. The tone of either guitar doesn't really match the tone of the song, but that's fine because I don't think the tone really matters as much. I still intend on using the Les Paul in the final recording, so I am gonna have to go get a low E string put on it. On my last blog I got it wrong. It was not Kiko Loureiro who played on the album, it was Marty Friedman. I get those 2 mixed up quite a bit for some reason. Either way, I believe Mr. Friedman used a 6-string firebrand Jason Becker to record the song, but I am not exactly sure. I can't find a picture of the guitar, but here is Marty Friedman playing a Jackson: My goals for the upcoming week are to work hard on accomplishing the solo, as well as working on the Pre-Solo verse and the Post-Solo verse. I have the Verses, Choruses, and Bridge down pretty good, but they can be cleaned up. Also the latter half of the Interlude before the solo can use some work. After I learn all of the parts, I'll just have to consistently work on them and clean things up, and then I'll record the video of me playing it. I have yet to decide if I want to play with a backing track or not, but I'm leaning towards the idea of using one.
I started off this week listening to the song a few times on Spotify, just to pay extra attention and see what I'm up against. Then, I decided which website I should use to look at the tabs (Songsterr or Ultimate Guitar), and ended up choosing Songsterr. On Songsterr, the song is rated at 3/5 for difficulty, meaning it is a little big more challenging than the average. The guitar that I was planning on using to play this song was a Gibson Les Paul, but the B String snapped, so I had to resort to my Fretlight Standard (which is almost identical to a Stratocaster). This sort of looks like my Les Paul, except mine is red. I was looking at the tabs on Songsterr and I realized I was playing Dave Mustaine's. As much as I love Dave Mustaine, I needed to be playing Kiko Loureiro's part, because he is the one that has the main solo, and that is the part that I am most focused on and want to achieve. I began listening to the song on Songsterr and watching the bar as it went through the notes. At the very beginning of the song, Kiko just plays power chords on the 7th fret of the E string and 9th fret of the A string. That part is easy, but then he moves down the fretboard and is playing power chords switching between the E and A strings and the A and D strings. He's playing these parts pretty fast, so I'm gonna have to work my hands up to the level when I can pick and play the notes at the right speed on the right strings. That part pretty much repeats itself for a while, so I decided to move up to the first solo, and try that out. It was very overwhelming at first, so I had to take it really slow. I will definitely be working on that more this coming week.
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