Alive

Novawind · December 2007

So I've got most of Stone's rhythm parts down but I can't get Mike's chorus part or the second half of the solo... how long did the whole song take to learn? I've been playing for about... a year and a half and a lot of the finger movements aren't really coming naturally to me.

Here's the part where you all tell me to suck it up and practice practice practice...

lucylespian · December 2007

Hi there.

Mike's chorus part is the smae up intiul the D chord, which is ehld, then he plays a little melody riff.
I haven't learnt the GTW version, as I play the version in the Ten book, but I suspect it is the same notes, played further up the neck.
The second half of the solo is pretty hard. Any number of people will say it's easy, but i'd like to hear them play it. That repeating 4 note riff is a common device, Slash for example uses it a lot. It's one of those things you need to practise a lot. I have my days with it. Sometimes I can play it OK, other times not. I've been playing for a lot longer than you and I can't say that I can play that whole solo at all. I can play most of the bits in isolation, but it's a different story to string it all together.
The fast bit at the end of the big solo in Sweet Child of MIne is very similar, except athat the rif alternated with the last note iin the 4 note riff being the bent A to Bon the G string, to a bent D to E on the B string, and I get in that groove and have trouble going back to doing the Alive thing.
Maybe in my next life.
Yeah, suck it up and practise, but I think you can also take some pride in hte fact that you have the fisrst half down.

xtremehardy388 · December 2007

During the chorus, I think Stone plays that riff on the D chord. It looks that was when they played it live on Jools. (Check youtube.)

Switch · December 2007

lucylespian wrote:

Hi there.

Mike's chorus part is the smae up intiul the D chord, which is ehld, then he plays a little melody riff.
I haven't learnt the GTW version, as I play the version in the Ten book, but I suspect it is the same notes, played further up the neck.
The second half of the solo is pretty hard. Any number of people will say it's easy, but i'd like to hear them play it. That repeating 4 note riff is a common device, Slash for example uses it a lot. It's one of those things you need to practise a lot. I have my days with it. Sometimes I can play it OK, other times not. I've been playing for a lot longer than you and I can't say that I can play that whole solo at all. I can play most of the bits in isolation, but it's a different story to string it all together.
The fast bit at the end of the big solo in Sweet Child of MIne is very similar, except athat the rif alternated with the last note iin the 4 note riff being the bent A to Bon the G string, to a bent D to E on the B string, and I get in that groove and have trouble going back to doing the Alive thing.
Maybe in my next life.
Yeah, suck it up and practise, but I think you can also take some pride in hte fact that you have the fisrst half down.

GTW's tab is TOTALLY different to the abomination that is the Ten tab book.

Dogman3 · December 2007

I can't figure out the rhythm for either chorus part, Stone or Mike's. How is it? I always think

Oooh I... - E Chord

Ooooh - G Chord

I'm Still Ali - D Chord

Alive...yeah yeah... - A Chord

Is that about right? How about the strumming patterns?

Novawind · December 2007

That's stone's rhythm part which I know. The strumming is something like

1 ... 1234 (E)
2 ... 1234 (G)
3 ... 1234 (D)
4 ... 1234 (A)

where the ... you just have to fill in with the right amount of pause to make it sound right. User discretion, I can't really describe it to you in terms of quarter/eighth/sixteenth notes.

lucylespian · December 2007

Switch wrote:

GTW's tab is TOTALLY different to the abomination that is the Ten tab book.

Yawn !!!!!

lucylespian · December 2007

Novawind wrote:

That's stone's rhythm part which I know. The strumming is something like

1 ... 1234 (E)
2 ... 1234 (G)
3 ... 1234 (D)
4 ... 1234 (A)

where the ... you just have to fill in with the right amount of pause to make it sound right. User discretion, I can't really describe it to you in terms of quarter/eighth/sixteenth notes.

THat's a pretty good description.

Or similarly, down for 2 quarter note beats, then down, up down up with each stroke there being an eight note each, to complete the math for one bar. When you count eight note, the convention is to count 1 & 2& 3 & 4 &, so the first stroke is 1&2&, then a strum each on 3&4&.
It's not a busy sound, more a relaxed feel.

quap · January 2008

believe me they dont play as the ten book (only main riff is acurate)

they play it likegtw tab (its about 95% acurate)

solsurfr · January 2008

lucylespian wrote:

The second half of the solo is pretty hard. Any number of people will say it's easy, but i'd like to hear them play it.

It's a cool solo but if you are at all competent at the pentatonic scale, then it should just take a few hours to practice, repeat, and play the whole thing smoothly. As far as clips, the only thing I have to offer are demos from my old band cainmusic.com. I played lead on those demos. They are rough because we only had enough money to do one or two takes.

xtremehardy388 · January 2008

Originally Posted by lucylespian
The second half of the solo is pretty hard. Any number of people will say it's easy, but i'd like to hear them play it.

It's not easy but I practiced enough to confidently say you're welcome to come out to Kalamazoo and I'll play it for you

Please don't take that comment as arrogance either.

lucylespian · January 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

Originally Posted by lucylespian
The second half of the solo is pretty hard. Any number of people will say it's easy, but i'd like to hear them play it.

It's not easy but I practiced enough to confidently say you're welcome to come out to Kalamazoo and I'll play it for you Please don't take that comment as arrogance either.

Ah see dude, I have no trouble believing peop0le when they say they can play it.

It's when they say it's easy that I'm more cynical.

Kalamazoo ??
I still think that's a joke name like Whykickamoocow or Didjabringabeeralong. LOL !!

Thanks for the offer. I might make it to Nashville one day though, something about that place that appeals to me, spiritual home of guitar or something.

Actually that solo is simpler than some things I can play, but I'm a slow learner, and I have never put the time in to learn that one. I can play all the elelments, but it's stringing it together to make one smooth piece that's the trick. Maybe this year.

xtremehardy388 · January 2008

lucylespian wrote:

Ah see dude, I have no trouble believing peop0le when they say they can play it.

It's when they say it's easy that I'm more cynical.

Kalamazoo ??
I still think that's a joke name like Whykickamoocow or Didjabringabeeralong. LOL !!

Thanks for the offer. I might make it to Nashville one day though, something about that place that appeals to me, spiritual home of guitar or something.

Actually that solo is simpler than some things I can play, but I'm a slow learner, and I have never put the time in to learn that one. I can play all the elelments, but it's stringing it together to make one smooth piece that's the trick. Maybe this year.

As the age old (and very annoying saying-at least for hometowners) says, YES! There really is a Kalamazoo, haha. Just look up "Kalamazoo, Michigan" and you'll learn about a very boring place...at least Heritage Guitars are still made at the old Gibson factory. Nashville...wooo, I'd love to go there for SO many reasons. To me, the Alive solo was a piece of cake compared to the opening of Baba O'reily...man, Mike plays that SO fast! That's what I'm having trouble with...and have been for a few years, haha.

lucylespian · January 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

As the age old (and very annoying saying-at least for hometowners) says, YES! There really is a Kalamazoo, haha. Just look up "Kalamazoo, Michigan" and you'll learn about a very boring place...at least Heritage Guitars are still made at the old Gibson factory. Nashville...wooo, I'd love to go there for SO many reasons. To me, the Alive solo was a piece of cake compared to the opening of Baba O'reily...man, Mike plays that SO fast! That's what I'm having trouble with...and have been for a few years, haha.

I've never looked at Baba O'Rielly.
If it's a riff, I should not have too many dramas, I can knock those over pretty quick. It's the longer solos that I need to spend more time on. Actually , it's taht repeating 4 note phrase that crosses 3 strings that pops up all over that is holding me up. I can do it, but not to the level taht I am aiming for. I am pretty fussy about getting the phrasing perfect of course. Call me boring, but teh discipline of forcing myself to play precisely is paying off with me being able to play whatever I want to play and not being limited by sloppy technique.

lucylespian · January 2008

Just looked at Baba. I like that song, didn't know what it was called.
I can hear the riff in my head, it sounds like an echo or a stutter device, but I can see how it will sound from teh tab.
I do a lot of the picking exercises like that, and I can play the descending harmonised lines after the ONe solo which are about teh same speed, so I think I can play that. I'm off to lunch now, and I have a fiddle in the brougham, so I'll find out.

keeponrockin · January 2008

Rude Mood has been giving me problems.

lucylespian · January 2008

Actually, I think I remember seeing PT on a Behind the Music showing how he came up with that riff using an early sequencing/synth kinda thing
He still had it, an old bit of gear, and he just programmed the sequence of notes, and set it going, then adjusted the speed.

xtremehardy388 · January 2008

lucylespian wrote:

Just looked at Baba. I like that song, didn't know what it was called.
I can hear the riff in my head, it sounds like an echo or a stutter device, but I can see how it will sound from teh tab.
I do a lot of the picking exercises like that, and I can play the descending harmonised lines after the ONe solo which are about teh same speed, so I think I can play that. I'm off to lunch now, and I have a fiddle in the brougham, so I'll find out.

LUNCH!?! Wow, I'm getting ready for bed (as it is almost 11PM here). It's a synth originally but Mike McCready uses his guitar. It's an easy chord but picking it that fast is what gets me. You're not boring at all, by the way. The discipline is something many lack now-a-days.

lucylespian · January 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

LUNCH!?! Wow, I'm getting ready for bed (as it is almost 11PM here). It's a synth originally but Mike McCready uses his guitar. It's an easy chord but picking it that fast is what gets me. You're not boring at all, by the way. The discipline is something many lack now-a-days.

What sort of pick do you use ?
After reading article on it I tried using a Dunlop Jazz III. Satch, Petrucci, Jim Root, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson etc all swear by them.
I don't use them exclusively now, but they are the best for really fast picking like that.
I ended up having a swim at the beach and a nice chocolate frappe at a cafe for lunch, but I'll tackle it tonight and see how I go.
I know I'm not boring, but I have been flamed so many times on forums for saying that really disciplined playing ( ie note for note) is OK.
I know it's OK, it's how all the great guys developed their chops.

xtremehardy388 · January 2008

The beach...last week, we had almost a foot of snow out here...I'm very envious. Anyway, I use dunlop tortex picks. Medium to heavy gauges. I snap Fender thins in half. I hope you're enjoying your weather. Tommorow, I get to work in snowy/rainy 20-30 degree weather...until 2AM OUTSIDE!

lucylespian · January 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

The beach...last week, we had almost a foot of snow out here...I'm very envious. Anyway, I use dunlop tortex picks. Medium to heavy gauges. I snap Fender thins in half. I hope you're enjoying your weather. Tommorow, I get to work in snowy/rainy 20-30 degree weather...until 2AM OUTSIDE!

Think about the Jazz III for a change.
I also use Gator Grip Tortex 0.96 and 1.14 depending on whether I am power picking metal or strumming.
I occasionally use the yellow Tortex that Mike flicked at me, but not often

The "tortoise" Tortex have a blunt tip, and I find them VERY slow compared to the GAtor Grips, which have a tapered tip.
THe Jazz III is a different beast again. I think you will find both of them to be much faster thatn what you are using.
I had alook at BAba tonigh, knocked it into shape pretty quickly in these steps.

Use a solid palm mute
Get the picking tempo established on one string, picking in couplet groups rather than a tremolo.
Play some caterpillar on the one string using that couplet picking to get your left and right hand in PERFECT synch. Don't settle for less than absoloutely PERFECT.
Start jumping between just 2 strings, the D and G, then the G and B. I found that one trickier.
When you are picking between the 2 string sets well, add the 3rd string.
I'm certainly not a stadium quality with it yet.
The obvious method would be to set a metronome and gradually speed it up, but the movement at correct speed is quite different to it slowed down.

Jazz III

Did I mention to try a Jazz III pick for this.

BTW, it's mid-summer here and we have had some impressive rain with flooding .
I will be in San Fran and Whistler in a few weeks, so I glad it is snowing. They are having heaps of snow, about a foot a night at the moment, and we are getting pretty excited.

Alive

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