Give me your best advice for learning to play leads

Achilles said:
Ever imagine the looks and stage show of Kiss but with the music of Rush?


WE ARE THE PRIESTS... OF THE TEMPLE..... OF SYRINX!

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Nope. Can't say that I have. Have you talked to your doctor about that?
 
TSJMajesty said:
Nope. Can't say that I have. Have you talked to your doctor about that?
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Back then I saw pictures of Kiss before I ever heard a song. I figured if guys that looked like Rush could come up with something like Bastille Day and The Fountain of Lamneth then these Kiss guys were really going to be something else!

What a colossal let down finally hearing their album. :rofl
 
TSJMajesty said:
So...., sometimes 'more' is not 'more'? :unsure: :rofl

But yeah, great point. Solos aren't the song.
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Hahahahah...

If the solo is capable of doing it on it's own, that's one thing, but once I start fucking with the song's composition to make a solo work, unless I know I already have something compelling or I'm feeling brave, it's 99.9% of the time an effort in futility.
 
DrewJD82 said:
Hahahahah...

If the solo is capable of doing it on it's own, that's one thing, but once I start fucking with the song's composition to make a solo work, unless I know I already have something compelling or I'm feeling brave, it's 99.9% of the time an effort in futility.
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You write a lot, and I..., just don't. But I've had an idea from time to time, and wonder if you've (or anyone else) has ever done this:

Say you're just noodling around (recording it), wandering from key to key, and you get some parts that do sound interesting. What about..., going back and trying to create a chord progression from those licks/noodles/whatevs?
 
Achilles said:
Found it.

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I was actually pissed at myself for 2 things after that MP show:
1) I had not dived deeper into their earlier catalogue (first time I heard Xanadu was at that show.)
2) That I hadn't got so wasted. Detracted from my enjoyment of the show. Foggy memories and such.

Oh, and that I didn't offer one of the 10 tickets I got to the burner dude in Literature class, whom I didn't know well enough at the time. But it turned out he was a MUCH bigger Rush fan than several of my friends that went with me. He basically used to sleep in that class, until we got to studying Kubla Khan, which woke his ass up, and he yells out: "Oh yeah dudes! That's RUSH! Xanadu man!"
 
TSJMajesty said:
Say you're just noodling around (recording it), wandering from key to key, and you get some parts that do sound interesting. What about..., going back and trying to create a chord progression from those licks/noodles/whatevs?
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I do that sometimes, and it can be a very good approach because you're not predisposed with a set of chords in your head. It gets you out of the box in certain ways.
 
FuzzyAce said:
I do that sometimes, and it can be a very good approach because you're not predisposed with a set of chords in your head. It gets you out of the box in certain ways.
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That's kinda what I was thinking. I bet you could come up with some unique stuff that way.

Or like, getting a new piece of gear, and it instantly inspired you to write a song? Yamaha SPX 90 anyone? Trevor Rabin...?

New gear like that needs to come with a warning label: Caution! Turn on your recording device before using this gear for the first time to prevent complete loss of musical ideas it inspires!
 

Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments for Guitar Players.​

1. Listen to the birds​

That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere.

2. Your guitar is not really a guitar​

Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you’re good, you’ll land a big one.

3. Practice in front of a bush​

Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn’t shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. Walk with the devil​

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re brining over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. If you’re guilty of thinking, you’re out​

If your brain is part of the process, you’re missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. Never point your guitar at anyone​

Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. Always carry a church key​

That’s your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He’s one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song “I Need a Hundred Dollars” is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty — making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he’s doing it.

8. Don’t wipe the sweat off your instrument​

You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. Keep your guitar in a dark place​

When you’re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don’t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

10. You gotta have a hood for your engine​

Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can’t escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.
 
TSJMajesty said:
My FIRST concert was Moving Pictures, Largo Capital Centre (DC), 7 rows from the stage!! Right in front of Alex. And I literally had myself convinced they were from outer space! (Substances may have been involved.)

Ok, Rush de-de-derail over. :rofl
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I remember that show. Didn’t get to, but remember when it happened. Also remember camping out on the Capital Center property for Metallica tickets when they opened for Ozzy - and getting harassed by the police for underage drinking, thankfully they had some many targets that night they let us go with a stern warning. :ROFLMAO:
 
Iron1 said:
I remember that show. Didn’t get to, but remember when it happened. Also remember camping out on the Capital Center property for Metallica tickets when they opened for Ozzy - and getting harassed by the police for underage drinking, thankfully they had some many targets that night they let us go with a stern warning. :ROFLMAO:
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Camping out over the weekend at Hecht Co. parking lot! For Ozzy's BATM tour, we got to the Annapolis store Friday evening, and there were already 7 people in line. So I said to my buddy, "Hey, Bowie has a store too. Wanna try it?" We ended up first in line there, and got 2nd row seats!

Aaahh, the good ole days.
 
TSJMajesty said:
You write a lot, and I..., just don't. But I've had an idea from time to time, and wonder if you've (or anyone else) has ever done this:

Say you're just noodling around (recording it), wandering from key to key, and you get some parts that do sound interesting. What about..., going back and trying to create a chord progression from those licks/noodles/whatevs?
Click to expand...

Yep, hahahah and that's how I can get carried away with re-arranging a song to make a lead work. But it absolutely has it's merits, too. Sometimes just playing two notes will make me hear an interval change that makes me want to write a chord structure around it, that's how that Floyd rip-off tune happened. And if you can something like that work within the structure of an existing song, by all means, I'm sure Dream Theater has done it a million times.

I can make an example of how trying to make something work for the solo's sake takes away from the song; these are the scratch tracks for the tune I just finished, I had this idea for how I wanted the solo to go when I was writing the rhythm stuff. It's twice as long as it needs to be, but coming out of the solo, if you start it at 0:45 and let it play, I was going to harmonize the lead over those guitars to go back into a chorus.


The intent of the entire song is to just keep your head banging, after listening to that for a couple days on the way to work it felt really jarring the way it jumped into that and stopped with the rhythm riff and in the end I cut the length of the solo section in half. (Start at 3:20)


Much different flow to those sections and keeps the head bobbin' going.
 
jay mitchell said:

Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments for Guitar Players.​

1. Listen to the birds​

That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere.

2. Your guitar is not really a guitar​

Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you’re good, you’ll land a big one.

3. Practice in front of a bush​

Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn’t shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. Walk with the devil​

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re brining over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. If you’re guilty of thinking, you’re out​

If your brain is part of the process, you’re missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. Never point your guitar at anyone​

Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. Always carry a church key​

That’s your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He’s one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song “I Need a Hundred Dollars” is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty — making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he’s doing it.

8. Don’t wipe the sweat off your instrument​

You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. Keep your guitar in a dark place​

When you’re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don’t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

10. You gotta have a hood for your engine​

Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can’t escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.
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How do I delete someones post if I'm not an admin?
 
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