note for note projects

[J.Paul]

I

[Fendercaster]

Some that I learned when I first started playing lead that I still enjoy playing today, 30 years later:

 

Ramblin Man & Blue Sky- Allman Brothers

China Grove, South City Midnight Lady - Doobie Brothers

Sultans of Swing

Witchy Woman, Take it Easy

Spooky - ARS

[ggm1960]

I can play most any song on my setlist (as well as dozens of others) note for note on guitar, way to long of a list. Of course no one can exactly duplicate every aspect and nuance of a performance but I'll estimate a margin of error somewhere between 10-20%.

 

As I've long ago far exceeded my goals for guitar competency I try to devote my practice time to piano where I have a loooong way to go to reach my goals, starting with mastering the Jerry Lee Lewis style.

 

Right now I'm working on:

Whole Lotta Shakin' &

Great Balls Of Fire (with POV playing and printable transcriptions from the Jerry Lee Lewis Killer Piano DVD)

Chuck Leavell's piano solo in the Allman Brothers song Jessica (transcribed in the Sept. issue of Keyboard). Awesome! Finally some rock stuff in that mag (I hope Craig is reading this).

[pink floyd cramer]

IMO it is invaluable to learn great solos note-for-note and I have spent oodles of time doing that. I can't get away much with reproducing them on stage, however, because in trying to remember them, all the feel and spontanaity goes out the window. Plus, this inner voice tells me I'm cheating. I want to be who Homer Simpson was talking about when he said: "Jazz, phhht....those guys just make it up as they go along."

 

But if you learn them well, they take root in your musical brain and without conscious effort come out in your playing. At the very least, you get some new muscle memory to add to your old worn-out licks. That's my take- don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing anybody, least of all J. Paul whom I strongly suspect is a kick-ass player.

 

Having said that, I would love to learn the organ solo to "Hush" by Deep Purple, and also the organ part to "Fly Like an Eagle". That darn tucktronix won't even drive down to MS and teach it to me so I guess I'm on my own.

[wagdog]

I have learned solos note-for-note, for some songs you HAVE to.

 

However for a lot of songs, I stick with the advice my stepdad gave me years ago; learn the intro and the outro and any signature licks throughout the song and solo, as for the rest, make it yours, just don't overplay.

[rhat]

learning any really good note for note solo is good for your chops ,,, steal bits and pieces and workd them into your off the cuff stuff ... or just play them in the song ,, its all good.

[J.Paul]

yeah

just good exercises and it helps in increasing vocabulary

 

plus you can take alot of those phrases and twist them around and make them your own ....... I get tired of "inventing" everything I play. Good stock licks (however tired they might be) are familiar to people's ears and (for the most part) have become "stock licks" for a reason.

 

case in point :

heard a (good) gtr player fella wank his way through Hall & Oates "I Can't Go for That" the other day. Great sax solo to a great song that the general public knows and expects note for note, and he just kind cruises through w/ out any quotes.

Cop the damn solo

 

.....was nice to hear Hall & Oates tunes BTW

 

good stuff

anyone else?

 

 

IMO it is invaluable to learn great solos note-for-note and I have spent oodles of time doing that. I can't get away much with reproducing them on stage, however, because in trying to remember them, all the feel and spontanaity goes out the window. Plus, this inner voice tells me I'm cheating. I want to be who Homer Simpson was talking about when he said: "Jazz, phhht....those guys just make it up as they go along." But if you learn them well, they take root in your musical brain and without conscious effort come out in your playing. At the very least, you get some new muscle memory to add to your old worn-out licks. That's my take- don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing anybody, least of all J. Paul whom I strongly suspect is a kick-ass player. Having said that, I would love to learn the organ solo to "Hush" by Deep Purple, and also the organ part to "Fly Like an Eagle". That darn tucktronix won't even drive down to MS and teach it to me so I guess I'm on my own.

 

[triton76]

I'm forbidden to play solos for fear that the women shall disrobe and throw themselves at me.

[rvschulz]

 

Some that I learned when I first started playing lead that I still enjoy playing today, 30 years later: Ramblin Man & Blue Sky- Allman Brothers China Grove, South City Midnight Lady - Doobie Brothers Sultans of Swing Witchy Woman, Take it Easy Spooky - ARS

 

 

you and i are musical brothers ... add in Already Gone and Jessica/Elizabeth Reed.

[SpaceNorman]

 

...solo to a great song that the general public knows and expects note for note....

 

 

Whenever I read a phrase like the one I excerpted above I find myself wondering....

 

 

Do we

really

think that the general public really

knows

the classic solos "note for note" when we working musicians have to invest alot of tie and energy to copy them "note for note" correctly?

 

A few well placed quotes will keep 95% of the public happy. The other 5% won't be happy no matter what you do!

[axeman25]

A few well placed quotes will keep 95% of the public happy. The other 5% won't be happy no matter what you do!

 

 

I cannot agree with this statement more. I remember thinking I was the {censored} playing some real technical solo live. No one cared. I have literally butchered songs like 'you shook me all night long' (yes, alcohol was very much involved ) and people dance and cheered like we actually AC/DC. If I learn a solo note for note now adays, it's because I want to learn it.

[12Pack]

There are few leads I do note for note in the cover band I am in.

 

Sweet Home Alabama - Pretty much note for note

 

Hotel California - Pretty much note for note especially then end of the lead

 

Ramblin Man - I opened up note for note - looped it - then harmonized the second guitar over it. That worked well when it was just guitars (acoustic - no drummer) but when the drummer came on board the loop wouldn't sync.

 

Most of the leads I cover I learn and try to hit the familiar parts of the leads - but I typically don't play note for note.

 

There are leads that you have to play note for note - IMO I wouldn't think Another Brick In The Wall would go over well if you didn't play David Gilmor's lead note for note for example. It's just too widely known.

[caveman]

Note for note will expand your vocabulary, that's for sure. I don't know how valuable NFN is on the stage. Personally, I'd rather interpret than transcribe.

 

When I arrange a song for the band nothing is sacred and I make no apologies.

[babalugats85]

I cannot agree with this statement more. I remember thinking I was the {censored} playing some real technical solo live. No one cared. I have literally butchered songs like 'you shook me all night long' (yes, alcohol was very much involved ) and people dance and cheered like we actually AC/DC. If I learn a solo note for note now adays, it's because I want to learn it.

 

Yep. In fact your own band mates probably don't know them note for note either. I've been patted on the back for nailing a lead when I wasn't close, or got no response on the few I do nail.

 

I'm with the crowd of play the known hooks, perhaps the intro/outro, but otherwise do your own thing.

[J.Paul]

a well placed quote at least gets a pat on the back,

but this guy was just wankin away

 

besides hits are hits for a reason

who are we to think we can better them by our fabulous-ness

 

 

A few well placed quotes will keep 95% of the public happy. The other 5% won't be happy no matter what you do!

 

[J.Paul]

So I'm the only one that is working on anything?

[pink floyd cramer]

apparently

[SpaceNorman]

 

a well placed quote at least gets a pat on the back, but this guy was just wankin away besides hits are hits for a reason who are we to think we can better them by our fabulous-ness

 

 

Having reread my original statement in your quote - I think it came across alot harsher than I met it to.

 

Perhaps it's because earlier yesterday evening I spent a relatively painful couple of hours at a rehearsal with a vocalist who was constantly stopping tunes to tell me that I missed some wispy little synth thing that she felt was critical to the tune. Of course she was right - I did miss the wispy little synth thing (it wafts by once somewhere in the the mega-measures stretch of Bm that is nearly the entire tune...) - it's that stretch where I'm covering the synth bass/bottom rhythm lick that repeats throughout the entire tune. The tune has multiple synth parts (my kids tell me the original artist had at two keys players when they saw them...) and I picked out the part that seems the most prominent. By the end of the night I was real tired of hearing about "note for note".

 

Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of doing tunes "note for note". I much prefer staying true to the spirit of the tune (grabbing the signature likes, keeping tempo and feel pretty consistent with the originals, etc.) - and don't get too twisted if parts are a little different (or in manner cases simplified/omitted to accomodate my shortcomings.... like not being a keyboard player with multiple sets of hands, or simply not being on par in terms of playing ability as the studio guy who original played it - or at least dubbed it in.)

 

Like most everybody however, I do copy signature phrases and voicings as close to "note for note" as I can. Copying stuff is how I learn too!

[Microwave Walrus]

i would like to learn the solo to "magic man" by heart...

it doesn't make sense for me to cover that song unless i learn the solo

cause it'd be kinda gay then

it's a great song, tho

[J.Paul]

ha ha

yeah

good stock 70s licks too

 

 

 

i would like to learn the solo to "magic man" by heart... it doesn't make sense for me to cover that song unless i learn the solo cause it'd be kinda gay then it's a great song, tho

[J.Paul]

yeah

right on

there's usually some noodle that gets mistaken for meat.

 

"spirit of the tune"

ha

I like that.

sometimes when you have a (true) band that is in sync ,and all the players are tuned in, those can be best kind of interpretations.

 

 

Having reread my original statement in your quote - I think it came across alot harsher than I met it to. Perhaps it's because earlier yesterday evening I spent a relatively painful couple of hours at a rehearsal with a vocalist who was constantly stopping tunes to tell me that I missed some wispy little synth thing that she felt was critical to the tune. Of course she was right - I did miss the wispy little synth thing (it wafts by once somewhere in the the mega-measures stretch of Bm that is nearly the entire tune...) - it's that stretch where I'm covering the synth bass/bottom rhythm lick that repeats throughout the entire tune. The tune has multiple synth parts (my kids tell me the original artist had at two keys players when they saw them...) and I picked out the part that seems the most prominent. By the end of the night I was real tired of hearing about "note for note". Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of doing tunes "note for note". I much prefer staying true to the spirit of the tune (grabbing the signature likes, keeping tempo and feel pretty consistent with the originals, etc.) - and don't get too twisted if parts are a little different (or in manner cases simplified/omitted to accomodate my shortcomings.... like not being a keyboard player with multiple sets of hands, or simply not being on par in terms of playing ability as the studio guy who original played it - or at least dubbed it in.) Like most everybody however, I do copy signature phrases and voicings as close to "note for note" as I can. Copying stuff is how I learn too!

 

[wades_keys]

I

[wades_keys]

So I'm the only one that is working on anything?

No, the rest of us are offline practicing.

 

Peace.

[J.Paul]

lmfao

 

No, the rest of us are offline practicing. Peace.

[pink floyd cramer]

Don Grolnick's piano riffs and solo in Ronstadt's cover of 'Livin In the USA(in my dreams lol)

 

GREAT one! Sounds a whole lot like Johnny Johnson. I wasn't sure whether Grolnick or Billy Payne (played with Ronstadt for a while) played that one.

 

Rob Roy Parnell (Leroy's bro) has a blues album out that has some fantastic piano by Delbert McClinton's piano man (Jesse McKendree). Check out the solo on Lollipop Mama- great harp, too.

 

Another one I want to cop from is Chuck Leavell's remake of "Jessica" on his record"Southscape". It has alot of quotes from the original but stretches out more. It also, for some strange reason, reminds me of Vince Guaraldi and the "Peanuts" theme.