Zep_Maniac tries a solo

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

I recorded last night's practice session to see what I'd get. Had the mic setup to record the room instead of just my amp. Figured I'd document this attempt at a solo to see how much I've improved on down the road. Lately I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough with my lead efforts. It's like I'm almost there, but not quite.

Learning a solo (http://www.cothranonline.com/videos/Jul07/learning%20a%20solo.wmv)

[nlsstar]

well Zep I gotta say I really enjoyed that...I always like whatever you put up..but this one was different. Between the "thought" text and explainations and the different pieces of your practice I thought it was excellent...a "look inside" so to speak!!! I'm at the same spot you are with leads. I have a hand on the Next level, but still hanging off the side, just ready for the push that puts me on top of this platue. I know what you mean...you can feel it...it's there...but just a little out of reach, but in sight...sound right?...it takes a set to put up a practice and not the 5th-6th version(15-20 in my case) of a polished song. I think and hope this may become an avenue of vid posting...if i get the nerve(with the help of my friend Jack) I would like to post a practice..shiver..shiver!!!!...one thing i did notice now that you taped the room sounds was, i'm amazed that the stuff on the shelf behind you doesn't vibrate off and on to the floor....lol....great job!!! and thank you for the look behind the scenes!!!!
Mitch

[disobedience]

That was really cool Zep...loved the comments to let us know what's going on :)

Two quick suggestions to help you speed things up in learning.

1) When you do repetitive bends try to use more than 1 finger...it'll lend strength and stability to your bending.
2) This is the big one: Relax and have fun. If you try too hard it doesn't seem to flow as well ;)

I had/have a heck of a hard time with the second tip..it so hard to stay relaxed when we're trying to play something we're learning...but trust me...it's the key to it all :D

Rip it up!!

[vaxwell]

Two things:

1) You're wearing a Fender shirt, whilst playing a Gibson?! OMG! You poor mixed up kid.

2) When you got thristy, you made me thirsty. lol. Stop it, dorkus, because the kitchen it at the other end of the house :D

But other than that, wow... Listening to your videos really opens up a whole new world of music to me. Normally I wouldn't have listened to something like that, but I even found myself enjoying it, and digging the bass line. I think you're doing a really good job too, and your lead playing is getting better every second. Putting up a practise vid was a really nice thing to do, too. I like your subtitles because, whilst they give us an insight into what you're thinking, they also remind me that everyone is unsure of their playing, even when they're as talented as you (no i'm not sucking up, so you'll do a song with me), and that really give me the energy to get better too.

Thanks!
Rock on, man. :)

[knoxville]

i really liked the comments letting us know what you were thinking,, i found the one abut you being thirsty quite helpful............. ya know u gotta stay hydrated.. :D

[StealBird]

Lol thats one kicked total ass zep!,loved the comments,found them funny.

you just inspired me to play my guitar...................at 8 oclock in the morning,my neighbours are gonna get it now haha!

[Guitarplayer01]

(Looks around to find drink) What the heck did I get this for LOL. Good job Zep. I started like you playing rythem. Now Im starting to go into lead. But never NEVER wear a Fender shirt whilst play a god of guitars like the Gibson SG.

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

Haa! ..Always with my choice of shirts! :) I had it on all day before I started my practice routine. Cracks me up that people are so concerned with my wardrobe. I'll admit I need some help for when I go on stage.... but for videos? LOL Now I'm gonna go buy some overalls like Pete Townshend used to wear. We'll see how everyone likes them! :D

Think I'll eat a taco or something during my next video too.... see if I can make you good people hungry. Heehee!

On a serious note though... How come playing lead takes up what?.. 1 maybe 2% of a song, but to play lead one has to practice scales, etc. far more than playing rhythm stuff. Riddle me that!

[disobedience]

That's an easy one Zep ;)

Lead playing requires much more accuracy and dexterity in your fingers and picking hand than rhythm playing does. That's where all the extra practice comes in.

[Guitarplayer01]

I dont know why lead only takes up such a small amount of a song but is hard as all get out to do. Man I have a hankering for some Taco Bell now

[Trill]

Great work Zep!

I don't consider myself as near as accomplished a player as You or Dis but this is my suggestion when it comes to leads. First this, I don't think, I know by all of the vids of you that I have watched,that you have the talent to learn others leads. I would try getting some jam tracks like Dis uses and try and see if you can come up with some leads of your own. No matter how bad they sound at first. They will get better. This not only will help in technique but also will help what's inside "You" come out too!! I know this is easier said than done but it has helped me out and I can't even spell guitar. I know you can do it!!

Best of Luck,

Trill

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

Thanks for the compliment, Trill. I owe it all to hours and hours of practice.

Way ahead of you on the lead suggestions. Dis and I discussed it previously in an online chat. As a result I've been attempting to improv stuff on the side.

Oh!!... and in 2 weeks I'm supposed to sit in with a raggaetone band in the recording studio to write some leads, riff stuff, etc. It's a paying gig too! :) They also know who/what they're getting -- they've seen my vids.

Reminder that the good folks can chat it up over at www.disobedienceonline.com. Never know who you'll run into over there.... me, Dis, Blew, Bounty, nlstar, vax, dimitri, and others...

[nlsstar]

lol..omg Zep i can see it now...eating taco bell ..drinking a beverage..your going to look like wayne and garth in the first waynes world when they talked about commercialisum....lol...."party on zep"!!!...lol....
Mitch

[AndJustice4All612]

im just starting to REALLY learn leads and solos now too...its very frustrating, i can play easy stuff like the Smells Like Teen Spirit solo...the hardest thing for me is bends

oh...when ya bend u should use more than one finger...well, unless its one of those little quick bends

[Blewbyou]

"Party on Mitch"! Not bad work Zepp took some stones to post a vid of a practice as Mitch said(considering I have yet to post a vid of anything).Loved the comments!
Blew

[nlsstar]

"Party on Mitch"! Not bad work Zepp took some stones to post a vid of a practice as Mitch said(considering I have yet to post a vid of anything).Loved the comments!
Blew

that's right blew...what's up with that?.....lol.....

[RADAR_Brian]

I love that guitar too....

[Musicca]

its an interesting idea, posting a practice. You surely had me laughing at your commentary. I never noticed the tee-shirt thing, but theres gotta be some unwritten rule somewhere, no? hehehe. Cool vid Zep !!! as per usual :D

[erichein]

Very nice. Did you sort out the solos yourself or do you have a good source for all that Pixies stuff? One of my favorite bands.

- Eric

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

Good question! Very good! This goes back to what I said a while back. I should probably say it again since it's been awhile. Although I do a fair amount of one-off songs people should also see that I also go back to certain groups over and over. Skynyrd, The Beatles, AC/DC, etc... Reason for this is that when I dig into a group's catalogue certain patterns and playing styles start to emerge. In the case of The Pixies I can hear that Joey Santiago loves to go to that E note on the G string -- he's got that note in just about every song. He also loves playing that F# on the B with the E on the G too. So being able to pick these 2 sounds out when I hear them really helps me to build the rest of a riff or small solo-type thing he's doing.

To really answer your question though, I'm primarily using video. Specifically the Austin City Limits show they did (I have it on TiVo). For rhythm parts it's great cuz both Joey Santiago & Frank Black normally play the same exact rhythm stuff (mostly). So even with the quick camera cuts and such I can easily see which chords are being played regardless of who the cameras are on. Lead stuff?... well... not so easy cuz again, the quick camera cuts. But! It's enough to tell me where Santiago is at on the neck and how high/low his pick hand is on the strings. And that's enough for me to begin experimenting until I find the notes he's playing. Plus I can see that he gravitates to the G, B, & E strings on almost all of his riffs. Couple that with his love for 7th & 9th fret notes and it starts to get real easy to figure out what he's playing. Conversely I can see that he gravitates to the E, A, & D strings when he's playing a major melody (i.e., Here Comes Your Man). Like I said, patterns and playing styles.

And if I can't figure it out from video, I'm just making it up. :) A good example of this will be in a forthcoming video (No. 13 Baby) in which he's playing the outro from the 7th & 9th position, but I'll be playing what I believe are the same notes from the 1st & 3rd position on different strings. Mainly cuz I think it sounds better, and on my SG I can get a softer sound playing it my way (which is what the outro calls for) versus his way. In "Gouge Away" there's a part I can't figure out so I'm gonna play muted notes with my wah pedal over the rhythm (you saw a cut of me doing that in this video). Like I said, if I can't figure it out, just gonna make it up. Why let one part of one song stop me from playing the entire song, ya know? Make something up, Zep!

And having said all of this, this is the reason I posted this video to the Student Showcase section. I'm not using any tab for any of my forthcoming Pixies videos (I think I'm gonna do 8 vids in all). I watched them on Tivo and I experimented until I found what I was looking for. And let's face it, these aren't overly complicated songs.

Oh!... when I started out playing guitar I mainly played Nirvana stuff. And Nirvana "ripped off" (Cobain's words - not mine) The Pixies. So knowing Nirvana songs also helped me. That chord pattern in the last cut of the video... that's every other early Nirvana song. ;)

So... did any of this long-winded reply help you?

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

Another tool/method I use in general is to watch the bass player. In a lot of cases they're playing the root notes of the chords I'm looking for. Don't forget... on a bass guitar all 4 strings are the same on a guitar (E, A, D, G).

Not sure about 5-string bass guitars though -- I don't encounter them very often. Maybe someone could learn me about that.

What was it?... Name That Tune 3?... the Peter Frampton song... I arranged half of that song by learning the bass part.

[Hendrix]

I think the 5th string would be a B, but I'm not sure

[Da3m0n]

sounded pretty good Zep!

[JVintage]

Zep, do u own a guitar store, everytime Ive watched one of your vids youve got a different guitar, and each one id love to fight you for!

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

:D HAAAA!!!! That's funny! I wish I owned a guitar store. Nah, to borrow Blew's phrase, "I keep buying guitars until I find one I can play".

[vaxwell]

I think the 5th string would be a B, but I'm not sure

Yeah, usually that fifth string is a low B. That's the most common, at least. But sometimes bassists tune their bass' like a guitar (lowest string = E) without the high E, depending on what they want to play, or the string guage. 6 string bass guitars can be strung GBEADG, or EADGBE or even BEADGB which is generally the most common.

[Bounty]

Good job bud. I liked the pick up selection. haha I wouldn't have known if you didn't say anything

[guitargeek]

Applause!

Great start. I've got my hands full just trying to play rhythm, but it's nice to look forward at what I hope to struggle with later.

I also liked the subtitles you put into the video, a couple almost made me bust out laughing.

Thanks for sharing it with us and I look forward to seeing your lead progress in later videos.

[Zeppelin_Maniac]

I'm thinking others who play lead will agree with me here... For the longest time I felt like I couldn't play leads. But I do keep up with my scale work and my 1-2-3's very regularly. In the last few weeks I've felt a change in my mentality as a result. Nowadays instead of hearing something and thinking no way can pull that off, I think yeah, I could definitely play that. Granted I don't think that when I hear the Heartbreaker solo (although.....) but I do think it a lot more than I ever did. Learning leads is now a labor of love more than anything. In fact, it's almost downright fun! :)

[disobedience]

That's great news Zep!
You definitely got the right attitude towards it...keep em comin bud!

[erichein]

So... did any of this long-winded reply help you?

Zep,

Thanks for the detailed response. I was hoping I could just sell my soul to the devil to learn how to play like that but it turns out my soul isn't worth that much anymore. :p

- 505

[rockin ron]

you sir are one fearlessdude...how do you do it ??..RR

[custom24]

I'm thinking others who play lead will agree with me here... For the longest time I felt like I couldn't play leads. But I do keep up with my scale work and my 1-2-3's very regularly. In the last few weeks I've felt a change in my mentality as a result. Nowadays instead of hearing something and thinking no way can pull that off, I think yeah, I could definitely play that. Granted I don't think that when I hear the Heartbreaker solo (although.....) but I do think it a lot more than I ever did. Learning leads is now a labor of love more than anything. In fact, it's almost downright fun! :)

I had the same sort of mentality shift a few months ago, where suddenly things start to seem very doable if you put the work into it. My shift also coincided with putting in a concerted and regular effort to chromatic scales (1234's). My picking went from worthless to effective in a matter of weeks, and is steadily improving. It's a great feeling going from despair at hearing a solo or song to driven and motivated to learn it and get it under your belt. You can ALL do it! :)