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Alex and His Guitar


Lorraine
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I think it is one of the greatest gifts a person can be given - when their music can touch someone at a deep level.

 

.. and just think - if he hadn't found that thing behind the waterfall

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Remember he has tricky dicky bass and drummer behind him playing dicky tricky time signatures .You can practise widdly tricky guitar licks in your bedroom but it all goes dicky if it aint sticky with the other guys in the band.

 

What's a time signature?

 

It's how musical passages are grouped/arranged. Go listen to the intro to Kid Gloves. If you count each note that Alex is playing, you're counting quarter notes. You'll notice that the notes are arranged into groups of 5 (1-2-3-4-5, repeat). That means the intro is in 5/4: 5 groups of quarter notes per measure. The verses are in 5/4 as well. When the music changes to fit the "call it blind frustration" sections, it switches to 4/4 (you count 1-2-3-4, repeat). The duration-value of the notes in both those sections is the same -- they're quarter notes, but the grouping changes from groups of 5 to groups of 4.

 

I'm pretty bad at figuring time signatures but a very illustrative example (if it hasn't already been mentioned) is Workin' Them Angels. The verse is 3/4 and the chorus is 4/4.

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How about the end of Far Cry? The last 31 seconds of it? What are notes like that called that sound clipped?

 

What you are hearing there are staccato notes from Geddy on the Bass...the kick drum doubles it for emphasis.

 

Alex is playing a fast alternate picking on one note at the same time.

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How about the end of Far Cry? The last 31 seconds of it? What are notes like that called that sound clipped?

 

What you are hearing there are staccato notes from Geddy on the Bass...the kick drum doubles it for emphasis.

 

Alex is playing a fast alternate picking on one note at the same time.

 

Thank you. :)

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I don't think I've ever heard a guitar player that affects me more than Alex. For whatever reason, the series of notes he puts together more often than not do something to me.

 

I'd love to tell him that without him thinking I'm some kind of weirdo trying to come on to him or something.

 

It's like whoever is playing the guitar at the end of the Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money. Those same notes over and over. Well, Alex does that almost all the time. I pick up on a series of notes he often repeats. Like at the end of Tom Sawyer as an example. But, it doesn't have to be repetitive notes either.

 

So, Alex, in case you are lurking: Thank you! :)

Edited by Lorraine
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Well, it's not really that formulaic, but generally songs written in a major key (like Mission, for example) sound happy and uplifting, where songs written in minor keys (like Red Sector A) have a more sinister feel to them. But it is subjective. Edited by Disk98
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It has nothing to do with making me "feel" happy or not. His playing touches me. I know it sounds corny and stupid. Nevertheless, it is a fact with me.

 

It's not every song, but more often than not.

 

He has saved more Rush songs for me than I can tell you.

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Here's an example of another nutty one, and it's not a Rush song- the Allman Brothers tune Whipping Post is in 11/4.

 

If you listen to the bass guitar that opens that song and count it out (rather quickly), you can pick up on that.

 

Just a digression, since we're talking about time signatures. Carry on...

Much as I love Ged's work, Oakley's opening on the live version of Whipping Post is THE baddest ass bass riff of all time!

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Here's an example of another nutty one, and it's not a Rush song- the Allman Brothers tune Whipping Post is in 11/4.

 

If you listen to the bass guitar that opens that song and count it out (rather quickly), you can pick up on that.

 

Just a digression, since we're talking about time signatures. Carry on...

Much as I love Ged's work, Oakley's opening on the live version of Whipping Post is THE baddest ass bass riff of all time!

 

Talk about a riff that will give you a hand cramp.

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Here's an example of another nutty one, and it's not a Rush song- the Allman Brothers tune Whipping Post is in 11/4.

 

If you listen to the bass guitar that opens that song and count it out (rather quickly), you can pick up on that.

 

Just a digression, since we're talking about time signatures. Carry on...

Much as I love Ged's work, Oakley's opening on the live version of Whipping Post is THE baddest ass bass riff of all time!

 

Talk about a riff that will give you a hand cramp.

Yeah there's a workout. Even wilder was watching the video of Alan Woody strumming the riff on that insane Modulus Graphite 18 string bass, which I saw (both the video and the axe) at The Big House in Macon.

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I don't think I've ever heard a guitar player that affects me more than Alex. For whatever reason, the series of notes he puts together more often than not do something to me.

 

I'd love to tell him that without him thinking I'm some kind of weirdo trying to come on to him or something.

 

It's like whoever is playing the guitar at the end of the Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money. Those same notes over and over. Well, Alex does that almost all the time. I pick up on a series of notes he often repeats. Like at the end of Tom Sawyer as an example. But, it doesn't have to be repetitive notes either.

 

So, Alex, in case you are lurking: Thank you! :)

 

Lerxst lurks? :P

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I don't think I've ever heard a guitar player that affects me more than Alex. For whatever reason, the series of notes he puts together more often than not do something to me.

 

I'd love to tell him that without him thinking I'm some kind of weirdo trying to come on to him or something.

 

It's like whoever is playing the guitar at the end of the Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money. Those same notes over and over. Well, Alex does that almost all the time. I pick up on a series of notes he often repeats. Like at the end of Tom Sawyer as an example. But, it doesn't have to be repetitive notes either.

 

So, Alex, in case you are lurking: Thank you! :)

 

Lerxst lurks? :P

 

Lerxst lurks loudly.

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I don't think I've ever heard a guitar player that affects me more than Alex. For whatever reason, the series of notes he puts together more often than not do something to me.

 

I'd love to tell him that without him thinking I'm some kind of weirdo trying to come on to him or something.

 

It's like whoever is playing the guitar at the end of the Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money. Those same notes over and over. Well, Alex does that almost all the time. I pick up on a series of notes he often repeats. Like at the end of Tom Sawyer as an example. But, it doesn't have to be repetitive notes either.

 

So, Alex, in case you are lurking: Thank you! :)

 

Lerxst lurks? :P

 

Lerxst lurks loudly.

 

Maybe he'll get bored one day and do it.

 

We can hope.

 

Maybe not. :ph34r:

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I don't think I've ever heard a guitar player that affects me more than Alex. For whatever reason, the series of notes he puts together more often than not do something to me.

 

I'd love to tell him that without him thinking I'm some kind of weirdo trying to come on to him or something.

 

It's like whoever is playing the guitar at the end of the Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money. Those same notes over and over. Well, Alex does that almost all the time. I pick up on a series of notes he often repeats. Like at the end of Tom Sawyer as an example. But, it doesn't have to be repetitive notes either.

 

So, Alex, in case you are lurking: Thank you! :)

 

Lerxst lurks? :P

 

Lerxst lurks loudly.

 

Maybe he'll get bored one day and do it.

 

We can hope.

 

Maybe not. :ph34r:

 

Lerxst unlurks loudly? :)

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