Alex and His Guitar

[LedRush]

Rhythm guitar has been mentioned. Can someone give me an example of that in a Rush song?

 

Think of what Geddy plays in the live version of Resist. Or Nobody's Hero. Those are very traditional rhythm guitar parts.

[LedRush]

Al's a unique artistic genius. up there with mozart, picasso, homer simpson, shakespeare, michelangelo, zinedine zidane, mohammad ali, elvis and leonardo etc.

 

You can't even begin to explain where their sh*t comes from.

 

We are privileged to exist in the same era as probably the most imaginative rock guitarist of all time.

 

I know exactly where Elvis' music came from: black people.

[Lorraine]

Listening to The Pass right now.

 

It is not so much the lyrics that bring the tears to my eyes as what he is playing. There's something about those notes he keeps playing that just pierce the heart.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Lorraine

[grasbo]

Listening to The Pass right now.

 

It is not so much the lyrics that bring the tears to my eyes as what he is playing. There's something about those notes he keeps playing that just pierce the heart.

Those notes are very simple but effective.Usuaully solos that work the best are when it starts on the low notes and gradually ascends to high notes with the rest of the band usually reaching a crescendo.Think Limelight,La Villa Strangiato or Stairway to Heaven.And the solo has to be emotive.Thats why a lot of us guitarist start making funny faces when we solo.

[Lorraine]

Listening to The Pass right now.

 

It is not so much the lyrics that bring the tears to my eyes as what he is playing. There's something about those notes he keeps playing that just pierce the heart.

Those notes are very simple but effective.Usuaully solos that work the best are when it starts on the low notes and gradually ascends to high notes with the rest of the band usually reaching a crescendo.Think Limelight,La Villa Strangiato or Stairway to Heaven.And the solo has to be emotive.Thats why a lot of us guitarist start making funny faces when we solo.

Yes, it is not easy trying to put your heart and soul into an instrument I imagine and takes a bit of effort. Not only that, that music is your own creation and you are trying to convey something.

 

Sometimes I think that is what fascinates me more than anything: Neil hands over lyrics on a sheet of paper, or in an email. Alex and Geddy look at paper.

 

Geddy says: Lerxst, what the hell is this about?

 

Alex says: Damned if I know. I hope he's not writing about that red tide again.

 

Geddy: Whatever it is, we have to write some kind of music to it.

 

:)

 

Every song is a creation. I find that fascinating.

[toymaker]

As a guitar student, I would always want my teacher to work out Rush songs with me, and let's just say that it would take him longer to figure out the exact chords Alex was playing than virtually anything else I'd ask to learn, and that he uses a lot of "inverted" chords.

 

New person? Welcome to TRF. How long have you been playing guitar?

[grasbo]

Yes i have always wondered what happens when they get the lyrics.Geddy does edit when neessary after all he has to sing them.Not many bands with a drummer writing lyrics.

[Xanadu]

As a guitar student, I would always want my teacher to work out Rush songs with me, and let's just say that it would take him longer to figure out the exact chords Alex was playing than virtually anything else I'd ask to learn, and that he uses a lot of "inverted" chords.

 

New person? Welcome to TRF. How long have you been playing guitar?

 

Thank you for the welcome. I have been playing for about two years. Still have a long, long way to go!

[toymaker]

As a guitar student, I would always want my teacher to work out Rush songs with me, and let's just say that it would take him longer to figure out the exact chords Alex was playing than virtually anything else I'd ask to learn, and that he uses a lot of "inverted" chords.

 

New person? Welcome to TRF. How long have you been playing guitar?

 

Thank you for the welcome. I have been playing for about two years. Still have a long, long way to go!

I still feel that way after 30 years of playing. But then, I'm slower than most!

Edited January 9, 2015 by toymaker

[canadianice]

Alex is a god, check out Andy Powell from Wishbone Ash, a close second, the man is brilliant!!!!!

[RUSHHEAD666]

I am wondering if those of you who are musicians can tell me if Alex's guitar parts are complicated or simple to write.

 

The reason why I am asking is because the more I listen to Rush, the more I realize how important he is to the songs, and a lot of his music is beautiful. I don't know the technical terms to use. Some of his chorus parts (by that I mean a certain few notes he will repeat over and over) are very emotional.

 

Sorry for the ignorant way I have worded this.

 

Great thread! This comes from a drummer!

[tas7]

A lot of Alex's lead guitar and solos are hard because he tends to be atonal, not too much like Robert Fripp where it verges on free form but nicely so he rejoins the song fluidly. The perfect example is the guitar solo to Tom Sawyer. I've modelled my solos on this method just to escape following the melody predictably. Edited January 9, 2015 by tas7

[grasbo]

Alex is a god, check out Andy Powell from Wishbone Ash, a close second, the man is brilliant!!!!!

Those early Ash albums with Andy Powell and Ted Turner were great.Argus is the album to get.Once they got to the middle of the 70s it's bit hit or miss.Andy's still running the Ash but it's very blues based and far away from what Rush are about. But ,yes, Mr Powell is a great guitarist

[Disk98]

As a guitar student, I would always want my teacher to work out Rush songs with me, and let's just say that it would take him longer to figure out the exact chords Alex was playing than virtually anything else I'd ask to learn, and that he uses a lot of "inverted" chords.

Welcome to TRF!

[Snyder80]

I used to play guitar and my father played bass in a band for fifteen years. The guy who played lead guitar for that band still plays and has played for 40+ years. Even he will tell you that, yes, a lot of Alex's guitar parts are very technical and very difficult to play CORRECTLY. I capitalize that entire word because so many amateur guitar players like to say everything is easy. One of my former instructor's asked me who some of my favorite guitar players were during one of my first lessons and mentioned a few names, Lifeson being one. His comment was "Some of those we can work on now, others we'll get to in about 5 years."

 

My point there is simply to illustrate that I believe Alex Lifeson to be, hands down, the most underrated guitarist I've ever heard. His ability to create searing leads, crunchy rhythyms, and glimmering layers during a time when he supposedly took a "backseat" to keyboards is astounding. Listen to the solo on Grand Designs and the way he chases Geddy's vocal line into the last chorus and tell me that man isn't a f***ing genius.

 

Geddy and Neil may be the Surf & Turf but Alex is that glass of luscious, velvety red wine that ties the entire meal together.

[Digital Dad]

I used to play guitar and my father played bass in a band for fifteen years. The guy who played lead guitar for that band still plays and has played for 40+ years. Even he will tell you that, yes, a lot of Alex's guitar parts are very technical and very difficult to play CORRECTLY. I capitalize that entire word because so many amateur guitar players like to say everything is easy. One of my former instructor's asked me who some of my favorite guitar players were during one of my first lessons and mentioned a few names, Lifeson being one. His comment was "Some of those we can work on now, others we'll get to in about 5 years."

 

My point there is simply to illustrate that I believe Alex Lifeson to be, hands down, the most underrated guitarist I've ever heard. His ability to create searing leads, crunchy rhythyms, and glimmering layers during a time when he supposedly took a "backseat" to keyboards is astounding. Listen to the solo on Grand Designs and the way he chases Geddy's vocal line into the last chorus and tell me that man isn't a f***ing genius.

 

Geddy and Neil may be the Surf & Turf but Alex is that glass of luscious, velvety red wine that ties the entire meal together.

 

You said it so well in the last paragraph, his finest guitar work may just be in the Sector 3 keyboard era. He should get his f*%ing due, He really is incredible.

[patjnev]

I just wanted to add something else Alex did that floored me as a young lad. When you could actually see a Rush video on MTV . I remember finally seeing vital signs . I love that song. there is a part in the song where he switches on his echo . and countinues to play the rhythm he played previous. Then he plays to the echo. I don't know the technical term for this.He is playing short staccato chords . then switches on his echo and plays to them as they slap back . it is cool as hell. I dunno it is stuff like that I love . Like the outro to countdown . simple but musical and effective . they could of played that final minute of countdown for a whole 10 minutes and I wouldnt tire of it.

[tas7]

Yes Patnev, it's Alex's rock reggae, sort of double time reggae.

[Fridge]

A lot of Alex's lead guitar and solos are hard because he tends to be atonal, not too much like Robert Fripp where it verges on free form but nicely so he rejoins the song fluidly. The perfect example is the guitar solo to Tom Sawyer. I've modelled my solos on this method just to escape following the melody predictably.

 

he had started to listen to a lot of Alan Holdsworth at that time...his solos before then tended to be more conventional fom a melodic standpoint, but by Moving Pictures he had switched to a strat with humbucker in bridge so he could use the trem a lot more....I hear a lot of Holdsworth in the sawyer solo.

[Fridge]

lets not forget one thing here though......many of the guitar parts (particularly the earlier ones) were actually created initially by Geddy (not the solos though) and that the trademark rush sound owes something to him....we think of him as a bass player, but he is at the very least a competent guitarist with a keen melodic flair.

 

Anyway, back to Alex....

 

I look at this from the standpoint of a mediocre guitar player, one that is good enough to appreciate the "greats" but not talented enough to emulate them.

 

Alex''s rhythm play was born out of necessity...Rush wanted to make progressive music,but also wanted to remain a three piece, thus it meant that his style had to focus on occupying a lot of "space".......imo no one does it better with his ambiguous chord voicings and time based effects (used superbly)...its almost like having two guitarists.

 

His lead work has changed over the years and for me by the mid to late 80s he was the complete player.....though lately he has gone off the boil a bit.

 

he has certainly influenced a ton of players.....I got the chance to meet Ty Tabor from Kings X and he was quite open in his admiration for Alex and freely admitted he had used the "droning" technique that Alex perfected to obtain Kings X's signature sound.

[Lorraine]

I used to play guitar and my father played bass in a band for fifteen years. The guy who played lead guitar for that band still plays and has played for 40+ years. Even he will tell you that, yes, a lot of Alex's guitar parts are very technical and very difficult to play CORRECTLY. I capitalize that entire word because so many amateur guitar players like to say everything is easy. One of my former instructor's asked me who some of my favorite guitar players were during one of my first lessons and mentioned a few names, Lifeson being one. His comment was "Some of those we can work on now, others we'll get to in about 5 years."

 

My point there is simply to illustrate that I believe Alex Lifeson to be, hands down, the most underrated guitarist I've ever heard. His ability to create searing leads, crunchy rhythyms, and glimmering layers during a time when he supposedly took a "backseat" to keyboards is astounding. Listen to the solo on Grand Designs and the way he chases Geddy's vocal line into the last chorus and tell me that man isn't a f***ing genius.

 

Geddy and Neil may be the Surf & Turf but Alex is that glass of luscious, velvety red wine that ties the entire meal together.

It's more than that (if that is even possible). I know for a fact, because we had a thread in the NWW section, that Alex's playing actually saved some from ending their life. One in particular said she was just about to do herself in when a Rush song came on the radio. She said all of a sudden Alex started playing and she was completely captivated by the music. He saved her life.

 

Without Alex, many Rush songs fall flat. It's a fact. Yes, he is horribly underrated.

[Lorraine]

I am wondering if those of you who are musicians can tell me if Alex's guitar parts are complicated or simple to write.

 

The reason why I am asking is because the more I listen to Rush, the more I realize how important he is to the songs, and a lot of his music is beautiful. I don't know the technical terms to use. Some of his chorus parts (by that I mean a certain few notes he will repeat over and over) are very emotional.

 

Sorry for the ignorant way I have worded this.

 

Great thread! This comes from a drummer!

Thanks, Earl. I'm glad I started it. :) I had to get out my fly swatter a couple of times but, other than that, this has turned out to be a good thread.

[Lorraine]

I used to play guitar and my father played bass in a band for fifteen years. The guy who played lead guitar for that band still plays and has played for 40+ years. Even he will tell you that, yes, a lot of Alex's guitar parts are very technical and very difficult to play CORRECTLY. I capitalize that entire word because so many amateur guitar players like to say everything is easy. One of my former instructor's asked me who some of my favorite guitar players were during one of my first lessons and mentioned a few names, Lifeson being one. His comment was "Some of those we can work on now, others we'll get to in about 5 years."

 

My point there is simply to illustrate that I believe Alex Lifeson to be, hands down, the most underrated guitarist I've ever heard. His ability to create searing leads, crunchy rhythyms, and glimmering layers during a time when he supposedly took a "backseat" to keyboards is astounding. Listen to the solo on Grand Designs and the way he chases Geddy's vocal line into the last chorus and tell me that man isn't a f***ing genius.

 

Geddy and Neil may be the Surf & Turf but Alex is that glass of luscious, velvety red wine that ties the entire meal together.

It's more than that (if that is even possible). I know for a fact, because we had a thread in the NWW section, that Alex's playing actually saved some from ending their life. One in particular said she was just about to do herself in when a Rush song came on the radio. She said all of a sudden Alex started playing and she was completely captivated by the music. He saved her life.

 

Without Alex, many Rush songs fall flat. It's a fact. Yes, he is horribly underrated.

It wasn't her radio, it was her tape deck. Here is what she wrote:

 

I actually contemplated killing myself that night I was planning on waiting until everyone had gone to bed and slitting my wrists with a carving knife from the kitchen. But I listened to the closing guitar solo on "Mission" and it was like something was saying that everything was going to be okay. I remember sitting against the side of the bathtub crying and listening to that particular bit over and over.

[Lorraine]

If I were a famous musician, the fact that anything I wrote actually saved someone, or gave them hope when they had none, would mean more to me than all the gold and platinum records, or all of the awards, in the world.

[Lorraine]

Can someone put on their headphones and listen to Subdivisions? I can't tell if that is a guitar on the right side at the beginning or part of the keyboards.