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Alex and His Guitar


Lorraine
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No, the immediate intro is chordal using thirds but the verse is an arpeggio with a moving bass line. Jacob's Ladder is arpeggio laden at the beginning.

 

I've never tried to play Jacob's Ladder on guitar, so I never even thought about this, but it's true- I can hear it in my head right now!

 

Thanks, tas7...I'm going to start practicing that one.

 

(You know, with all my "free time"...I actually just got my guitar out last week, for the first time in months).

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I can only add that I sat front row in front of Alex this year, and was blown away...BLOWN AWAY!

 

I bet you were. I would have been too. More so than being in front of Geddy.

Yes and I was so surprised because I have always been a fan of Geddy, but wow Alex won me over but good!

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I've always loved his arpeggios.

Alex is the Arpeggio Master. His arpeggios were a large part of what drew me to Rush.

Alex's choice of notes, chords and phrasing is second-to-none IMO.

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I've always loved his arpeggios.

Alex is the Arpeggio Master. His arpeggios were a large part of what drew me to Rush.

Alex's choice of notes, chords and phrasing is second-to-none IMO.

 

Same here.

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Can someone please give me some Rush song examples where the three of them switch back and forth as timekeepers, and point out where the switch takes place, so that I can know and learn what you are talking about?

 

Thank you. :)

 

Might not strictly answer your question, but a classic example where they all effectively solo at the same time but still keep a rhythm going is the "bonkers" bit in the middle of Freewill.

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Can someone please give me some Rush song examples where the three of them switch back and forth as timekeepers, and point out where the switch takes place, so that I can know and learn what you are talking about?

 

Thank you. :)

 

Might not strictly answer your question, but a classic example where they all effectively solo at the same time but still keep a rhythm going is the "bonkers" bit in the middle of Freewill.

 

True!

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Can someone please give me some Rush song examples where the three of them switch back and forth as timekeepers, and point out where the switch takes place, so that I can know and learn what you are talking about?

 

Thank you. :)

 

Might not strictly answer your question, but a classic example where they all effectively solo at the same time but still keep a rhythm going is the "bonkers" bit in the middle of Freewill.

 

Funny you should bring that song up because yesterday I was listening to it from a Permanent Waves tour bootleg and heard for the first time what I thought was all of them keeping time with each other. I don't know how to describe it other than as I did. I never noticed it before, and now I am going to listen for it on other songs.

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So as not to derail Led's thread about Neil, I am asking this question here.

 

Eagle wrote:

 

In this band all three of them are the rhythm players at different times. Sometimes Alex will be playing a rhythm part while Geddy plays a busy part on top, then Neil will doing a off beat drum part to fill in the spaces the other two leave open in the music. All three switch back-and-forth between all three roles in different songs or even different parts of ther same song. All three are timekeepers at different times in the songs or another words, they keep the basic rhythm going in the song but it switches off between them.

 

Can someone please give me some Rush song examples where the three of them switch back and forth as timekeepers, and point out where the switch takes place, so that I can know and learn what you are talking about?

 

Thank you. :)

 

All in the same song, might be tricky, but Driven starts out with Alex setting the tempo and then a little later time-keeping falls to Geddy (during the bass interlude).

 

Is there a song when Geddy is strictly the "timekeeper"? Or Alex?

Limelight is an example of the trade-off, I think. At the beginning, all three work together to set the rhythm of the song, pretty much playing on top of each other as one. Neil (of course) has a few fills in their. This unity carries on through the verse and the chorus. But - at 2:39 - during Alex's solo, he breaks off, and Neil has a go at some drum "wankery". Geddy plays it pretty straight, driving the beat. At the end of the solo - 3:14 - Alex re-joins Geddy by virtue of that classic Limelight arpeggio. Meanwhile, Neil is still beautifully "over-playiing" in an unexpected breakdown of the rhythm. Then they all get back on track for the "big finish".
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I've always loved his arpeggios.

Alex is the Arpeggio Master. His arpeggios were a large part of what drew me to Rush.

Alex's choice of notes, chords and phrasing is second-to-none IMO.

 

Yes, and fun to watch my guitar teacher pause a little bit to try and figure out what Alex was doing, as opposed to everyone else where he knew it right from the get-go.

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So as not to derail Led's thread about Neil, I am asking this question here.

 

Eagle wrote:

 

In this band all three of them are the rhythm players at different times. Sometimes Alex will be playing a rhythm part while Geddy plays a busy part on top, then Neil will doing a off beat drum part to fill in the spaces the other two leave open in the music. All three switch back-and-forth between all three roles in different songs or even different parts of ther same song. All three are timekeepers at different times in the songs or another words, they keep the basic rhythm going in the song but it switches off between them.

 

Can someone please give me some Rush song examples where the three of them switch back and forth as timekeepers, and point out where the switch takes place, so that I can know and learn what you are talking about?

 

Thank you. :)

 

All in the same song, might be tricky, but Driven starts out with Alex setting the tempo and then a little later time-keeping falls to Geddy (during the bass interlude).

 

Is there a song when Geddy is strictly the "timekeeper"? Or Alex?

Limelight is an example of the trade-off, I think. At the beginning, all three work together to set the rhythm of the song, pretty much playing on top of each other as one. Neil (of course) has a few fills in their. This unity carries on through the verse and the chorus. But - at 2:39 - during Alex's solo, he breaks off, and Neil has a go at some drum "wankery". Geddy plays it pretty straight, driving the beat. At the end of the solo - 3:14 - Alex re-joins Geddy by virtue of that classic Limelight arpeggio. Meanwhile, Neil is still beautifully "over-playiing" in an unexpected breakdown of the rhythm. Then they all get back on track for the "big finish".

 

I was listening to Between the Wheels last night and it's a prime example. The song starts with the keyboard setting the rhythm, then the guitar and drums come in with Neil playing between the beats of the keyboard, and Alex doing a melody/lead part. Then when Ged comes in singing, he takes over the lead part with his voice and Alex goes to playing rhythm....etc.

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Just want to thank Lorraine for starting this thread. I have enjoyed reading the whole thing tonight. :cheers:
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Another question:

 

When someone is writing music for his/her guitar, does that person know that the music being written will evoke emotion in the listener or is that something the music writer just hopes will happen?

 

And in order to write music that will touch someone emotionally, does the music writer him/herself have to write the music with emotion?

 

I hope my questions make sense.

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Another question:

 

When someone is writing music for his/her guitar, does that person know that the music being written will evoke emotion in the listener or is that something the music writer just hopes will happen?

 

And in order to write music that will touch someone emotionally, does the music writer him/herself have to write the music with emotion?

 

I hope my questions make sense.

 

I would say no. Music touching you is a very individual experience. All a musician is going to know when they're writing something is if it makes them feel something. That's why writing a good song is so hard.

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So you are saying that you write a song and it would touch you, but you have no guarantee that it could or would touch anyone else?

 

Exactly. You would hope it would, if that is what you were going for, but there are no guarantees. Otherwise the music business would be a lot simpler.

Edited by EagleMoon
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