2 questions in one here. We're thinking of doing either/both of these which brings me questions...
- Livin on a Prayer obv has a talkbox on the original. What do folks use to get close enough to that sound? I ain't buying one of those but have a wah and a flanger....
- Beat It needs the solo. I don't have a guitar with both a trem and humbuckers nor an appropriate Marshall (and I'm not buying them for 1 song...). Also I need to learn the tappy bits. Again... what do you lot do here? Learn it really properly, or get close enough, or something entirely else?
Comments
People will just want to sing along to the singy parts.
Sure i can do it without but it does add that missing ingredient to the song and a lot of people in the audience wonder what the hell i'm doing or how i actually make that noise.
We also do beat it - I'm not skilled enough to play the EVH solo and do my own take on it. I usually play it on a les paul so no trem and also don't do any tapping - most drunk punters down the dog and duck think it sounds awesome though............
Then for the C and D chords on each I do a slow sweep from bass to full treble to fill the duration of each chord so it ends at full treble before changing to the next chord.
Sounds like:
Mmmwwwaaahhhh, Mmmwwwaaahhhh, mmm wahb, whab, bb,bb, mmm, wahb, wahb, bb, bb
Etc
close enough for my needs
I used to play Beat It in a band. There are certain solos that are classics and, as guitarist, I feel the need to attempt to get reasonably close to the original. That also includes the first solo to Comfortably Numb, Alright Now etc. But whether anyone in the audience would care is another matter. Unless there's a critical guitarist watching.
In the case of Beat It, my solo was certainly only an approximation, as I find EVH's phrasing impossible to replicate exactly.
I still remember one gig where the band leader announced: "...and now with the Eddie Van Halen solo...".
Then the brass section parted and turned around to look at me. And there's this guy in the audience who ran to the front of the stage, folded his arms, and stared at me
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/139336/beat-it-without-a-whammy
In the end I just used a heavy tone and played with attitude. Worked fine.
I'd take the same approach with LOAP. Gain, probably some palm muting - especially in the verse - and plenty of attitude. Doesn't matter much more than the ball park guitar as all the prosecco-infused mums up dancing aren't going to see lack of a talk box as a deal breaker - they are more concerned with screaming the chorus
Skip to last week and there's a Nile Rogers rig rundown on youtube.
Nile's setup to replicate the sound when he does Let's Dance live right now?
Boss DD-3 and Ibanez chorus pedal (plus a strat and hot rod deville (mk 3s)). (walk into any Guitar Centre and buy ...yadda yadda..etc..)
Does it sound exactly like the record? nope.
Do the thousands in the festival audiences care? nope.
If I did Living on a prayer live these days? I'd just wah the intro riff. Job done.
The vocals are the hardest part to pull off. We bottle out the key change, generally go into some other song much to the crowd disappointment )
We have a couple of excellent girl-singers so for once I'm not worried about the high bits. We've already agreed our frontman will do the classic mic-into-crowd thing for these and the girls will back that up
Don't tell me you've never concocted a spurious reason why you absolutely need that one new bit of expensive/super-fun gear and you need it right now...
Skip to 2:17 for the solo. It's not even close (and some horribly missed harmonics), but generally follows the structure of the original. The tapped bits are largely the same notes, tapped in slightly different patterns that I found easier. Weirdly, the part I always found hardest was the tremolo picking to finish with.
The point is...the crowd reaction. They don't care that it's not close, they just went with it anyway.
Incidentally, that was done without a trem, because I forgot the arm for my N4's Floyd...I just slid up and down the fretboard accordingly. No Marshall either, obviously, 'cos you can just about see a Laney VH100R in the background.
Very impressive take on the solo. What great playing!
Also...in that very same half hour set we also did Raise Your Hands and Get The Funk Out, so I definitely didn't make it easy on myself
and for Beat It, just do the solo perfectly!
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.