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6/6/13 Soloing Strategies: Randy Rhoads | Guitar World www.guitarworld.com/soloing-strategies-randy-rhoads 1/9 18 Comments Photo: Neil Zlozower RELATED CONTENT Interview: Randy Rhoads Talks Gear and Ozzy in His First Guitar World Interview From 1982 Randy Rhoads Guitar Clinic Soloing Strategies: Jimmy Page Soloing Strategies: Randy Rhoads Posted 03/06/2007 at 2:29pm | by Tom Kolb In the world of heavy metal, hot guitarists are a dime a dozen. Yet only a precious few stand the test of time and become enduring guitar gods. Randy Rhoads was one such player. Joining forces with singer Ozzy Osbourne in 1979, Rhoads burst onto the metal scene like a bolt from the blue. He was blessed with dazzling chops and an innate comprehension of music theory, and his style had a perfect blend of flash and melodic structure. Flowing legato sections segued to impossibly fast, palm-muted picking passages; incendiary trills and daring chromatic maneuvers coexisted with classically influenced melodies—all of which were derived from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scales and arpeggios and laid out across an ever- shifting rhythmic landscape. What's more, Rhoads was so precise that he could seamlessly double-track anything he played, for maximum sonic density. Sadly, only three recordings—Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Tribute—captured Rhoads's genius before a tragic airplane crash, in 1982, cut his life short. But the musicianship that lies within those grooves is as stunning and inspirational today as it was then. Sequences and Scales Rhoads would often sprinkle a solo with a flurry of pentatonic pull-offs such as those in Fig.1. Built from the A minor pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G), this lick is inspired both by the opening moments of the first solo in "Mr. Crowley" and by the fill just before the last verse of "I Don't Know." It's interesting to note that while Rhoads possessed the facility to rip through lines such as these using alternate picking, he often chose a legato approach for a smoother, more flowing outcome. LATEST NEWS Fastest Guitars in the Country: 10 Essential Country Shred Guitar Songs 13 hours 52 min ago Proceeds from Orianthi/Paul Reed Smith Guitar Auction to Benefit 2013 Women's Music Summit 14 hours 24 min ago Trey Anastasio: Phish Are Working on New Album 18 hours 27 min ago Listen: Newsted Premiere New Song, “Heroic Dose,” and Announce Debut Album 18 hours 50 min ago Photo Gallery: Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Red Fang and More at Sasquatch! 2013 Music Festival 19 hours 4 min ago Exclusive Video: Walter Trout Discusses His New Album, 'Luther’s Blues: A Tribute to Luther Allison' 21 hours 36 min ago Review: Zoom MS-100BT Multistomp Pedal with Bluetooth 21 hours 42 min ago 520 37 Search Login | Join Login with Facebook Current Issue July Issue Videos Home News Interviews Lessons Gear Blogs Girls Store Subscribe Features Video Re vie w s Artists Contests Photos Tabs NAMM 2013 GOLDEN GODS HIGHLIGHTS

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6/6/13 Soloing Strategies: Randy Rhoads | Guitar World

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18 Comments

Photo: Neil Zlozower

RELATED CONTENT

Interview: Randy Rhoads Talks Gear and Ozzy in

His First Guitar World Interview From 1982

Randy Rhoads Guitar Clinic

Soloing Strategies: Jimmy Page

Soloing Strategies: Randy RhoadsPosted 03/06/2007 at 2:29pm | by Tom Kolb

In the world of heavy metal, hot guitarists are a

dime a dozen. Yet only a precious few stand

the test of time and become enduring guitar

gods. Randy Rhoads was one such player.

Joining forces with singer Ozzy Osbourne in

1979, Rhoads burst onto the metal scene like a

bolt from the blue. He was blessed with dazzling

chops and an innate comprehension of music

theory, and his style had a perfect blend of

flash and melodic structure. Flowing legato

sections segued to impossibly fast, palm-muted

picking passages; incendiary trills and daring

chromatic maneuvers coexisted with classically

influenced melodies—all of which were derived

from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scales

and arpeggios and laid out across an ever-

shifting rhythmic landscape. What's more,

Rhoads was so precise that he could

seamlessly double-track anything he played,

for maximum sonic density.

Sadly, only three recordings—Blizzard of Ozz,

Diary of a Madman, and Tribute—captured

Rhoads's genius before a tragic airplane crash,

in 1982, cut his life short. But the musicianship that lies within those grooves is as stunning and

inspirational today as it was then.

Sequences and Scales

Rhoads would often sprinkle a solo with a flurry of pentatonic pull-offs such as those in Fig.1. Built

from the A minor pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G), this lick is inspired both by the opening moments

of the first solo in "Mr. Crowley" and by the fill just before the last verse of "I Don't Know." It's

interesting to note that while Rhoads possessed the facility to rip through lines such as these

using alternate picking, he often chose a legato approach for a smoother, more flowing outcome.

LATEST NEWS

Fastest Guitars in the Country: 10 Essential

Country Shred Guitar Songs 13 hours 52 min ago

Proceeds from Orianthi/Paul Reed Smith

Guitar Auction to Benefit 2013 Women's

Music Summit 14 hours 24 min ago

Trey Anastasio: Phish Are Working on New

Album 18 hours 27 min ago

Listen: Newsted Premiere New Song,

“Heroic Dose,” and Announce Debut Album

18 hours 50 min ago

Photo Gallery: Vampire Weekend, Arctic

Monkeys, Red Fang and More at Sasquatch!

2013 Music Festival 19 hours 4 min ago

Exclusive Video: Walter Trout Discusses His

New Album, 'Luther’s Blues: A Tribute to

Luther Allison' 21 hours 36 min ago

Review: Zoom MS-100BT Multistomp Pedal

with Bluetooth 21 hours 42 min ago

520 37

Search Login | Join Login with Facebook

Current IssueJuly Issue Videos

Home News Interviews Lessons Gear Blogs Girls Store Subscribe

Features Video Reviews Artists Contests Photos Tabs NAMM 2013

GOLDEN GODS HIGHLIGHTS

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6/6/13 Soloing Strategies: Randy Rhoads | Guitar World

www.guitarworld.com/soloing-strategies-randy-rhoads 2/9

Fig. 2 features a three-notes-per-string legato scale run inspired by the solos in "Crazy Train,"

"Suicide Solution," and "Mr. Crowley." This line zips up the A natural minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F-G)

in a blinding flash of hammer-ons. Make sure you hammer firmly onto every second and third note,

striving for equal volume of the pick attacks.

Blues Licks and Mixed Scales

Rhoads was fond of the blues scale (1-f3-4- f5-5-f7), and often milked its flatted 5th for all it was

worth. For example, notice the emphasis on the Bf in Fig. 3A, an E blues (E-G-A-Bf- B-D) lick

inspired by the opening phrases of the "I Don't Know" solo. Rhoads often mixed blues-scale licks

with diatonic scales, and modes such as Aeolian (natural minor), Phrygian (1-f2-f3-4-5-f6-f7), and

harmonic minor (1-2-f3-4-5-f6-7). Reminiscent of the "Crazy Train" solo, Fig. 3B offers a

composite of F# Aeolian (F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E) and F# blues (F#-A-B-C-C#-E).

Chromaticism

Chromaticism is another hallmark of Rhoads's soloing style. His chromatic techniques ran the

gamut from the simple use of tension tones (notes that lie outside of pentatonic and diatonic

scales) all the way to full-blown chromatically modulating passages such as the ones found in

Figs. 4A-B.

Fig. 4A is similar to a move Rhoads used in "S.A.T.O.," where a minor-3rd hammer- on is moved

down in half steps. Notice that the lick starts on two solid chord tones (G and E, the f3rd and root),

then chromatically targets two resolving tones (D and B, the f7th and 5th). Fig. 4B features one of

Rhoads's pet motifs: a descending fournote slice of a scale pattern—in this case, F-E-D-C of the D

minor scale (D-E-F-G- A-Bf-C). Ascending chromatically, the palm-muted quadruplets hit sonic

fruition with an Af-G-F sequence over the Fm chord.

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Fig. 5 features another of the guitarist's favorite chromatic ploys, this one involving major and

minor triads, along with partial 7th-chord arpeggios, moving along the top two strings.

In this example, an A minor triad (A-C-E) moves up in half steps, then segues to the upper portion

of an Am7 arpeggio (A-C-E-G), which also ascends chromatically. Fig. 6 breaks the bounds of

chromaticism with a pick-tapped trill that ascends in pitch via a gradual bend executed with the fret

hand's 4th finger. Notice that, again, the example begins and ends on solid chord tones (G# and B

[3rd and 5th], and B and D [5th and f7th]).

Tapping and Trills

Unlike many of his peers in the early Eighties, Rhoads avoided jumping on Eddie Van Halen's

tapping bandwagon. When he did choose to tap, though, the results were stunning, as the

sequence in Fig.7 reveals. In the style of the breathtaking climax of the "Flying High Again" solo,

the example follows a double-tap/pull-off/hammer-on sequence constructed from triads that outline

the changes. Some of the most dazzling Randy Rhoads moments are often mistaken for tapped

excursions.

One such passage is the open string- pull-off extravaganza that occurs midway though his solo in

the live version of "Suicide Solution," where he dispatches a sizzling array of triads and partials

along the 1st [Fig. 8] and 2nd strings. Rhoads also had a penchant for classically influenced trills

(two notes played in rapid alternation). He would use them to outline the chord tones of specific

changes, as seen in Fig. 9, where the notes of an Ff7 arpeggio (F-Af-Cf-D) are alternated with

notes a half step below.

The Solo

The solo [Fig.10] is a 15-bar rocker in the style of songs like "I Don't Know," "Flying High Again,"

and "Crazy Train." The first half (measures 1-8) sits firmly in the key of F# minor, riding a i-fVI-fVII-

i-fIII-iv-Vsus-V progression (F#m-D-E-F#m-A-Bm-C#7sus4-C#). Measures 9-12 serve as a bridge,

with modulating I-vi cadences (D-Bm and E-C#m) in the temporary keys of D and E major.

Measure 13 signals a march back up (fVI- fVII-v-i; D-E-C#m-F#m) to the resolving i-fVII-i (F#m-E-

F#m) chordal riff.

The solo opens, in typical Rhoadsian fashion, with a head-turning pinch-harmonic bend. To

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execute this two-octave harmonic, attack the G string aggressively with the side of your pick,

simultaneously brushing the string with the side of your pick hand's thumb; the ideal position for

this contact is right above the rear edge of the neck pickup. Next comes a pull-off flurry made up of

F# blues and F# Aeolian scales, followed by a tremolo- picked E major pentatonic (E-F#-G#- B-

C#) climb. (Tremolo picking, in which notes are picked as rapidly and continuously as possible,

was another Rhoads staple). An F# minor pentatonic (F#-A-B-C#-E) wrapup (measure 4) mirrors

the opening lick.

In measure 5, a short melodic passage capped with a quick trill nods to "Crazy Train," then segues

to a brief Rhoads motif (see Fig. 4B). Instead of moving chromatically, as expected, the motif spills

into a t h ree-notes-per- s t r ing B Dor ian (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-F#) run (see Fig. 2). C# Phrygian

dominant (C#-D-E#-F#-G#-A-B; fifth mode of F# harmonic minor) provides the melodic framework

for the chromatically enhanced legato phrasing of bars 7-8.

The fireworks in measures 9-10 are inspired by the open-string pull-off concepts described in Fig.

8. Accenting the first and fourth note in each sextuplet should give you the propulsion needed for

this rapid passage. A six-note pattern—down five scale steps, then up one—lies at the heart of the

E major pentatonic phrase in measure 11. Visualize the pattern before putting the entire phrase

together. In measure 12 a C#m7 arpeggio is laid out almost entirely on the G string; keep your eye

on the 9th fret in order to hit it precisely. The trills come fast and furious in the next measure.

Targeting the notes of a D major triad (D-F#-A) will guide you through this quarter-note-triplet

passage. Finally, a relatively simple run up the E major pentatonic scale and a pair of dyads

(F#/C# and E/B) provide a logical and musical conclusion to the solo. Now that we've gone through

the solo bit by bit, look back over it and take note of its the rhythmic diversity—yet another

characteristic of Rhoads's brilliant soloing work.

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