I Need help with The River Dragon solo

[lastczarnian]

I am new to playing any of Loomis's stuff and I thought this one would be a good place to start but I am totaly confused already.
I can't seem to find a good tab for it and the ones I have found do not explain which parts are alternate picked and which are sweep or lagato. I have even watched several people on youtube play it and that did not help much.
Any suggestion and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Harry]

Listen very closely to the solo, and you should be able to hear the way the notes are articulated, which will tell you which notes are picked/played legato/sweeped, slides etc.
Knowing how notes are articulated is how people are able to tell a alternate picked lick from legato, for eg.

 

[TonalArchitect]

I would say that if you can figure out what the notes are, then play it with whatever technique you want. For example rearrange swept arpeggios to stretches/slides/string skipping.

 

[Harry]

One thing that my help, perhaps with this solo, but perhaps not, but getting the Loomis style in general, is that Loomis uses not only alternate picking, but economy picking as well

 

[darbdavys]

Doesn't everybody use economy sometimes?

 

[lastczarnian]

Thanks for the help.

I'm going to give it a try this evening after work and see if I can make out how the notes are picked. I must admit I'm not very good at that sort of thing it all gets mushed together in my head after I listen to it.

All of you that can play it what is the best tab for it so far? I have seen so many different versions

 

[TonalArchitect]

Doesn't everybody use economy sometimes?

NO! REAL MEN ALTERNATE PICK EVERYTHING!!!!!



It's very true, many people, even Al di Meola who's about the biggest proponent of alternate picking in the known universe sometimes uses stuff like economy picking for some things.

That said, not that it matters, I hate economy picking with a foul passion. Just my preference.

 

[Harry]

Thanks for the help.

I'm going to give it a try this evening after work and see if I can make out how the notes are picked. I must admit I'm not very good at that sort of thing it all gets mushed together in my head after I listen to it.

All of you that can play it what is the best tab for it so far? I have seen so many different versions

Well there is always going to be many different versions... since they are merely interpretation and not gospel as such.
Often, I try to transcribe the song myself in guitar pro.. and in doing so, I've managed to find out where some real errors were made in other people's transcriptions.

 

[AgentWalrus]

it can easily be alt picked, work on that
those horrid diminished shapes lend them to be alt picked

 

[lastczarnian]

I have the shapes down finally but the speed is no where near as fast as Jeff does it.

I ended up having to Alt pick and throw in a few legatos just to get it to sound correct at slow speeds.

The transitions from one shape to the next are causing me to slow down a bit, but I found a video clip of Jeff playing it and this should help me out.

 

[HamBungler]

I have the shapes down finally but the speed is no where near as fast as Jeff does it.

I ended up having to Alt pick and throw in a few legatos just to get it to sound correct at slow speeds.

The transitions from one shape to the next are causing me to slow down a bit, but I found a video clip of Jeff playing it and this should help me out.

I used the Loomis instruction vid along with a few different tabs to find the best way to play it for me. You should be able to play a majority of it without having to move positions all over the place, the only parts I really have trouble with are the slides sounding good n' all that. Once you figure out the diminished shapes (which are actually kinda fun once you figure them out) you should be on your way!

 

[theshred201]

In case you hadn't seen that one.

 

[lastczarnian]

I have the shapes down pretty good but just as HamBungler said the slides are tough and giving me problems.