Don't Stop Believing opening warp speed lick...

cvogue

cvogue

Yes, that's Oolong. :)
OK, I have to get this down, how do you guys play it? The online teachers seem to like alternate picking and one did economy picking (which is probably better). They are picking every note though (some suggest pulloffs if you "can't handle" picking them all).

I found this video:



If you slow it way down in Youtube (25%) not only does Neal sound completely wasted, I think he's pulling off to the second note...

Thoughts?

Also... while I was practicing this my wife noticed that this lick is also the start of the Meow Mix song... "I want chicken I want liver, Meow Mix Meow Mix please deliver!" Maybe more Dr. Evil style than the original:



:bigg::dude:
 
First, a qualifier: I was never much of a Journey fan growing up. That was so not cool! Only in my later years have I learned to appreciate a lot of stuff that was strictly verboten for a New Wave kid of the 80s. Hence, I would certainly not site Neill as an influence at all. But, I've been told more than a few times that my playing style is very similar to his. I take that as a compliment, because I suck, and he doesn't. Also, speed has never been in my bag of tricks. I couldn't shred my way out of a paper bag beyond one particular riff structure just like this one. For some reason it just comes naturally for me so miraculously, I can actually play that riff. As it starts, I pick every note. As it begins to speed up, I gradually incorporate alternate picking/pull offs incrementally with the building pace. It works for me.

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P.S. That sig model LP he has is pretty cool! Too bad they only made like 35 of them.
 
OGG said:
First, a qualifier: I was never much of a Journey fan growing up. That was so not cool! Only in my later years have I learned to appreciate a lot of stuff that was strictly verboten for a New Wave kid of the 80s. Hence, I would certainly not site Neill as an influence at all. But, I've been told more than a few times that my playing style is very similar to his. I take that as a compliment, because I suck, and he doesn't. Also, speed has never been in my bag of tricks. I couldn't shred my way out of a paper bag beyond one particular riff structure just like this one. For some reason it just comes naturally for me so miraculously, I can actually play that riff. As it starts, I pick every note. As it begins to speed up, I gradually incorporate alternate picking/pull offs incrementally with the building pace. It works for me.

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Click to expand...

:thu:

I think that's exactly what he's doing... to get the staccato "train" feel at the beginning you have to pick every note and they should be palm muted but once he starts really amping up the speed I think he's doing at least a pull off to the second note.
 
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cvogue said:
P.S. That sig model LP he has is pretty cool! Too bad they only made like 35 of them.
Click to expand...
It is, but he needs to tune that bitch before doing a video. FFS! The high E was flat as Shit.
cvogue said:
:thu:

I think that's exactly what he's doing... to get the staccato "train" feel at the beginning you have to pick every note and they should be palm muted but once he starts really amping up the speed I think he's doing at least a pull off to the second note.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's what my ears tell me to be the case.

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I've never tried to play it, but it sounds like a combination of pulloffs & harmonics somehow. Could be wrong about the pulloffs?

I think that if I were to play it I'd:


1)slow it way down (via youtube playback settings)
2)Notate the lick.
3)play it w/ a whammy pedal & alternate picking & hammer on & pulloffs.

It would sound really cool.

I don't care so much about being technically exact, but applying my own spirit to the idea, & maybe even making it sound cooler in the process.
 
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I would alternate pick. Not even sure how economy picking would help on that one. I would also pull off the the whole way through. I tend to snap the string with my finger when I pull off so it doesn’t sound much different than picking it.

Other than that. Start slow with the metronome and work up to speed. Also make sure you take all the tension you can out of your hands. The more relaxed you are the faster you can move.
 
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OGG said:
First, a qualifier: I was never much of a Journey fan growing up. That was so not cool! Only in my later years have I learned to appreciate a lot of stuff that was strictly verboten for a New Wave kid of the 80s. Hence, I would certainly not site Neill as an influence at all. But, I've been told more than a few times that my playing style is very similar to his. I take that as a compliment, because I suck, and he doesn't. Also, speed has never been in my bag of tricks. I couldn't shred my way out of a paper bag beyond one particular riff structure just like this one. For some reason it just comes naturally for me so miraculously, I can actually play that riff. As it starts, I pick every note. As it begins to speed up, I gradually incorporate alternate picking/pull offs incrementally with the building pace. It works for me.

-----
Click to expand...
Pretty much how I play it , too.
 
I gu
yabba said:
without the pull-offs, economy picking would be more efficient; with pull-offs, yeah, nothing gained with economy picking
Click to expand...
i guess I’m missing something. I don’t know how to economy pick 3 notes on 2 strings.
 
Looks and sounds (always has) to me like he's straight-up alternate picking the whole thing. IMO, there are NO hammer-on/pull-off's going on whatsoever, and that video shows it. I play it exactly the same way Neal does -- alternate pick every note.
 
It's not the way Neil does it in the video but I like the "rolling" sound from playing it with rest stroke picking followed by pull-offs.

Upstroke: E string 12th fret

...leads to...

Upstroke: B string 16th fret

Pull off to the B string 14th and 12th fret notes.

In the video, it looks like he's alternate-picking two notes per string, B string to G string. If you start with a downstroke, you could probably stay with an upstroke going from the B to the G.

But I'm a lazy clawpicker.
 
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Ya know I was working on it yesterday quite a bit. As I got more comfortable with it I found myself alternate picking the whole thing.

When I slowed down that video I swear I couldn't hear the pick attack on the second note but it was also pretty distorted...
 
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