Nightrain Post

The task I have set myself is to perfect one of the riffs from nightrain. The riff uses an A 5^th chord and a number of double stop that are again power chords. The riff is a variation of the main intro riff as the first three chords are the same in both riffs. There are a number of slides between the chords to give the riff a smooth almost legato sound. I will learn this part by practising it over and over again and use tabs to work out what to play. Once this part is learned properly it will make the transition from the first to the second verse sound a lot cleaner. This should take me around two days to learn as it is a riff needs to have the righ articulation to sound clean. Two days will be the right amount of time to perfect this riff.

Nightrain Solo Post

Final Part

The final part that I need to learn for the nightrain guitar solo is the very fast bluesy licks that are played as the song fades out. However, live Guns n Roses used to play a slightly different ending that involved finishing the bar that fades out and ending on an A major chord.  The licks all use notes from the A minor pentatonic scale in the 5 position with some major notes added to flare the solo up. The licks also move up the fret board the 1^st position starting on the 17^th fret of the low e string. The licks involve lots of fast bends mainly on the 15^th and 20^th frets of the b string with lots of hammer ons and pull offs to build speed around the licks using the notes from the pentatonic scale. I will use tabs to learn the lyrics and use a metronome to help me increase my playing speed. 

This part is important to the song as it is a very recognizable part of the song due to the speed it is played out.

This should take me around a few days to learn just to build up the speed and be able to play at the original speed.

Nightrain solo post 

This week I am working on the pinch harmonics used within nightrain and my technique when doing so. In the song there are a number of pinch harmonics used and this when you use the edge of your thumb and a guitar plectrum to create a ‘squeal’ sound. I will practise this through a lot of hard work and trial and error to develop my technique and see what works well. They are used in Nightrain mainly to link two different sections of the song together and work like a passing note. The note comes from a harmonic on the 2^nd fret of the g string Therefore, if not played correctly it can give the song a week sound as the note often sounds ‘dead’ if the harmonic note doesn’t ring through.

This should take  around a couple of days to perfect as it is fairly simple however can be a fiddly thing to learn.

Over the past week I managed to learn the part of the solo using bluesy double stop licks. I practised this part for around an hour everyday so that I could play the part up to speed. My next target is to learn the high tempo legato part from the next solo in the song. This part is a three note per string ascending run that is played very fast. It uses the A minor pentatonic scale along with some major notes to add flavour to the run. It starts on the A string and goes up all the way to the high E string. There are lots of hammer on’s and pull offs used to enable a very fast run. The part I am working on most is the part based around the 7^th,9^th,10^th and 12^th frets on the D string and the 12^thfret of the A string. The hammer on’s between each pattern require a lot of accuracy for it to sound clean.

I will try to play this part smoothly by practising it over and over again, starting of slowly and building up speed.

I will learn this part of the song by using a helpful youtube video I found demonstrating this part of the song and it also includes tabs to help you follow the notes. I will practise it slowly first and once up to speed I will play along with the original track. I will again spend a week on this as this gives me enough time to practise the part and learn to play at full speed along with the rest of he solo.

My target is to work on my timing and speed during part of the first solo of the song night train. The part that I need to work on is a very bluesy lick using double stops which ar when you play two notes across two strings with notes from the pentatonic scale in the key of B flat. The lick is very fast but also very syncopated as the double stops fall on the off beat which makes it challenging to play. I will know I have reached my target once I can play the solo at the same speed as the original and be able to play along with the original track. I am going to achieve this by practising the lick over and over again with a metronome until I can play the song at the original speed. Once I have learned this it will make the rest of the solo sound more complete as there will not be any flaws in he first solo. I’m going to spend a week doing this as that will give me enough time to learn this part to a high standard and be able to play the solo from start to beginning.