Beat It Solo

  • Thread starter Thread starter philbagg
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philbagg

philbagg

Just Killing Time
We're covering the MJ tune, and I've been landed with the solo...

Jesus, it's a bastard to learn. I guess it's a good challenge, and it should improve my playing if I can get it together :)

Any tips?
 
Study EVH, he did the solo on Beat It. Never liked it though, didn't seem to fit in with the song for me. I'm guessing it's all finger tapping, EVH copied that from Steve Hackett and just went mental.
 
That's a hell of a thread title Philby...

Thought I'd wandered into The Cave for a mo'... :D
 
do u have tape or something that you could slow it down?
 
Total Guitar tabbed it at some point so there should be accurate tabs out there if you're looking to reproduce it exactly. But yeah whammy work, pinched harmonics, tapping, tremolo picking. Or you could write your own spin on it. Like fall out boy tried to do, but try not to be as awful as they were at it.
 
Armistice said:
That's a hell of a thread title Philby...

Thought I'd wandered into The Cave for a mo'... :D
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:laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings:

I didn't even f**king notice that :laughings:

:D

PDP said:
do u have tape or something that you could slow it down?
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chamelious said:
Total Guitar tabbed it at some point so there should be accurate tabs out there if you're looking to reproduce it exactly. But yeah whammy work, pinched harmonics, tapping, tremolo picking. Or you could write your own spin on it. Like fall out boy tried to do, but try not to be as awful as they were at it.
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Well I could use Pro Tools or Guitar Rig, but I trust the tabs. Besides, I figure it's the kind of solo that you don't learn note-for-note. It's just impossible. Ya get the jist and play. Even still, it's the tappin that's getting me. It seems pretty effortless for him. And while I do know I'm not nearly on the same level as EVH, I'm using a lot more gain than him and still losing power.

The whammy work, pinches, and tremolo picking are all ok. I'm even gonna throw in one or two dive bombs when i get my whammy bar re-fitted. Til then I'm just lifting the bridge with my fingers while trilling :o
 
buzzard bass said:
Study EVH, he did the solo on Beat It. Never liked it though, didn't seem to fit in with the song for me. I'm guessing it's all finger tapping, EVH copied that from Steve Hackett and just went mental.
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I think you'll find everybody copied it from Jimmie Webster.
 
philbagg said:
Even still, it's the tappin that's getting me. It seems pretty effortless for him. And while I do know I'm not nearly on the same level as EVH, I'm using a lot more gain than him and still losing power.
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Start slow, practicing unplugged.

Seriously. I'm no EVH myself, but this is how I really got my legato technique clean. If you can get clean articulation on slurred techniques with zero compression from the amp, then you can do it with almost any gain level.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Start slow, practicing unplugged.

Seriously. I'm no EVH myself, but this is how I really got my legato technique clean. If you can get clean articulation on slurred techniques with zero compression from the amp, then you can do it with almost any gain level.
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I actually don't agree with this. Its not that hard to get a loud enough sound tapping, the hard part is dealing with all the string noise. Which is best done with distortion on to accentuate the noise :)
 
chamelious said:
I actually don't agree with this. Its not that hard to get a loud enough sound tapping, the hard part is dealing with all the string noise. Which is best done with distortion on to accentuate the noise :)
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Hey, that's a totally valid part of tapping technique too, and something he'll want to look at down the line as well.

but, if the problem is he's having a hard time getting tapped notes to ring out more evenly, jacking up the gain is sort of like slapping on a band-aid after you've amputated your leg. It doesn't really do much to the underlying problem, which is that his tapped articulation isn't even. :)
 
Thanks for all the comments lads.

Here's how I got on in the end:


Probably gonna do a full cover of it. Stay tuned :D
 
WTF kind of queermo cover band are you in that you're covering "Beat It"? :laughings:
 
Greg_L said:
That was a legit question.
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He's Irish, it's either that or a Dexys Midnight Runners cover band--and no, they don't play "Come On Eileen", they play the early Dexys Midnight Runners tunes, *before* they got fiddles and got popular :p :laughings:
 
mshilarious said:
He's Irish, it's either that or a Dexys Midnight Runners cover band--and no, they don't play "Come On Eileen", they play the early Dexys Midnight Runners tunes, *before* they got fiddles and got popular :p :laughings:
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They might as well mix in some U2 and Sinead O'Conner. :laughings:
 
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