Drop Dead Legs question

[donnyboiler]

I understand what you're saying, you're pulling off but keeping the open G, but have you actually listened at 1 min 53 and physically tried what I'm describing?

Give it a fair run, and if we still disagree that's absolutely fine by me.

[garbeaj]

I understand what you're saying, you're pulling off but keeping the open G, but have you actually listened at 1 min 53 and physically tried what I'm describing?

Give it a fair run, and if we still disagree that's absolutely fine by me.

Oh yes, I have tried it that way several years ago and I just don't hear it. But, I think the general idea of how the legato nature of this slippery lick works is something we agree on. I might throw in the slide in place of the pull-off sometimes just for shits and giggles...the lick is repeated so often that I welcome the opportunity to throw in something different. Who knows, I might change mind and decide you are right about the slide...Maybe he slides it on some repeats of the lick and he does a pull-off on others? Maybe Ed varied it himself?

Either way, I think there is no mystery to this lick. I hashed it out at least 5 years ago on ClassicVanHalen.com in a very lengthy thread. That was when I made the clip that I posted. I used my Kramer and my non-modded 4210 Marshall combo to record that clip, but now that I have an actual '58 reissue Gibson Flying V and the same Marshall which have now had modded by Rockstah, I really want to make a better clip...In fact, I'd like to play the whole main guitar part and maybe make a rhythm loop on my Ditto Looper and play the lead on my Floyd equipped Kramer!

[donnyboiler]

Fair enough dude. Just listen again at 1m53, that's all I'm saying. It's even slipperier with the slide.

I thought I had it nailed fifteen years ago, you proved me wrong, that's very cool. So give me a fair hearing. Not on something you tried five years ago, but now. With guitar, ears and your CD player pointed at 1m53 secs.

If you still think I'm wrong (or only sort of right) AFTER YOU'VE DONE THAT, I will leave you alone

[garbeaj]

Fair enough dude. Just listen again at 1m53, that's all I'm saying. It's even slipperier with the slide.

I thought I had it nailed fifteen years ago, you proved me wrong, that's very cool. So give me a fair hearing. Not on something you tried five years ago, but now. With guitar, ears and your CD player pointed at 1m53 secs.

If you still think I'm wrong (or only sort of right) AFTER YOU'VE DONE THAT, I will leave you alone

Hah...I just tried it again and listened to the record again and I think you are right! Now I believe it is a slide after all!
It basically means that I have to fret the C note with my ring finger because if the slide, where I previously used my index finger because of using the pull-off...

Thanks for being persistent in getting me to try it that way again. I had tried it that way many times before way back when I was first discussing this on the ClassicVanHalen.com forum, but I just wasn't hearing it...now I think he is sliding that very last part of the lick every time he plays it! Well done donnyboiler!

[donnyboiler]

Cool man, glad to help!

I'll post a TAB now, I think we've cracked it.

[garbeaj]

That would be great...I'm just in the process of moving and it is a little difficult for me to take the time to post a proper TAB. Thanks again!

[garbeaj]

This guy does the best version I've ever seen, except he slides both times for the main riff...Which I think is wrong. But everything else he does is excellent. What's funny is that he thought he was doing it wrong because he wasn't using a whammy...he just came up with this way to play it in lieu of having a whammy! He had no idea that it was recorded on the Flying V, and he inadvertently got very close to how it was originally played. But, I think there is no doubt that the beginning of that lick is a bend NOT a slide.
http://youtu.be/bqBqLHd_l48

[donnyboiler]

Happy moves my friend. My body clock is screwed so I have nothing better to do right now.

Here is the TAB. Bear in mind a lot of this is optional and doesn't happen the same way every time. So the palm mutes are a lot heavier and more distinct some times than others, and the C5 is only a Cadd9 a couple of times in the song. So I put the top D in brackets. Finally the two chords that sustain over the barlines (the C5 and the G/B) can be struck either once or twice - Ed does it BOTH WAYS in the song, I think.

What is not optional is the bend up, bend down, slide up, slide down, open G aspect, top right on the TAB. Listen at 1 min 53, people, that shit is right.


img032 by donnyboiler, on Flickr

[donnyboiler]

Bollocks, the final C should be a C5, bottom line. You get the picture though. Actually I'll update this now and repost.

[garbeaj]

I was just going to say that you needed that last C5! But you caught it:)

Why not edit the image and repost so it is corrected? You got it 100% correct otherwise!

[donnyboiler]

Fixed.

[garbeaj]

Well, I hear that as the root on the 3rd fret, 5th string and open G with the D at the 3rd fret of the B-string nearly every time he plays the riff! Bollocks and crikey, for that matter mate! (I get all my British slang from old interviews with Jimmy Page and watching Dangermouse and Penfold!)

[donnyboiler]

So you're hearing the Cadd9 every time, is that what you mean? I'm hearing it pretty much every time too, it's clearer some times than others.

Crikey old boy.

[garbeaj]

So you're hearing the Cadd9 every time, is that what you mean? I'm hearing it pretty much every time too, it's clearer some times than others.

Crikey old boy.

I agree...that chord is articulated more clearly at certain times than on others, but I think it is safe to say that the intended riff contains that chord as part of it's basic structure.

[mikefont]

Well now we FINALLY have a live video of Eddie playing Drop Dead Legs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhlSPLb7jOI