Where Ed Plays on the Neck

[rgorke]

So, maybe I should elaborate. I am using (a) Fender 6 screw trem(s). I suppose I am just not getting that "natural' aspect.

My trouble is coming when going from the low strings to the high strings. In other words, playing riffs on the low strings is fine but when the riff as in ATBL goes across many of the strings, getting the same or similar palm mute. I sure it is because I haven't spent enough time working on it.

[garbeaj]

So, maybe I should elaborate. I am using (a) Fender 6 screw trem(s). I suppose I am just not getting that "natural' aspect.

My trouble is coming when going from the low strings to the high strings. In other words, playing riffs on the low strings is fine but when the riff as in ATBL goes across many of the strings, getting the same or similar palm mute. I sure it is because I haven't spent enough time working on it.

Gotcha...yeah just work on it a bit more and it will come to you. That riff was one thing that I never really had to work on, but God knows there are a million other things on the guitar that don't come so easy to me:)

One thing that I would recommend to you is to practice arpeggios. Get a book with arpeggio studies in it and work your ass off with a metronome...use palm mutes, pick hard, pick soft, use the whole range of dynamics. I did this a few years after I first started playing and it made me an infinitely better player technique wise. It is alot of hard work, but trust me, you will be fucking amazed at how drastically your technique will improve. If you really do this work, you will never have difficulty playing anything again. That's a bold statement, but it is pretty much true

[garbeaj]

Here is a revision on how I am seeing the opening lick from the solo to "Ice Cream Man" on the Van Halen LP. Bill (wjamflan) had changed his fingering and I tried that way, but added two hammer-ons where Bill was just straight picking. I listened to the isolated track and I am able to play along with each note perfectly at proper speed and swing and I am landing right on each note with no problems. I've also included the circled left hand finger notations (i=index,m=middle,r=ring,p=pinky) and right hand pick direction (D=Down, U=Up):

[JimiJames]

Notes Looks good.
What do you think of this at the tail end...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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---12---16---19----12---16---12-12-h-16-p-12--------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------16---19---
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He's soo quick you miss the trill if you don't play close attention...
What's not mechanical, is this mechanically designed riff.
Robotically you want to streamline when jumping across to the next string in a straight forward fashion. (like an exercise)
As you've written it there on the B string coming from the E12 (in 2nd graph) it goes to the B16.
That's the only place that sequence happens. You mechanically want to play it starting on the B12.
As seen wrong in many videos, that part seems to be correct here in this tab.

[garbeaj]

Still hearing it the way I have it TAB'ed in my post above. I've tried that three note hammer-on and pull-off sequence from D to F# on the D string and I don't hear it. I definitely still hear the last two notes (Db and E) as a picked note at the 16th fret of the D string followed by a hammer-on to the 19th fret. I could be wrong, but that's how I'm now hearing it...

[garbeaj]

Here is yet another revised "ICM" lick fingering. This time I'm playing it pretty much exactly like Bill. He caught a "Mistake Note" that I never heard before and I think he has the end of the lick correct. Bill's take on this lick has evolved as has mine, but I usually evolve to where Bill is already at!

[JimiJames]

Still revising looks like. That's good...
I see you've changed the very last part there with the 19 down to a 16.

I like everything there and using your pic as in this thread, I photoshopped what I hear
matching the lick's timing and not just pulling off the riff, but playing it in it's time signature.
Maybe someone else will hear it if they were to execute it.

[garbeaj]

Still revising looks like. That's good...
I see you've changed the very last part there with the 19 down to a 16.

I like everything there and using your pic as in this thread, I photoshopped what I hear
matching the lick's timing and not just pulling off the riff, but playing it in it's time signature.
Maybe someone else will hear it if they were to execute it.

I did indeed try it this way as you had explained it in our PM's...I did it this way for about a week, but Bill showed me that those last notes are picked after listening to the slowed down original track and the guitar only track. I tried picking it with Bill's fingering (which I believe is what my last TAB actually shows) and it lands perfectly timing and feel wise. Try it out without the "hammer-on/pull-off" part on the D string at the end as I have it and let me know how it works out for you.

[Tone Slinger]

Yep, thats the picking pattern I use, as well as the notes. In an improvised scenario, it can be easy to flub the notes, but the timing and vibe is what needs to be there at all times. Ed NEVER played it like the album live.

[garbeaj]

Yep, thats the picking pattern I use, as well as the notes. In an improvised scenario, it can be easy to flub the notes, but the timing and vibe is what needs to be there at all times. Ed NEVER played it like the album live.

So true, and I know that the clip that you made a while ago where you played this lick was pretty similar to what I have here and I know that helped to inform/confirm Bill's note choices.

He really got that "Mistake Note" which I never heard before and I think he got that very last part correct (that me and JimiJames are talking about above). As many times as I have revised my fingerings for this over the last 30 years, I'm currently feeling really good about the way that you, Bill and myself are fingering this bitch of a lick!

[JimiJames]

*Mistake note*
Are you referring to when the 19 occurs, you have some of the 19E caught with the 19B with the pinky ?
If one were able to hear that I just would imagine someone would benefit from the way I posted then
as well as benefiting from what was previously posted by you & others.
Then, they could see if it fit's in the time frame when they play it, no? If it doesn't, then by all means
they have other choices here as well as all over the internet.
If they're satisfied with their results and performance then that's all that matters I would think.
No mater how long the endeavor it took them to nail it like Ed...
yep, you said it, this is a tough one. Relentless in the physical & skill depts.
It's easier with the ring finger for smaller hands, but the way he uses his Holdsworthian middle finger stretch...insane.

[garbeaj]

Yep, you can see where I noted the "Mistake Note" with an asterisk ("*") in the last TAB that I posted. I don't hear very much, if any of the 19th fret of the B string at that point, but I think that the 19th fret of the B string was the "intended" note and I think Bill agrees. I would probably play the lick by using the 19th fret of the B string (the "intended" note) as a matter of practice, but I think the actual recording has Ed playing the 19th fret of the E string (the "*Mistake Note") as I have notated it.

[Tone Slinger]

I'll try and throw up my two 'alternate' fingurings for this lick, when I have more time. One is tapped(though it doesnt sound as bad as you would think) the other is picked, but the left hand jumps around a bit more. Both of these alternate patterns I came up with so you do NOT have to change your body position while performing this run standing(Live I stand and the same goes for at home or anywhere else,I only sit if I'm on the crapper ).

[stef]

[Strat78]

I stand and the same goes for at home or anywhere else,I only sit if I'm on the crapper ).

My favorite place to sit and play is on the crapper, I'd do it live too if I wasn't so modest.