Very nicely done Rick. I’ve always been quite a big fan of your playing.
I might have already said that on the JP forums, but I figure I’d put it forth here again for everyone else here, cause if they are like me, I like seeing what other people have to say about a particular track that someone asks an opinion for.
I did love the intro chords and the overall rhythm chord progression first off. I’ve always been a huge fan of just playing a nice mixture of chords, ones that are very open and something outside of the basic major and minor ones. The one thing that I might have done is to kinda somehow ease the transition into the chord progression as well as the opening melody instead of just coming right out with it. After the guitars and the melody come in, I might have added some lush keys in the background to kinda accentuate the rhythm parts a little more in the verses to maybe make it seem more dreamy, because that is the kind of vibe I am picking up from the feel of this song. A good example is your song “The Art Of Love” I loved the keyboard work that was in there and that is the kind of thing I am speaking of, but perhaps not so point blank, so to speak.
One other thing is that there could have been just a tad more going on in the main melody alongside the obvious F# G# and Bb that made up the bulk of it. I’m sure your probably saying “Well there is, just listen to the rest of the melody after that” but what I mean is that you might have kinda screwed around with the rhythms of those 3 notes a bit more instead of keeping the same “Dotted half note-half note-dotted half note tied to a half note” rhythm in that 7/8 feel. Or maybe you could have also played the melody an octave lower/higher ala Joe Satriani.
Another thing might be to not attack the notes in such a harsh manner. I know that it’s your style of playing but I don’t think the track might have called for such aggressive playing. When you got to the solo, THEN that’s when they should kick in and really bring out your playing.
The solo BTW was superb. I might have said before but unlike a lot of guitar players who CAN play at such fast speeds as you can, you don’t jump right out of the starting gate playing a million miles per hour. You really keep things somewhat simple and make it so that when it comes time for the fast stuff, it hits like a thief in the night and makes me go “JESUM CROW!” :p When it comes to your solo’s, do you ever kinda map them out beforehand or do you pretty much improvise the entire way through cause either way, it kicks.
Now don’t take what I said really literally. Those are the things that I might have done differently, but it’s your track I’m sure no matter what you do, the end result will be something worth listening to, and good times will be had by all. š
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