This is a mid-tempo rock track partly inspired by the tones I got out of the Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIc+ suite. The IIc+ is famous for being the Metallica Amp, but it’s also great for classic rock rhythm and lead sounds.
I originally played the middle section using alternate picking and pull-offs, in the style of Thunderstruck, but I figured out that it actually sounds way more consistent just using left hand tapping. I cheated a little bit by turning on the Sustainiac in my JEM during this part which I think helped keep the notes at the same volume. On the other hand I didn’t slap on a ton of compression so I guess we’re even.
I think all of the electric guitar parts are played on the JEM. Mixing this track was bizarrely difficult; the guitars are all quite mid-heavy, and so it took a lot of tweaking to get them to sit nicely together. For the longest time all of those distorted guitars piled on top of each other also consistently set off my tinnitus, which was incredibly frustrating. In the end I figured out that the way around this was to mix in a couple of tracks of acoustic guitar in the background using my Ibanez Talman. This is an old trick to get a bit of “air” into the mix, which takes some of the pressure off the ears.
Leave a Reply