I’m willing to bet there isn’t a person on earth that hasn’t thought at some point about who they are and where they fit into the world. I know I have. I’m putting money on it that you have too. Am I wrong?
I know in the past 6 months, I’ve done a lot of that as I’ve been being told to expect big and great things to start happening. Then for every deadline that has come and gone without the expected results its starts to weigh on ya. I know. I’m there. I’m passing through it, yet again. I think I’ve explained about the conundrum I’ve gone through with every CD I’ve created. I don’t expect that will change.
Since I had mentioned Nuno, who is the guitarist and music creator for a former band known as Extreme (you know, you’re hearing it now), in another post, where he played a song with Dan Reed, I’ve had a few people question me on it. The song with Dan Reed that is. Fortunately Dan was gracious enough to answer some questions via his myspace account and set the record straight. It was Nuno. Good thing I don’t have to go back and change that. 🙂
As a guitarist who sought out listening to the players that were considered Gods of the instrument, you can bet I spent time listening to Nuno. Some of my early demos copped some of his vibe. I think it might have been a reason as to why I felt rhythm was so important to playing. Not only for killer leads but also killer writing in general. Remember 90+% of a song is rhythm, not leads. So I spent a lot of my practice time practicing understanding rhythm by breaking it apart piece by piece. I got to the point where I could pinpoint little subparts to beats. I was fanatical about. I think it’s helped in the long run. As I do get compliments on coming up with in interesting parts. So much so some people can tell its me if they know my playing and have never heard a song before. That’s a major compliment to me. And it’s exactly the kind of compliment I’d pay to Nuno.
Nuno has a very distinct sense of rhythm as well. He’s very good at switching up and adding subbeats, much like a well seasoned drummer would do. He also had some cool twists on ideas that were brought to the table by even older Gods of the instrument like Jimi Hendrix, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, et al. If you’re into guitar playing and you haven’t purchased every Extreme record you’re missing a very amazing slice of guitar god history. Go no further, hit the links above. Visit your local record store and look them up. Then go practice your rhythm. Because even though Extreme jumped the shark a while back, Nuno is still a relevant source of inspiration. BTW – the song original comes from the album Three Sides to Every Story.
(** Disclaimer: If Extreme’s label decides to force me to change, then I’ll have to change the audio on the server to silence. The post will remain to show that it’s possible to change but you have to do it for you. **)