Today I'd like to share a few of my favourite licks from the track "UNLEASH THE FAIRY" from my album "BEYOND THE SKY".
The song title is a play on words on Yngwiew Malmsteen's (in)famous phrase 'Unleash the Fury'...
As far as I can tell, the exact phrase he used was:" you've unleashed the focking fury" after a passenger allegedly threw water over him on a flight to Japan in the late 80s. You can still find the audio clip of him yelling his catchphrase (and assorted insults) online.
Anyways, I thought it would be fun to break down some of the licks from that track.
Lick #1 - 1:28 min
This is a fairly simple ascending lick that's using pull-off's to the open b-string. I'm fond of incorporating open string licks into my playing as they can sound fairly impressive at faster tempi (yes, that's the proper plural of tempo, if you must know) and also provides some additional harmonic information.
Lick #2 - 2:16 min
This one is a bit more challenging as it's combining legato and economy picking and is played using sextuplets. It again uses the open strings as anchor notes that provide harmonic context - in this case the G Phrygian-Dominant scale.
Lick # 3 - 0:55 min
This type of lick is using a technique that I call 'Pick 'N Mix'. It's the combination of legato and alternate picking in a specific pattern to play fast triplet / sextuplet runs. I use this picking approach a lot.
As far as the actual notes go, they are based on the E Phrygian-Dominant scale but omit the b6. That makes it a symmetrical finger pattern of 1,2,4 for the first three notes and 1,3,4 for the next. This pattern repeats through the octaves. It's another pattern that I use all the time.
Lick # 4 - 1:43 min
The last lick is a pretty straight forward diminished traid sweep-picking lick, that's moving along the neck in minor 3rds intervals - very similar to a pattern that Yngwie uses a lot. The main difference here is that I'm omitting one note so it's a diminished arpeggio rather than a diminished 7th arpeggio.
Well, that's about it, hope you found this informative, possibly entertaining.
Let me know in the comments if this type of content is something that I should do more of. Or share some of you favourite licks. Or just say 'Hi'!
Cheers and rock well!
Chris