Song Lesson: Hina pt. 2 - from DLR's "Skyscraper"

[jem7vwh]

Verse
-----
The verses here are primarily extended versions of the theme chords, just arpeggiated.

There are two tricks here: *Timing, and winning the war against the delay.

One of the reasons this song sounds so cool is that we (the audience) hear Steve playing in time so that we hear new lines while the previous one echoes back. *This 'cascade of notes" feel is what gives the song it's Hendrix vibe. *Since we're using simple ascii tab, any effort to show time articulation (8th notes, 16th notes, etc) would be useless. *I'll provide you with the notes, you listen and learn the timing.

Notice that the verse is made up entirely of arpeggiated chords. *Particulary, they are all the same chord shape. *This is a common way to make a riff. *By using the same chord shape in different spots (notably the tonic and the dominant) you can easily create arpeggios that work in the context of the song. *Here Vai uses E9 (E, B, F#), moves it over to B and creates B9 (B, F#, C#). *Finally he slides B9 to the second fret where it is F#9 (F#, C#, G#). *Notice that all of these chords use roots from the E Major scale. *This helps a lot later when it comes to Steve's freeform solo. *Also notice the way he connects the arpeggios with little diad slides. *Very Hendrix style. * Think Castles Made of Sand and Little Wing.

[font=courier]
e------------12\9---7/9\7-------------
B------------12\9---7/9\7-------------
G-----11---9--------------------------
D---9----9--------------------11-----6
A-7---------------7---------9------4--
E-------------------------7------2----
[/font]

This one figure is repeated throughout the verses into the chorus.

Chorus
------

The chorus is a simple pedal tone. *The complexity comes with timing it right. *Because the speed picks up in the chorus, it's easy to get lost in the delay.

Chorus Figure 1
[font=courier]
e--------------------------
B--------------------------
G---------------0h2--------
D-----4h5p4-------------2h4
A--------------------------
E-3-3-------3-3-----3-3----
[/font
repeat twice

Chorus Figure 2
[font=courier]
e-------------------------
B-------------------------
G--------------0h2--------
D-----4h5p4------------2h4
A-2-2-------2-2----2-2----
E-------------------------
[/font]
Repeat Twice

Repeat Chorus Figure 1

Finally cap off the chorus like this:

[font=courier]
e------------------------------12-12-14-14-17-21
B-------------------2-2-4-4----12-12-14-14-17---
G---------------0h2-2-2-4-4-14-14-14-16-16-18---
D-----4h5p4---------2-2-4-4---------------------
A-----------------------------------------------
E-3-3-------3-3---------------------------------
[/font]

This last sequence is where the song changes. *It precedes the solo and the end of the song.

Solo
----

I have the transcription of Steve's actual solo on the album. *Unfortunately, it is primarily harmonizer and production tricks. *One of the reasons this works so well is that the whole solo functions over a single chord change. *While Steve ****s on the harmonizer, the rhythm guitar simply grinds in F#9. *What this means is that the guitar could pretty much go anywhere. *So rather than transcribe note for note every little whammy flutter Vai did, I'd like to just talk about what could be done..

Since the rhythm figure is significantly easier to jam over, the possibilities are a little more open. *If we wanted to, we could solo in F# Major. *However, in keeping with the tone of the song, I personally would stick to E Major or B Major. *Using the root or the Dominant will keep us closer to the rest of the song, which we noticed earlier makes use of the tonic and the dominant.

Suggestions for your solo.
* F# Major. *Easiest and most natural sounding within the song.
* D# Minor, Harmonic Minor. *Slightly weirder. *You'll also be dealing with a little dissonance, but it could be worth it.
* B Major will sound Aeolian over F# and then Lydian over E, very nice (just avoid to many E's over the F# part).