BLS Crazy Horse Picking Questions

Playing Technique
#1

Hi Everyone!

Been a while since I’ve been on here but I am finally back to picking up the instrument we all love most… saxophone. Just kidding :metal:

I recently had my ZW camo guitar set up for his Black Label Society type stuff, Drop B tuning and the like. I am working on Crazy Horse and got a lot of it down.

Unfortunately the tabs that came with the video lesson are pretty good but some glaring mistakes and since Zakk’s slow is my fast I missed a few things.

Was hoping anyone who shares my love for BLS would be able to give the following a look and any advice:

Here is the link to the original page with the tabs breakdown: Play-Alike Zakk Wylde - Gitarren Workshop :: Bonedo

  1. For the rhythm section the tabs say he pinches on the 3rd fret low E but it looks like 5th fret right at 48 seconds or so: Black Label Society - Crazy Horse (Rhythm) - Guitar Tutorial with Zakk Wylde - YouTube In other parts of the song I think he is also PH on the 7th fret, low E? Worse comes to worse I can always just fake the pinch location with that much distortion lol.
  2. The SOLO O’Doom: Black Label Society - Crazy Horse (Solo) - Guitar Tutorial with Zakk Wylde - YouTube At 1:18 that is the start of the solo. It’s 10 12 14 on the B and E strings. I can’t figure out Zakk’s picking. I know he picks 10 12 14 on the B and then it seems he also picks 10 and 12 on the E, pulls off 14 12 10 on the E and MAYBE pulls back off on the B? Does he start on a down stroke from the B string, etc? Can’t decipher that whole picking pattern and it is important for the speed he is at.
  3. Here is Zakk doing the whole solo: Zakk Wylde - Crazy Horse Guitar Solo - YouTube If you see Zakk plays question #2 and then does a 19 17 15 starting run which isn’t in the tabs. When he repeats #2 again at 9/10 seconds then he does the tab version. Could you decipher what that first run is please? It is definitely the #3 pattern just not sure of the positionings.

The rest of the solo lesson Zakk does at a pace I can follow and the rest of the lesson tabs are good enough to get by.

Thank you and happy holidays for my fellow CTC members!

BB

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#2

well he is a master of those type of pinch harmonics so for him it probably doesnt matter where he gets them. at about 1:22 he does use the 3rd fret of the low string for the harmonic.

you probably already saw this video

for the solo, I think you can just work it out using the “whatever works” deal. It doesnt look like he picks all the notes and he mentions pulloffs etc.

of course he has that massive dwps so he only has so many options. I mean, you could literally slow the youtube vids down to 25% and try to actually count the pick strokes. Or just experiment

you could start with just 1 pick on each string and the rest hammers and pulls. and depending on how fast your picking is you can add in more picked notes etc

in a way it doesnt matter how HE picks it, you need to find your own “pet” way to do those types of licks because they are all sort of basic rock patterns. A guy with strong dwps like he uses will do it a certain way, whereas an Andy James or some other guy with uwps would use different strokes. A legato guy would do it one way and another guy would try to pick almost all the notes. They all might play their own version but still get about the same effect from it

Peace, JJ

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#3

Hi JJ,

Thx for reply :slight_smile: And happy holidays of course to you too.

I hear ya on finding my own way to pick it strategy wise but if I am going to practice it to get it down I’d like to do it mechanically like Zakk. Not in the sense of DWPS etc. but the pull offs and picking I want to have it down.

I did slow it down again at 25% and I THINK Zakk does it like this but you or another CTC member may see it differently:

Zakk picks 10 12 14 on the B string DUD- then 10 12 on the E string using DU so he pushes through from the B to E- pulls off 14 12 10 on the E using a D then UDU on the B string 14 12 10 and repeats the lick.

Then again and I may be off but Zakk would sometimes pull off on the B string on the way back in some of his examples too so I am not sure.

Please let me know if you get a chance to break it down.

Best!

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#4
#5

She did a great cover but I just can’t tell with her picking TBH :frowning: Any ideas on the original lesson video?

#6

hers is almost all legato and his might be a couple more picked notes but either way they both use lots of legato

#7

Agreed but I’d rather play it the way Zakk did on the album if I’m going to spend the time and energy, know what I mean? Trust me learning Master of Puppets using only down strokes was a painful journey but so worth the ride in the end when I got it!

#8

Greetings Berserker Brother!

If I can help in any way, putting the video in 25% of the speed, that’s my guess about how Zakk is playing it:

image

It just seems as a good strategy for DWPS (In the old terminology). He kinda repeats the lick at 7:15 which seems easier to see. But in this second time I would say that he’s playing like:

image

I really can’t say, 100% sure, which way he is doing it. From the first time he starts this lick seems like the first one, but is really blurry at 25% of the speed. At 7:15 seems more like the second, it’s better to see at 25% but can say for sure.

SDMF!

1 Like
#9

Hell yeah Berserker Brother, let’s GIFD :metal:

I had the same problem with slowing it down, the video was out of sync. But using my CSI skills, I am 99.9% confident of 2 things: First, Zakk clearly says the E string is pull offs, and just looking and listening to what he is doing I am confident anything else he may have done in the video is just him talking and playing slow. He didn’t mean to but he was in teaching mode, know what I mean?
Second, it looks clear to me at least that he DOWNPICKS as you tabbed on the pull offs. He did that consistently so the 10 12 previously to the pull off on the E string is the down up respectively. It has to be. So working backwards it makes sense how you tabbed it out. Same thing on Miracle Man, Zakk likes to push through on those downstrokes from B to E, etc. It’s a little bit of a pain for me but something new to practice, right??

And if you don’t mind, can you have a look at where he plays the same lick after he finishes on 10 12 14. He uses the same pattern. It was my question #3.

FInally, how would you guys practice this lick with the metronome? Would you use 16th note triplets and consider the pull off one note and just work that first bar up to speed?

SDMF-

BB

#10

GCAN! So interesting enough a dear guitar friend who has a good eye for these things pointed out that when Zakk comes back down to the B after the 14 12 10 pull off on the E, he may be PULLING OFF the 14 12 on the B. Slow down the video to 50% even 75% for clarity right at 1:29/1:30. You can hear the pull off on the B string. Zakk also says pull offs on the 2nd half so he is including the E string for sure, but now it seems like the B… Thoughts??
SDMF :point_left:

#11

What does SDMF stand for? I’ve seen it before when people discuss Black Label Society but I’ve never heard what it means. Thanks.

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#12
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#13

JJ beat me to it! GIFD that one you will have to google brother :wink:

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#14

Hi,

this is how the first part is picked. I got the Apprentice DVD set. For the first time in history, zakky’s slow is a regular slow :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

First part :

b string is D U D, e string is DUD pull-off pull-off, b string is DU. Make it cycle.

Second run at the begining of the solo, when descending to return to initial position before down beat big bend, the pattern is :

e string : D PO PO
B string : D PO PO

Just some clues because it is too long to describe but I think this will help.

One thing to consider when trying to figure out zakk’s playing : as it has been said on this forum, he is a huge downward pickslanter. So, he tends to attack new strings with down strokes.
If you look closely, when he plays diatonic scales motives, you will notice pull-off and directional picking.

Hope this will help you.

Keep going.

2 Likes
#15

Hi Numero,

Thanks for the reply! I haven’t purchased the Apprentice set, is it worth it? Did Zakk do a good job breaking down the solos? If so, I will definitely buy it. What’s throwing me off is Zakk when breaking down that first lick, it seems he sometimes picks the B string on the way back down and he also pulls off right around 1:21 or so mark. He kind of does it unconsciously while he is talking about that little section. Please let me know if you think I am crazy on this lol…

Do you have any examples or tabs for the diatonic scale stuff? I always imagine when I see him playing live there is no way he alternate picks every note.

Merry Christmas!

BB

#16

The DVD set definitely is worth having if, like me, you are a fan of the pentatonic master.

Seriously, it is a one on one lesson and he is showing and explaining everything clearly and slowly. How to use the effects (for crazy horse, there is a way for the flanger).

It was expensive for me (impossible to find in France) but I donnot regret it.

When I got time I will post examples of zakk’s directional picking for diatonic and one of his signature pentatonic ascending runs.

It took me some time to find out that before his recent lessons on YouTube.

Merry Christmas.

1 Like
#17

Nice! I know Levi Clay a while back did a good review on one of Zakks DVD series. It may have been this one? But Levi was upset that the guitar tutorial portion was not played by Zakk himself which if is the case I totally get it. I’d be ticked off too, royally!
So when Zakk did the little pull off 14 12 on the B string on the way back down it was just a whatever motion on his part? I only ask because he said the first half you pick and then on the way back down he said pull offs in the video. Just throwing me off.
Ah side note. If you happened to have burned the DVD’s and have them saved, PM me and I would be happy to pay for them if they are on digital format…
SDMF