Hi Everybody,
Here’s the transcription I have for this intro. It was shared with me on the (now long shutdown) EJ fan forum in 2006 by another user, named Tom Mann. He was a cool guy and was always willing to share his work, so I imagine he’d be comfortable with me sharing this here.
Cliffs of Dover ACL '88.pdf (115 KB)
The lick we’re discussing begins in the middle of the 4th line on the 3rd page.
It might also contextualize this comment if you read this comment I wrote on Eric’s picking mechanics which I wrote in another thread:
I’ve always played these licks much the same as Eric plays it in the original performance. That is, mostly USX, but incorporating a situational crosspicking type escape for the lone downstroke for the C note on the 13th fret of the B string.
Eric actually has a functional medium speed double escape movement. This can be seen in Fig. 3 at 12:53 of Total Electric Guitar. It’s essentially supinated double escape with some of of Eric’s idiosyncratic finger/thumb movement. He doesn’t use it much or for very long and it’s not a very robust DBX technique, but it’s not stringhopping and it works for what he uses it for.
This movement is sometimes briefly incorporated situationally into Eric’s lead lines, and this lick we’re discussing is an example of that. This almost always on an outside change (downstroke on a lower string to an upstroke on a higher string). It’s essentially Eric’s solution for the USX problem situation that Chris Brooks calls “the lone note exception” when discussing Yngwie Malmsteens USX lines.
Your video is very illustrative, and I agree with @Troy’s assessment. You’re clearly switching to a string hopping movement part way through the lick.
There are other solutions. If your fretting hand is up for it, moving the lone D note at the 12th fret on the high E to the 15th fret on the B avoids the problem entirely. I’ve included a suggested fretting sequence.
1 3 1 3 1 2 3 4 1 3 1 3 1 2
e|------------10-12------------------------|
B|------10-13-------13-15-12-13-10-12---10-|
G|-9-12-------------------------------9----|
D|-----------------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------|
d u d u d u d u d u d u d d
There are also two ways to incorporate swybrid picking which make the lick silly fast.
Here’s our first option, with the original fingering.
e|------------10-12----10------------------|
B|------10-13-------13----12-13-10-12---10-|
G|-9-12-------------------------------9----|
D|-----------------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------|
d u m d d u u m d u d u u m
Here’s another with a slight change in the fingering
e|------------10-12-8-10----8------------|
B|------10-13------------12---10-12---10-|
G|-9-12-----------------------------9----|
D|---------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------|
d u d u d u d u u m d u u m
I prefer the picking sequence on the first, but the fretting sequence on the second is very nice if you play the E note on the 12th fret of the high E string with your 4th finger, and use the finger combination (1 2 4) for the rest of the lick. This fingering also opens up options to play the last portion of the lick with Shawn Lane style hammer-ons instead of picking.
I hope that helps!
EDIT:
I’d add to this, in my Zoom lessons I’ve had several students begin to overcome a lifetime of habitual tension and develop efficient picking mechanics in a relatively short time.
There is no unlearning, just more learning, and the more learning we do the easier learning becomes. Don’t get discouraged @AndyBGuitar, you can do it.
