Mr. Crowley Solo Lick

[Montreal543]

I’m gathering that most people on this forum are familiar with Randy Rhoads, and specifically his playing on the Ozzy song, “Mr. Crowley.” In the middle of the first solo (at 2:38 in the video I’ve posted below), he plays a repeated 6-note lick that’s now become practically a cliche’ in rock music. I’ve seen many transcriptions that maintain the lick uses legato or pull-offs. In the video, I can’t really tell for sure what Randy is doing (even when I zoom in and use slow-motion), but it sort of looks (and sounds) like he picks every note. I definitely could be wrong here. But if it was all picked, how might you all approach a lick like this, especially as it deals with the dreaded single-note-on-adjacent-string scenario several times in a row? Would 2WPS, cross-picking, or swiping all come into play here? Any thoughts about the lick - and insights into Randy’s technique in general - would be greatly appreciated!

-Greg

Here’s the tablature for the lick in question:

And here’s a video (it’s at 2:38):

[Ian]

Randy is playing it slightly different from the record here. On the record he switches between above sextuplet and one where instead of the A note (10) on the B string he plays D (10) of the E string. I play it with a pull-off on the first 13-10 and then pick the rest with DWPS but you could just as well pick every note. There’s a swipe between the 3rd and 4th notes of the sextuplet but I never feel or hear it.

Randy employs that double outside string change a lot when doing descending string changes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he used it almost every solo. Over the Mountain, Steal Away the Night, Believer, I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, SATO all have it.

[Prlgmnr]

I have a feeling he’s pulling off the first 13-10 on the E string and then picking the rest, but for me I don’t find that a massive help with this pattern, which for some reason gives me more trouble than almost any of the standard “cliche” lick repertoire.

If you’re going to pick it all it’s definitely a swiping scenario, try breaking it down even further, isolate and loop the first 4 notes, the last 4 notes, the middle 4 notes, even just the string change.

And just to add something from my own personal experience, make sure you aren’t leaving your finger down on the B string in such a way that it mutes the E string when you go back to the 10…

e. Also that alternative pattern Ian mentioned above is good to do, equally the one where instead of going back up to the E string you go to the 10th fret on the B string instead.

[Ian]

Grabbed my guitar to make sure how I played it. Start with a downstroke on the 13, pull-off to 10 and then downstroke B string, upstroke E string, downstroke-upstroke on B, repeat. When I do the first downstroke on the B string my ring finger is also touching the E string, muting it. The downstroke picks the B string and glazes right over the E string ready for that upstroke. At slow speed I can see my wrist moving slightly away from the guitar (like your wrist after knocking on a door) so the pick misses or barely touches the E string. But even if you plow right through the E string if your ring finger is muting the string properly you won’t hear it.

Pilgrim - on the record he goes to the E string twice in the sextuplet. Double the outside picking, double the fun!

[Prlgmnr]

I just went and applied the advice I just gave you for a while and I feel like I’ve got a bit of a better handle on this one now.

If you want to eliminate the second string change you can always fret up to the 15th on the B string instead, feels a bit weird to me but it’s an option.

[aliendough]

I play it exactly the same as @Ian does. I bet that Randy was a one way pick slanter as a lot of his licks seem to use a lot of legato to help with string changes.

[Judmeister]

This is Randy’s trademark what he calls zigzag run. You could do this with albert lee style picking with downward pick slanting and only flextension on the downtroke and upstroke outside string change. Check out the Albert Lee video on this.

[Troy]

The timing on this drifts massively, so I had to do a little surgery to line it back up. The forearm movements are now pretty clear. But I’m also seeing finger movement. Who knew?

[Angellesambre]

I cheat it… as mentioned earlier play it on the B, 15th fret. Hammer to 18th twice, then pick 17th fret G. I syncopate it to land the G on the beat, then slide back to the 10th position D aeolian and continue

[DiNk]

ive seen Zakk Wylde playing this part with pure picking… due to the fact that he uses dwps all the way it could work i guess.
If you start on an downstroke you play 13 and 10 on the e stringt so that you switch to the b with an upstroke. I guess after that he used a long (swiped?) downstroke for the single note on the e… there should be a switch between dwps and ups if you want to play it all alternate picked. I wanted to learn that solo a while ago but struggled with the first 6 phrase lick. Same problem I guess what do you guys suggest here?

[tommo]

An interesting way could be dwps + hybrid: you can pluck the high e with the middle or ring finger.

[DiNk]

that would be cheated

[Ian]

It’s blues/rock lick #1! It was issued with every copy of Kiss Alive II and Lynyrd Skynyrd albums in the 70s

I learned it crosspicking style:

I’m trying to relearn to play it more like an Yngwie arpeggio but it’s a struggle since it’s so ingrained from 30+ years of playing the first way.

[Filipe]

Looks like he picked every note.