Newbie here to conquer my "Final Boss"

Introduce Yourself
#1

Good afternoon/evening/morning to you fine folks… Since I am writer by profession, this will be wordy. I apologize in advanced.

I started playing in the late 80s on a Harmony Strat and graduated to a BC Rich Mockingbird that was basically DOA and due to it’s condition, I was able to trade it in for an Ibanez JS-1. That is where my journey truly began.

I cut my teeth on Satriani and Vai tunes, then when Images And Words came out, Petrucci was thrown in. I dabbled with plenty of other players and bands, but none that I dove head first into studying. I knew their catalogs front to back and got to the point where I could read tab books like people read regular books. As my musical mentor put it when I was a teenager, I was a “technical phenom”. I packed up and moved to LA, CA to go Musician’s Institute in 1999 in hopes that I could do finally do something about it. I had been playing for 11 years at that point, so surely I could fly through the ranks, right? Turns out that only knowing other people’s songs (especially instrumentals and such) won’t get you very far. I spent the next few years trying to learn how to be a musician and not just a guitarist. ADVICE TO YOU YOUNGSTERS OUT THERE… Be a musician first, as best you can. Find, or at least make the attempt of discovering your musical self.

I did a fair amount of touring and such in the early 2k’s and working with some known players in various capacities. I started a band that had potential (insanely heavy stuff, not death metal, but sort of like if Meshuggah was legitimately pissed off but really liked hiphop and jazz) to do fairly well.

But then… had to retire around 2006 because my hands were just torn up. Carpal Tunnel, tendonitis, wrist issues, forearm and shoulder stuff… It all hit me around the same time. I’d wake up in the middle of the night numbness in my hand and fingers. Not just the painful version, but the one that feels like an electric shock. Years and years of playing and never stretching, lifting Marshall cabs first thing in the morning, and (what I think might have been the biggest problem) I hate power chords. I either like them inverted, or R-4 and eventually R-4-b7 and when you play fast riffs like I did (metronome breaking speed) it wears you down pretty fast. Finger tip stuff is one thing, but basically fully barring for 5+ minutes at a time… Not smart…

I heard Flying In A Blue Dream in passing in late March 2023 and almost burst into tears. I borrowed a guitar from a friend and started trying to really play again. I attempted a few other times through the years, but it wasn’t due to being “summoned” I just thought it would be fun. Now, it is. I snagged an Ibanez JS-1000 from a collector, a Boss Katana 50 watt and am ready to just be a player again like I used to be in my bedroom 30 years ago. I ain’t got it like used to, and probably never will again, but I swear just holding a guitar again brought my youth back.

Anyways, now that that’s all said and done, the reason I’m here…

That bastard Eric Johnson… I never had a problem playing anything. Except for his best licks (off the first 3 records). Even at my peak, I just couldn’t nail them. I’d honestly given up since there was so many other songs out there. I learned about this site randomly and had it existed back when I was first getting started… I honestly don’t even want to think about where I’d be…

Thanks for creating these courses. I’m locking myself in my room until the WGA strike is over and goddammit, I’m going to nail the Austin City Limits intro to Cliffs of Dover if it’s the last thing I do, haha.

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#2

That intro has been my obsession for the last year. Re-worked my entire approach with an eye on playing it. Such a cool 2 minutes of playing!!

#3

Someone posted a great transcription of the legendary ACL Cliffs of Dover performance not too long ago. One of my favorites as well! And congrats on the music and writing careers! I know from personal experience those are not easy paths, as I was a music major in college and a failed screenwriter :rofl: Good on you, man! Anyway, if you could achieve those, I don’t think Cliffs will be out of your reach for too long.

#4

Hi @DC11GTR , I think I might have referred you here from reddit?

I’m a huge fan of Eric Johnson, I’ve studied his playing in great depth. Eric’s picking and fretting mechanics are highly idiosyncratic and synergistic. If you attempt to play his lines any other way it can be extremely difficult. If you can imitate his approaches, some things become almost disturbingly easy.

I very strong recommend subscribing to Masters In Mechanics and checking out the Primer and the Cascade seminar. That will get you started with the picking side of the problem.

I have written a lot here on fretting hand efficiency which has been well received. I’ve been preparing a post on Eric’s fretting mechanics and strategies and I hope to have it ready soon.

EDIT: I can’t comment on metal riffing (not my thing), and I typically avoid barre chords for reasons of taste. It’s possible that there are issues with your fretting mechanics, and that with your playing volume this contributed to overuse injuries. I only mention this because I would hate for you to rediscover your love of the guitar and suffer the same fate a second time.

That may have been me. This is the most accurate transcription of the ACL intro I have seen. It was made by a user on the EJ fan forum soon after the ACL show was released on DVD. All credit to him.

Cliffs of Dover ACL '88.pdf (115 KB)

Here is an upscaled video of the ACL performance, UHD 60fps.

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#5

I honestly don’t know why I chose it. I hadn’t heard it in probably 20 years. But I think it was because once I got Flying In A Blue Dream back under my fingers, and Metropolis Pt1, I was like “What else can I do?” then tried to play the Desert Rose solo and… yeah… Can’t do that. So, now I must do that, haha

#6

I had to dig around for awhile to find a good one but there’s one that’s a video as well and it’s pretty spot on.

My music career was very short lived, but it introduced me to the friends that got me into screenwriting and luckily helped me out a lot there since they’re professionals. It’s all who you know is certainly accurate, but more so in the later. I got very lucky lol

#7

I believe you did refer me!

The “Cascade” series is phenomenal and I’m still quite early into it. I never payed attention to my picking but I think I was strictly an alternate picker. Just the first few examples put me in the right direction. The “downstroke” on each “atom” was pretty mind blowing.

I hear what you’re saying about my fretting mechanics and such, but the easiest way to explain it that if you hold your hand out of a moving car window and play as you would single notes, then try to use your entire finger as if you were barring (and at a similar speed), you’ll feel the tension right away. Not stretching was a big factor and thinking I was indestructible was the last straw. “I’ll be fine…” The good thing is that it wasn’t an alcohol or drug induced thing of thinking “pain don’t hurt”. I’m sure I’d have had permanent damage if that was the case.