Space Pirates! "Intermediate" shred tune at 162bpm [Tabs included]

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#1

Hey All,

I’ve been working on this one on and off for a few months. It’s kind of a groovy instrumental rock / hard rock track inspired by 90s videogames and starships and sci-fi stuff (as is often the case for me). Many thanks to our very own @element0s for the fantastic mix, drum programming and keyboards! He is not responsible for the silly video though :rofl:

TABS:

Backing Track [now properly mixed - thanks element0s!]:

Here’s a list of notable techniques that you can practice with this tune (hopefully you can spot those in the tabs).

  • A bunch of alternate picked scalar runs. Some are mixed escape, some are intended for DSX (but can be also played as USX by either reversing the picking, or by including some strategic sweeps and pulloffs).
  • As far as I can see, all the licks can of course be adapted to pretty much any picking style with strategic use of sweeping and legato.
  • A few bluesy licks with hammers from nowhere
  • Just a hint of Yngwie 3-string sweeping (towards the end of the solo)

Happy to provide more details (and/or add them to the soundslice tabs) if there’s any interest

As usual, I did leave a bit of slop here and there because… it’s kind of a realistic representation of my playing… and at some point I grew tired of chasing the perfect takes :slight_smile:

The lead guitar in particular has no edits beyond comping 3 long takes. The harmony track has a few timing corrections here and there.

Interestingly, it was pretty hard to play the main riff well. I hope I made it groove good enough!

The videos are the actual recorded takes (unless I messed up my filing system — very possible!)

PS: the guitar is a cheap Squier Jazzmaster mini, 22’5 scale. I got a setup that was more expensive than the guitar itself. Now it’s the easiest thing to play ever! (Just gotta be careful not to over-bend, since the strings are quite spaghetti).

16 Likes
#2

Got a notification in my email of this, Soundslice notified me since I followed your channel, watched it a few hours ago. This is very nice work, sounds badass!

1 Like
#3

This is definitely my favorite of your tunes so far!

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#4

Thanks for having me along for the ride Tommo!

3 Likes
#5

I love that opening riff!

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#6

Hey Tommo, this was very pro sounding, that opening bass tone is epic! You keep getting better at pacing and putting stuff together!

1 Like
#7

Thank you :smiley: I tried a million iterations before settling on the final form!

Hehe the reason it sounds pro is ---- I got a pro to mix it :smiley: Our very own element0s

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#8

Sounding great! :fire::fire: very 90s video game for sure!

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#9

Great track @tommo - kinda had megadeth bass intro and followed by a Vinnie Moore meets Marco Sfogli vibe for the rest of the song - very tasty and well played (like the tone very much too!)

After giving guitar a long rest, Space Pirates might be the thing that has given me the urge to pick it up again!

I love the fact that this is an “intermediate” shred tune - gives me the feeling that I might be able to acheive it with a bit of work (most other tunes I aspire to play are flat out impossible for me to play and got me more than frustrated to be honest).

2 Likes
#10

That makes me very happy! If you end up learning it, let me know if you have any questions about any of the parts, happy to nerd out on it :smiley:

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#11

If I get it down, would you be willing to share the backing track as a prize? Lol

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#12

Of course! I can make one in the next few days, but it won’t be mixed nearly as good :sweat_smile:

#13

Awesome, thanks!

I think it would be great to have more tracks like this around that are pitched at certain levels of difficulty for people to ‘take up the challenge’, so to speak. I hate being able to only play stuff I like at 70 - 80% of the intended speed. I’m sure there is more than enough talent in this forum to make it happen!

3 Likes
#14

Added a backing track of sorts to the opening post, hope it’s good enough for now :slight_smile:

Right side rhythm is a bit noisy so I may/should replace it with a better one soon!

I think you may enjoy a couple of these then!

#15

Awesome, thank you indeed! May I suggest a title change? (although you might get some copyright issues) - ‘Kessel Run In Less than 3 minutes’.

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#16

I am going to steal that intro though, just saying.

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#17

Some great music has been written this way (Cough…Led Zepp… cough), so I am looking forward to that :smiley:

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#18

Excellent tommo! Super melodic and tasty lead playing in there with the technical stuff. Really liked it!

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#19

I have managed to learn up to beginning of the solo and can pretty much hack my way through it with exception to the 16th note run starting on the low E string. I have always struggled doing any shredding on the lower 2 strings which I nees to remedy, but I suspect my fretting hands is also to blame. I’d like to say its just rust after a break in my guitar playing, but if I’m honest I don’t think my fretting hand was that good to begin with! Haha

After some more focused practice I’ll throw up some critique videos of some of these weak areas

2 Likes