The classic on purpose accidental Holdsworth
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I’ve been using this pattern for the lower half of this lick. I think it approximates the ‘melodic shape’ of the cluster
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------9-10-9-------------
A-------------------------9-10-9---------------9-10-12-9-10-12------------12-10-12-
E-8-10-12–8-10-12-----------12-10-12------------------------------------------------
Right off the bat, the biggest issue with this transcription is it’s played on a six string, while Vai wrote and recorded this song on a seven string Universe. He’s reworked this solo to be able to perform it live on a six, and I do remember years ago seeing a transcription for the whole song and I’m pretty sure only a single pitch fell outside of the range of a standard-tuned six string (and that was a D, one step below standard low E - in fact, it’s in the run befpre this one, where they notate it with a one-step bar dive, whereas it’s performed with a slide from the low B 5th fret to 3rd), but that’s not the same as saying that every other note was played on one of the top six strings.
As for how this changes things, I’ve long held that one of the subtler benefits of a seven string isn’t the absolute change in range so much as the change in range in a single position, and just eyeballing it, it looks like you could play this lick without a position shift if instead of starting on the 7th fret of the E string you began on the 12th fret of the B. I won’t pretend that I’ve worked through the implications of that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that would make some of the fingering/picking changes flow a little more naturally.
I may be hearing things, but this ascending lick reminds me of one that I posted played by Lincoln Brewster in a Steve Perry solo album song (Somewhere There’s Love). Anyways, if tab is wrong and you want more help, I can give it a shot!
Yes please, by all means!
Do you want this particular version, or the original? Also is this the best version (so I can slow it down)?
Original would be best, particularly if anyone on the forum searches for this in the future. There is an isolated lead track on YT (below) - lick starts at 4:30
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That’s perfect! Now I’m totally sold that it’s more or less the same notes as this lmao:
That solo guitar verion helps, but even slowed down in Youtube the tone is so muted it’s tough to pick some of those notes out for sure. After WAY too many repeats, about the only thing I feel like I can add with any degree of confidence is while the notes generally seem OK in the tab someone posted above, I’d bet it opens with a F#, not a G. 
Next stop “Rescue Me or Bury Me”.
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Found this, sounds close to the isolated track (don’t vouch for fingerings / rhythm though):
Listening to the soloed track I can hear some chromatic notes in the beginning of the lick so the tab from the book posted above could very well be accurate. Anyhow in recordings there are often human mistakes that are unintentional and I could bet my life on that this is the case here (waiting for crucifixion from the Vai mob now). To me these unintentional “wrong” notes can sometimes be what makes the whole lick so great, Yngwie has a lot of those. And I was always amazed with the players that really went for the EXACT rendition of a solo. Troys old version of YJMs “Now the ships are burned”-solo is one of those that really captures every nuance of the original. Wow!
But sometimes it can also be interesting to try to figure out what was actually intended to be played. Especially when learning licks like these that probably came from smaller lick fragments pieced together to make this long run.
So it’s with that in mind I transcribed this lick now. Almost all the fragments are outside string changes which makes swiping possible whether you’re DSX or USX. I would guess he uses USX though as the first fragment uses a little bit unusual fingering to make an upstroke inside string change. Also, enjoy my daughter’s nail polish skills.
Edit: I just realized i missed two notes at the start. There should be two descending notes on the E-string starting on the pinky. To be exact, Steve actually starts one chromatic note beneath the “intendend” note (probably from sliding into the lick) which gives the chromatic sound.
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She shafted you by not painting the other hand! This sounds awesome though.
Your so right about trying to figure out what was intended. Also this lick - the more I listen to the original the more I can here Vai prioritized feel/effect over technical perfection (in this instance)…and I don’t think it could be better - the performance speaks. …there is lot’s of interview material out there about his mindset leading up to this take.
I like your run (also your hand sync is really tight - how long did it take you to feel like your hand sync was reliable?). There are a lot of 3nps phrases (?cells, ?units) that I have under my fingers but never put them together for this. Thanks so much for posting. I think I will add one chromatic note to this at the end on the high E string - F# G G# A A (bend to B). I’m not sure if Vai does this but I just feel it on my own.
Yeah, I’d never made any real, concentrated attempt to learn this song, a couple phrases here and there and that arpeggio figure, but my picking has historically been pretty bad so whenever I did happen to look at a tab of this, I always skipped over that picking run because what’s the point?
Because of that, I’d always just contented myself to listen to it as a blur of notes, without trying to think or listen critically about what the actual pitches are (and, given the heavy palm muting, that’s kind of the intended effect anyway, I think).
So, slowing it down, really trying to listen to pitches, and then looking at some of those transcriptions, I’m actually kind of surprised how much chromaticism is going on here, there’s a LOT of 4-note-per-string chromatic bits, as that seems to be half of the ascending looped pattern he’s playing through. that’s something I never really associated wit Vai’s playing - more of a Vernon Reid thing, really, so I just assumed this part was an obnoxiously perfectly executed E minor scale run.
I suspect the chromaticism is added in a way that vastly simplifies the picking hand, if I’ve learned anything as a member of this site, lol. It’s just a little surprising to come back to this and kind of see what’s happening under the skin, a bit, with a better tool kit to analyze it with.
Here’s what I put for the studio version in the Vai Guitar Anthology, published by Hal Leonard last year. There isn’t any real sign of chromaticism and he’s picking 30 notes per measure, not 32nds. The last two E notes are actually F, but that sounds kind of wrong and probably not intended. I’m not entirely sure those were on the 3rd string and not the 2nd string. F# is probably a better guess if he switched to the B string there.
Live version in OP:
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These are fun to work through. If anything I’ve found some great turn around patterns to burn into my own playing point.
What is your transcription background?
Are you the same Bakerman that did all those Dream Theater/ John Petrucci transcriptions years ago?
Started transcribing in the '90s, got some gigs (Guitar One, Hal Leonard, Alfred/WB) around 2003-2005, still doing mostly HL work. I transcribed everything in the Vai anthology mentioned above BTW.
Spooky_tom: Yes
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I recognised the name from the Petrucci forum:-) You helped me with some Per Nilsson transcriptions at one point. I recently got some minor transcriptions job so I might hit you up for some advice if needed:-) I also got some tips from Levy Clay.
Nice to see you on this forum:-)