Ben Eller talked about this in one of his recent videos, as did Phil X. You can find all sorts of players who can properly rip through something like “Tumani Notes” or any number of other highly challenging songs, but finding a guitarist who can do “I’m the One” justice is rare indeed. Even the mighty Andy Wood—a guitarist among guitarists—didn’t nail it when he covered that song on his channel.
So what’s the deal? From my own observations playing along with “I’m the One”, I can maintain that swing up to about 60% of its original speed, and as I go beyond that the notes begin to lose their swing and start to even out to straight 16ths. I can sing it at speed with swing, or just tap my fingers on the desk perfectly along with it, so it isn’t a question of being unable to internally feel the rhythm. I can comfortably maintain an even alternate picking speed well beyond the tempo “I’m the One”, so it isn’t a matter of raw picking speed either. And Eddie himself wasn’t a monster alternate picker; almost all his speedy playing was accomplished through those wonderfully slinky legato lines.
My best guess as to the problem: to swing you have to do this tiny pause after the downstroke then come back extra quick with the upstroke to keep it in time.That kind of thing runs counter to those of us who’ve practiced specifically to maintain a smooth and even picking speed. It requires introducing tension to your picking that most of us have actively worked to eliminate. So in that sense, those who are most accomplished at fast and fluid alternate picking are probably the worst equipped to swing like Eddie.
What are your thoughts?
To add: one fun experiment to try is take any of your favorite lines that you can easily pick at fast speed, then try to play that line with a swing feel. If you’re like me, the speed at which you can play it will drop tremendously.
) but I just tried this and I think it’s a great candidate for the DSX based “longer down strokes” approach I outlined above. While I’m fully on board with the CtC approved method of “starting with speed” in the context of learning motions, I think locking into a rhythm is sometimes best done practicing a little slower than the target tempo. It just helps to get used to the feel.
I also love Wolfgangs backing vocals. I’m surprised they are doing it so fast lol Dave got no time to relax lol Ed can no doubt keep up to the original speed, but Dave’s voice is not what it was, being a professional singer must really be annoying as you age, See it a lot in dave mustaines voice as he’s older now too.