The Randy Rhoads Mr Crowley pentatonic lick

Playing Technique
#21

Interesting that you play it that @Coalface71, I just tried that and for sure its effective and easier to transition to the next run as you said.

I’m trying to go back and relearn a different Randy Rhoads song every week, now I’ve spent some time ‘preparing my vessel’ as Vai says, i feel like I’ve got the technique now to play Randy’s amazing solos if I try hard enough.

I’ve done Believer (the live version from Tribute) and Mr Crowley actually took me 2 or 3 weeks as there’s some tricky parts, it’s pretty much a showcase of all Randy’s different types of lick.

I always struggle most with his fast slurring licks up and down the top string like in Mr Crowley in the 2nd solo going down.
I guess it’s because my fingers are so conditioned to play scales that it feels strange to break the rules like that. Anyway I pretty much got it after a lot of time.

Next I was thinking Over The Mountain or maybe I Don’t Know.
Crazy Train I know off by heart anyway as we used to play it in my old band.

So many good songs to choose from !

#22

Is it for 100% sure that he’s picking all the notes for this lick?

#23

In the live Tribute version he’s not picking them all but the album version and the video above posted by @Tcb37 he does pick them all.

I guess even guitar gods get lazy sometimes :smiley:

#24

Next question @gabrielthorn does he pick the start of the 2nd solo or use pull-offs?

e: --17 13------17 13------17 13------17 13----
B: -----------15-----------15-----------15-----------15

I think it’s the same story, he’s picking it on the album and in the youtube video but using pull-offs on Tribute.

#25

For me it looks like he’s doing a pull-off after the first note on the 6s lick too. I’ll take a better look when I arrive home.

The second solo is 100% with pull-offs. On the album it’s also pull-offs.

I also checked the actual tempo with a metronome and it’s around 108 bpm, should be easy to play at that speed.

#26

Levi Clay does a great play through with tabs of the second solo:

2 Likes
#27

Nice !

Some of it is not the same as how I play it but I do play the live version mostly and the difference is pretty small.

That damn ascending F major scale run is so daunting, very similar to the F# locrian ascending run in the Believer solo. They’re pretty easy to do after a bit of practice but sometimes very challenging if youre not warmed up.

1 Like
#28

Levi Clay has an amazing history of transcribing guitar solos. After giving this (I mean the first and second solos) a try, cherry picking the fastern patterns, I don’t really see anything daunting here. Still an amazing composition though.