Thoughtful Robot [TABS and backing tracks] - for practicing mixed escapes and 3nps scales - Vinnie Moore style

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#1

Hey all!

“Unofficial Tommo” here :slight_smile:

Loosely inspired by the song “Thinking Machine” by the great Vinnie Moore, I wrote this thing that uses a lot of spread triads and ascending / descending scale runs. As usual, I indulged in my fixation to double and triple track things - but for the solo I held back and only double tracked it :smiley:

I hope you will enjoy it and I am including the tabs in case anyone wants to learn and practice some of the licks. FYI the tempo is 108 bpm, so the sextuplet runs are fast but not “John Petrucci fast” :wink:

EDIT: I’m replacing the YT link with a Vimeo one, I corrected some volume imbalances in the mix.

Tabs:

In my opinion this is a much better way to “practice 3nps scales” or similar mixed escape thingies: put them in a song, and use them sparely. In “real life playing” you don’t really play 300 reps of a scale, you you maybe have a couple of scale runs here and there, sandwiched in between other types of musical phrases. And you have to get that one repetiotion right! No time to “warm up into it”.

I did it “for fun”, but it ended up being a lot of work :slight_smile:

EDIT: As suggested by @lars I’m posting some quickly rendered backing tracks. An “emptier” version without the doubling riff guitars and harmony tracks, and a “fuller” one. With the “emptier” one I had to cut the rhythm parts brutally in certain sections, so if there’s interest I should probably remix a better one later on. Let me know :slight_smile:

“Emptier backing track” (no riffs, no harmonies)

“Fuller backing track” (doubled riffs and harmonies)

New EDIT: here’s a google drive link for the Stems as well as the DI tracks if anyone is interested (you’ll need to request permission but I’m happy to give it to any forummer!). Unfortunately I think the drums are slightly off, they need to be moved forward a little for everything to sound in time. I forgot the exact amount but I think it should be obvious by a combination of listening & looking at waveforms in a DAW ':slight_smile:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k_56nIXA6qshF5k8YM8OzZGVWLrFyIcB?usp=sharing

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Space Pirates! "Intermediate" shred tune at 162bpm [Tabs included]
#2

Nice playing, Tommo! I can hear that Vinnie influence for sure! Great job! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#3

Thank you so much @Bill_hall! I’ll be waiting for your acoustic* cover at double the tempo :wink:

*= I’m sure you’d smash it on electric too :smiley:

1 Like
#4

This is really cool. I love a bit of Vinnie and it really hits the spot. :smiley:

And it’s really great idea about putting things into a musical situation. I’m all in on Yngwie atm, I think I will have to put together a little track (Phrygian Dominant natch) and compose a solo with all the bits I’ve got so far.

2 Likes
#5

This is cool as shit, @tommo! Great work!

You should post the backing track so people can practice their 3nps scale fragments in a more enjoyable environment :wink:

2 Likes
#6

Thank you Lars!

Oh that’s a cool idea! Should I leave some of the “support” rhythm guitars (they double the riff at slightly lower volume with scooped tone), or whould it be better to just have bass and drums and the long power chords?

EDIT: why am I even asking, I can post both :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile:

1 Like
#7

Sounds great!

You should make it in to a proper song!

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#8

Thank you :smiley:

Haha I thought it was a song already, just a bit short :slight_smile: But it definitely needs work mix-wise.

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#9

I think this is some of your best writing yet. Definitely agree with @Bill_hall - the influence is definitely there and it’s uncanny how much you sound like Vinnie Moore.

So you’re basically DSX with that elbow component at high speeds that VInnie uses, right? It’s like a bike with different gears.

3 Likes
#10

Thank you @guitarenthusiast!

This is a great compliment :smiley: I think top form Vinnie was untouchable (in that particular style), let’s say I’m a cheaper, slightly slower version :joy:

It really depends, but yes I definitely used that form for scales in the solo!

For the rhythm parts (especially when I want to do some palm muting) I use a slightly different form which is more USX-wristy.

In summary I mainly have 2 forms: a wrist-elbow primary DSX and a wrist-forearm primary USX… I think :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile:

2 Likes
#11

Oh,
It is, but it would sound so good with a big neoclassical arrangement!
I could almost hear the synth and drum parts !

1 Like
#12

Ha, now I would like to hear it too :slight_smile:

I don’t really have the resources or knowledge to achieve that, but I am happy to share the stem tracks if anyone wants to play with them :slight_smile:

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#13

That would be great!
I can try to do some arranging, but i am not a proffesional by any means.

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#14

Hey @Hadalpelagiclife and anyone else interested, I just edited the opening post to add a link to a google drive folder with stems & DIs.

I removed all EQs and reverbs /delays from the guitars, I recall that the rhythms had some nasty noises around 2kHz so I had to cut there. So everything is pretty raw :slight_smile:

Also, the drums need to be moved forward a little, sorry for the inconvenience but can’t find the exact amount now!

1 Like
#15

That is great,
Im gonna give it my best try!

1 Like