The way I did it in the video is:
DUD on B
Muted E
UDU on E
The focus being the First B string note that is held for a moment to give it the gallop. And the muted string that give it the Spanish sound I guess you could call it.
Ok, that’s what I thought…though I’m hearing that he’s often doing a hammer-on to the second note on the B string as he misses his attempt to pick the note. This is why I default to Down-Hammer-Down being the most logical way to approach the first three notes in a repeatable fashion.
I’m experimenting with Down-Hammer-DownRake to muted high E (raking with a Downstroke to the last note on the B string and a Downstroke to the muted high E) and then finishing with clear Up-Down-Up notes on the high E to complete the sequence. Rhythmically, it is still a six-note sequence so that little mute on the high E is added into the crack between the 3rd and 4th note in the sequence.
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Look forward to a vid sometime 
I may of asked this before but how are you playing the initial run into the sextuplets?
After the first slide from B?
If you look further back in this thread you’ll see TAB that I posted…
Of course now I’m not picking all six notes as I do in that TAB…I also now play the last climbing part with a hammer-on from the 12th fret of the high E to the 13th fret of the high E.
Funny how “Spanish Fly” is it’s own thing…When I apply the D-H-D on the low string and U-D-U on the next string pattern to the “Girl Gone Bad” synch riff it sounds great. But not so on the “Spanish Fly” sextuplets…maybe the difference is that there are more “air balls” as Troy calls them in “Spanish Fly”…more “thuds” of accidentally striking the accidentally muted string.
This is a really good view of what he did at this show.
I’m totally happy and comfortable with my Down-Hammer-Down on the lower string and Up-Down-Up on the next string method for the “Girl Gone Bad” synch riff.
Still working on the “Spanish Fly” compromise sextuplets with the little muted high E thrown in between each of the two three note parts that make up the six clear notes. Getting there, but man it’s hard.
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Here’s where I’m at currently when adding the muted high E “7th note” into the “Spanish Fly” sextuplets. I’m nowhere near up to speed, but this is roughly how I’m executing it so far…
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I think thats good, a faster snap from e to b and it will be very close.
What do you think of the sound you got so far?
Do you know if it was record with a mic or through the guitar? I
Yeah, it’s tricky to get that delayed timing from the first note to the second on the B string and then to speed up for the last three Up-Down-Up on the high E and then get from that last Upstroke on the high E to the Downstroke on the B super quickly to begin the pattern again. And then get the whole pattern up to speed. I’m not quite there yet, but this may be a workable and repeatable compromise solution.
Not sure I follow you on the sound? On the original recording, Eddie used an Ovation classical non-cutaway model similar to mine, though I believe the one he used was just an acoustic and not acoustic-electric like mine.
On my clip I just stuck my iPhone in my mouth and whatever acoustic sound the iPhone got is what is in my clip!
I wonder how it was recorded and if there’s much equalization after.
There is a lot of fret/string impact noise so probably recorded the sound hole and the neck with separate mics? And that would also give you something to mix. There’s bound to be a fair amount of production on it even tho it’s just raw guitar.
And yeah I remember at the start he says “and again” so obviously at the very least more than one take. I wonder if they ever mixed two different takes and really produced the hell out of it to make it sound as warm an yet still sparklely/snappy as it does.
I don’t believe any of the talk that Ed just picked up the guitar and went for it. Like they say about “beat it” for example. I think the story with Spanish fly is he just picked up a producers or someones guitar n just played it. (probably not getting that right at all I’ve forgotten)
The story you may be thinking of is the story behind “Eruption”. That was Ed’s live solo which did not have a name. He was warming up with it and Ted Templeman heard it and wanted it on the album. It was the very last thing recorded for the first album.
Or you may be remembering the other story which was specific to “Spanish Fly”. Eddie did not own an acoustic guitar at the time. Ted Templeman had a Christmas party at his house and Eddie picked up Ted’s Ovation classical cutaway and began to play what became “Spanish Fly”. Then it was later recorded for the second album…to the best of my knowledge it was recorded with Ted’s Ovation classical.
I agree that the mumbling at the beginning is likely Eddie saying “Let me do that again” or “And again”. I believe there were probably two or three takes and they kept the best one. I don’t believe that any of it was compiled from various takes. It doesn’t make sense to have a final product with so many mistakes if it was a big production with many edits.
In any event, I am fairly certain it was all one live take. There was certainly compression on the track and a little reverb, but nothing else as far as I can tell.
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How do you normally pick? Do you use middle or index?
As I said before Ed had a real Good range of force with the middle and thumb finger grip.
When I do it, it takes a lot of force to control the fast picking combined with the slow muting. I believe due to Eddie’s hand construction he was able to achieve this naturally, yet we are trying to force it.
All I can say is I think it’s a serious avenue of thought to go down.
I’ve always held the pick the way Eddie held the pick…with the Thumb and Middle fingers with the Index resting on the edge of the pick.
Again, I don’t think genetics has anything to do with it. We will just agree to disagree.
Do you not like the index grip?
I like both, tho I struggle with the middle finger for harder playing because my grip is at the limit of its range of mostion
I only use the Index grip for hybrid picking. I’ve been using the Thumb and Middle grip since at least 1984 because I was copying Eddie. I’ve been doing it so long that it’s just more natural to me.
I don’t think you have any limited range of motion. I would guess that you just aren’t used to it. Again, I believe that there is probably not any genetic deficiency issue with you or anyone else that gives any sort of disadvantage compared to anyone else.
Hey @garbeaj
Have you seen this vid? I only just saw it, he is doing that run really fast and direct to the cam, I don’t see any movement with his right to hop over the string, he’s just swiping over it, clean or not, It’s one of the most direct videos I’ve seen, thought I’d share it
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That’s a cool video…I have not seen it before. He doesn’t do the complete run so it is hard to see what he is doing nonetheless. I think he is doing something different on the album version however. As Troy has pointed out, it’s a cavalcade of “airballs” and all we can do is try to make a compromise with a repeatable pattern.
Hows that muted note gone for you? Do you think it’s whats basically happening?
I am still quite adamant that his hand construction allows angles of force that someone like me finds incredibly difficult to achieve without wearing my hand out.
I think that what Troy pointed out is exactly what’s happening, but I think that my compromise solution for getting a repeatable pattern that gets some of the feel across reasonably is working. It’s just taking me a hell of a lot of practice to get it up to speed. All of this to try to mimic Eddie’s mistakes!
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