Video Breakdown

Can someone breakdown what the heck is going on in this video? Ik its USX but besides that I guess my ear can’t breakdown such notes.

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It’s all tabbed here:

BTW, welcome to the forum!

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This is why I always suggest that if you are going to try to learn something that you need a video of a clear shot of the guitarists hands. Please don’t take this the wrong way, genuinely asking. Are you blind? Because he is doing some wild fingers that I haven’t ever seen before during a phrase he did near the end.

To be fair, we all learn things different ways. Not everyone has the patience to transcribe and that won’t mean they’re blind (or deaf). I’m sure there are thousands of non-professional (but quite accomplished) pianists that can’t do anything without sheet music, but can sight read almost anything you put in front of them.

4nps scales are definitely a rare thing. Plus I’ve heard Troy say that he intentionally avoids any uncomfortable “stretchy” stuff, so it’s an interesting choice he made there. He regularly does more compact ascending 2nps maj7 arpeggios in place of something like that.

not sure if its a scale or not the middle, ring, and pinky maybe playing that 5th with the surrounding notes around the enclosure. but i haven’t theoretically analyzed it, nor are my ears that trained to hear the backing harmonic landscape. specifically talking about the lick at 0:21. this is just a quick guess. maybe this scale?

https://ianring.com/musictheory/scales/finder/#1885

I posted tabs supplied by Troy himself, so we don’t really have to analyze it lol
image

EDIT: oops sorry I may have misread. You’re not talking about “what notes is he playing” you’re more meaning “what’s the theory behind the notes he’s playing”. In that case, I’m with you in not having theoretically analyzed it either :grin:

True, but eventually if you take lessons you will need to be able to watch what your teachers hands are doing to speed up the process. So this can aid in developing a skill so if you decide to go out into the gypsy jazz communities you can be better prepared when someone is showing the group something. because sometimes they will show you a specific fingering for a phrase, and sure you could theoretically ear it then play it your way. but they might have a more optimal fingering for their specific picking style which most utilize, that being usx.

you know my dad didn’t show me how to play, but fear not in the beginning yes it does require some patience when learning this skill. but the more you do it, the faster you get at it. just have to learn a new skill which does suck i agree, but you will benefit greatly from doing it. the really tricky part are the chords beyond diad and triad, the single note melodies and patterns are very easy when you get the hang of it.

its not a minor tetrachord stair stepped fingering its 1 2 b3 b4

seems like its like an inbetween scale of whole tone and whole half diminished.

although there will come a point when you should try to ween off using your sight, and begin to audiate these things when you learn enough songs/phrases of course. but that is if you desire to take it further.

I think he meant to play B whole-half diminished there, it just got a little messed up. The picking’s a bit off, too, if you slow it down. Still sounds cool, and that was probably the best take so it was just left as is.

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Yea I think I just haven’t trained my ear to pick out fast playing like this yet

even the best i would guess wouldn’t be able to really explain what something was because they would be using memory based audiation to arrive at the sound, or using their building block intervals tool tricks. just like we are discussing here i doubt any one would be able to remember every single scale that you can create with all the different combination of tetrachords. to me each scale and its modes is almost like knowing how to speak 1 spoken language. to truly be able to do what you are saying here would require transcribing almost all of the soloists music/improv before you would begin to pick up on their phrasing faster. of course also deep theory analysis against the backing bass/progression helps tremendously as well, so knowing your theory will definitely be, can’t believe i am fixing to use these buzz words, game changing. and depending on which genre they are playing, it would transfer over to other players of said genre. i believe it not only is about listening, but it is also about recrafting what you are hearing in your thoughts. as you transcribe solos, what happens is you begin to also be able to recreate the drums and bass in your mind without even realizing it.

I think depending on the level of transcription prowess you’re going for, most would probably need to slow stuff like this down at least a little, to get all the notes accurate. Have you tried using the “speed” control on the YT video and trying your ears/eyes on smaller chunks at a slower speed?

Again, we all have different goals and there’s only so much time in the day :slight_smile: But I wouldn’t feel bad about not being able to hear something at this speed in real time and not figuring out every single note. I’d have to slow it down and take it in chunks. Not everyone has that type of patience :slight_smile: Even still, I get stuff wrong all the time. But that’s what @Riffdiculous is around for lol

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absolutely you need to use some slow down, i normally do 50% speed (i listen to mostly fast shredder stuff, if it is already slower i would maybe do 75% speed) as this retains just enough rhythmic structure so i can audiate back in my mind (although if you are just doing this it might be slower, you get faster at this the more you do it), a baby wouldn’t be able to clearly mimic their mother after their first listen, unless you are albert einstein. :sweat_smile: by this i mean if you have never heard these phrases you are basically a baby to them, there should be no shame for even the best to maybe slow things down. although the more you do it, the more you can gleen insight as you can sort of piece things together after listening to something at regular tempo having put it some work transcribing different things.

also if it is just so fast that its a blur like shawn lane, and its still hard to discern at 25% speed. what you can do is use a quality slow down program that retains higher quality audio. youtube is trash here, i would use music speed changer or audacity change tempo effect with high quality checkbox checked, slow the recording to around 75% percent once and audio record it slowed down to further slow it down again twice. using this trick cuts down on the analysis of something that is just so fast that its hard to decipher what he was intending to fret/pick.

also the more you do this the more you start to hear the structure of the phrases, fragments, and arpeggios. and you can then isolate the entire line to mimic.

in fact i would urge any concert goer of their favorite players to take a portable recording device of higher quality to record the entire concert for your own personal usage. then on top record the video with your cellphone to get footage of the players hands. i regret not doing this sort of thing in my past, but you live and learn.