Joe Would Be Proud – Level Up! (english)

This article is part of the series “Level Up! – 42 guitar solos for a better sex life”

Meaning of the Solo

This one’s for all my guitar heroes, especially Joe Satriani.
I hope he would be proud if he heard that song.

Chord Analysis

The rhythm guitar plays the following chords:

 

Chord D Am C Bm G Em A D
Third F# C E D B G C# F#
Fifth A E G F# D B E A

Ok, what we’ve got here? Let’s sort:

G A B C C# D E F#

Well, C und C# in the same scale?

What’s going on there? Song starts in G major (G A B C D E F#) and end in D major. That’s called modulation.

And because these tonalities differ in just one note, it’s no drama at all. We take the scale from G major and make sure to avoid playing the C when we hit the A major chord!

Bars 1 to 4

 

We start with an upbeat on our first target note – the third of D major F#. Syncopation, bends and a slide is happening in bar 2 to land on the next target note, the C (minor third of A minor). In bar 3 we play more of the A minor chord by jotting in the root note.

Bar 5 to 8

 

We play around the fifth of C major G with some nice hammer on / pull offs to get via the E (C major’s third) to the F# (fifth of B minor). With a bend from E to F# we create some finesse. Well done!

Bar 9 to 12

 

Root note G and via target notes B and D and slide into the anticipated E. With a frivolous tapping of B on beat 4 in bar 11 we substantiate the E major chord.

Going up the fret board intensifies the thing.

Bar 13 to 15

 

In bar 13 we play the A and the E from A major and ignore the problem with C / C#. At the end of the solo we raise tension with the bend from D to E.

We finish off in bar 15 with a 1 1/2 step overbend from B to D to land on the root note of the D major chord.

Now all You have to do is practice. Enjoy!

Video

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