Maiden-style jam!

[DocNrock]

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a die-hard Maiden fan.  I've been doing some slower stuff lately to work on phrasing and timing.  I found this Maiden-style backing track on You Tube.  It's pretty cool, I think.  It let me put my inner Dave Murray out, but of course I suck compared to him!  But, it's probably my best metal playing ever, to date.  Warmoth VIP, black korina body, camphor burl top, zebra wood neck, ebony fingerboard.  Pickup is the bridge, DiMarzio Tone Zone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=137&v=s3t1aBuhNSc

EDIT:  To anyone who is stuck in a rut in their playing, try learning something else.  For me, it was slower, ballad-type pieces.  When I came back to Maiden-esque stuff, it was so much easier, and the phrasing found itself. 

 

[fdesalvo]

:dontknow: ccasion14: :guitarplayer2:

 

[Cagey]

Good stuff!

What did you use to record that?

 

[DocNrock]

:dontknow: ccasion14: :guitarplayer2:

Didn't like it, Frank?  That's cool.  I've never been a great player, just ok, I guess.  :icon_thumright:

@Cagey:  I'm guessing it was better than my Gilmour-ish attemp.  Thanks. 
I got the backing track off of You Tube and just recorded everything with my iPhone 6 Plus.  The backing track was playing through my computer speakers and the guitar was coming out of my amp, which was right behind me.  The phone was just recording video and the ambient sound.

 

[fdesalvo]

My emoticon combo skills have failed me again. Quite the opposite. I loved it!  Maiden got me into guitar!  Up the irons!

 

[DocNrock]

My emoticon combo skills have failed me again. Quite the opposite. I loved it!  Maiden got me into guitar!  Up the irons!

Oh, then thanks.  :icon_biggrin:  FWIW, the "dunno" emoticon came across as "meh."  lol.

Funny, Maiden got me into the guitar, as well.  I was a senior in high school and was outside washing my truck on a weekend with the radio on.  "The Trooper" came on the radio.  I'd never heard such magic!  LOL!  At that moment, I knew I had to learn the guitar.

 

[fdesalvo]

Haha I was in fifth grade and my best friend came over with this "amazing tape" lol!

 

[DocNrock]

Haha I was in fifth grade and my best friend came over with this "amazing tape" lol!

What album/song was it?

 

[MikeW]

Run To The Hills for me. First heard it on The Rock down here in SD. From that point on I was hooked on Maiden. But I'd been playing for a year or so by then too. Life changed when I first heard Eruption. LOL

That's a good track too Doc, BTW.

 

[fdesalvo]

I lied!  It was 6th grade and it was the "Somewhere in Time" album.  Something about the production on that album and the use of reverb on the master.  Sounds so spacial and deep.  Love it and to this day is one of my favorite albums from a production standpoint.  Also can't neglect mentioning the art of D. Riggs.  I still find new things when I look at that album art.

Haha, "Run to the Hills" is also awesome.

Haha I was in fifth grade and my best friend came over with this "amazing tape" lol!

What album/song was it?

 

[DocNrock]

@MikeW:  Love "Run to the Hills!"  Great guitar interplay in that song!  I remember hearing "Eruption" for the first time.  I think I was in the 8th grade.  It was awesome!, but I never thought I'd be able to do something like that at the time, so it just moved on.  But it definitely registered on the Richter scale.  :icon_thumright:  Thanks for the kind words on the jam. 

@Fdesalvo:  What a great album!  That is perhaps, possibly, my favorite Maiden album.  Although most of them are so awesome that it is hard to have a favorite.  "Alexander the Great," "Wasted Years," "Sea of Madness," "Stranger in a Strange Land," and "Deja Vu."  The whole album is great, but those are my favorites.  And yes, the production is so much better than on "Piece of Mind."  Don't get me wrong.  I love "Piece of Mind," but the production sounds overly compressed to my ear.  "Somewhere in Time" is so much more open, like you said.  And the art work cannot be commended high enough.  Love it!  :headbang1:

Up the irons!!!

 

[MikeW]

I really like both Piece of Mind and Somewhere in Time, but my favorites are Powerslave and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The songwriting on Somewhere in Time is, I think, Maiden at their peak, but I am still blown away by Aces High, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Rime and Powerslave.

Like you Doc, Eruption caught my ear and I got interested in guitars after that, but it was hearing Dave Murray on Run to the Hills that really made me want to play, if you know what I mean. From then on it was 'I need a black and white Strat like Dave's'.
:laughing3:

 

[fdesalvo]

Yes indeed, guys.  Yes, indeed!  Good ol' Piece of Moind lol!

7th Son is another great one.  It's drier in production than SIT, but it's got a dark, mystical character about it - really engaging and I love how they pan and mix the guitars.  They did an excellent job wrapping the production around the album's theme.  "Infinite Dreams" is so good - love the bridge in that one!  All of those tracks are just gold!

The best thing about "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" is it's the only Maiden song you can turn on, shower, shave, dress, and come back out and it's still playing. You could have a baked potato finished cooking by the time that song hits the bridge!

 

[DocNrock]

I really like both Piece of Mind and Somewhere in Time, but my favorites are Powerslave and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The songwriting on Somewhere in Time is, I think, Maiden at their peak, but I am still blown away by Aces High, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Rime and Powerslave.

Like you Doc, Eruption caught my ear and I got interested in guitars after that, but it was hearing Dave Murray on Run to the Hills that really made me want to play, if you know what I mean. From then on it was 'I need a black and white Strat like Dave's'.
:laughing3:

Mike, I know exactly what you mean.  Like I said, for me it was Murray's playing on "The Trooper," but it probably could have been any Maiden song.  It just so happened that "The Trooper" was the first one I had ever heard. 

Don't get me wrong, "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son" are awesome, as well.  Hell, almost all of them are great.  Although, they kind of lost me after Dickinson left.  Even after he and Smith came back, to me the vibe just wasn't the same.  They still had a couple of good tunes from the later era:  "The Clansman" with the new vocalist and quite a bit of the "Fear of the Dark" album, especially "Fear of the Dark," and "Judas be my Guide." 

It's funny, my "Murray" Strat isn't very Murray.  I just keep telling myself it is what he would play if he built a Warmoth.  :laughing7:

Yes indeed, guys.  Yes, indeed!  Good ol' Piece of Moind lol!

7th Son is another great one.  It's drier in production than SIT, but it's got a dark, mystical character about it - really engaging and I love how they pan and mix the guitars.  They did an excellent job wrapping the production around the album's theme.  "Infinite Dreams" is so good - love the bridge in that one!  All of those tracks are just gold!

The best thing about "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" is it's the only Maiden song you can turn on, shower, shave, dress, and come back out and it's still playing. You could have a baked potato finished cooking by the time that song hits the bridge!

All great stuff! I almost said that "Alexander the Great" was as long as "Rime," but indeed it falls short -- 8 minutes and change compared to 13:45! 

When I saw Maiden in 2013, they did a lot of stuff off of the "Seventh Son" album.  They opened the show with "Can I Play with Madness."  Encores were off of "Powerslave" ("Aces High and "Two Minutes") 

Speaking of epic long songs and live shows, I saw them do "Rime" live during the "Powerslave" tour in '85.  Apparently, "Alexander the Great" has never been done live.  If they ever do, I definitely want to be there!

 

[fdesalvo]

We will never see bands like them again. No one up and coming. Industry has changed. Way we find music has changed.  No more artist development. Just pump and dump. So sad. You are fortunate to have been able to see them back then.

 

[DocNrock]

We will never see bands like them again. No one up and coming. Industry has changed. Way we find music has changed.  No more artist development. Just pump and dump. So sad. You are fortunate to have been able to see them back then.

Unfortunately, you are so correct.  And yes, it was awesome to have seen them back in '85.  But I have to say that when I saw them in 2013, they were just as good, if not better, than they were in '85.  :headbang1: