04 Nov Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” Solo Tutorial, Part One
Welcome to solodallas.com Tutorials!
Today, I feel I can say a new era begins for solodallas.com: tutorials. I.e., what this place was born to make.
Tutorial Video, Part One
intro2720 from SoloDallas on Vimeo.
Four tutorials will be released in total for this solo, one of the most classic, classic-rock-lick-rich solos in the history of rock and roll. One Tutorial per week for the next four weeks.
Part one is intended to introduce the first steps (and notes) into the solo, predominantly Gm Pentatonic.
Beginners note: playing minor licks over a major backing is what gives blues it’s characteristic weepy, deeply emotional feeling. See how the solo starts with bending the F at the 18th fret B string up to the (root) G at the 20th immediately creating tension and drama.
Note at 1:50, I need to clarify the chords. Not G, A# and C Major 7th, but G7, A#7 and C7. i.e All Dominant 7th’s of the Major family.
A single camera view is provided here, however, it is in high definition, 1280×720 footage of my guitar right in your face, try it full screen.
Audio was recorded professionally using two Audio Technica AT4047 condenser microphones, placed on a 1960B Marshall cabinet with 1977 Celestion G12Ms (25 watts) inside.
The guitar used in this first part is a 1968/1958 Gibson Les Paul called “The Husk“, loaded with real, 1959 Gibson PAFs.
Guitar was plugged into a 1976, original, Marshall Super Lead (100 watts) attenuated with a professional attenuator.
Enjoy yourself. Now it’s YOUR turn.
Thank you,
SD
Introduction (spoken):
fbt1-2-720 from SoloDallas on Vimeo.
Some Technical information:
Settings on the Marshall Head: Presence 0, Bass 0, mids 6, treble 4, volume 8
[singlepic id=413 w=1024 h=768 float=]
Settings on the guitar: treble volume: 9, tone: 6
Microphone placement:
[singlepic id=412 w=1024 h=768 float=]
One microphone on the left edge of the Celestion cone, the other one, slightly off center, on the right.
Microphone positioning, equalization, gear and performance will all dramatically add to your recorded and live work.
PS
For questions, comments, critiques, suggestions, anything, please be welcome to post in the comments section below.
PS II:
For your reference, I am adding here my previous performance videos of Free Bird solos, so that you can follow as you learn.
fb2 from SoloDallas on Vimeo.
fb2-720 from SoloDallas on Vimeo.
fb3-2 from SoloDallas on Vimeo.
Erik
Posted at 00:09h, 05 NovemberYou are a free bird Fil ^^
cody12rocks
Posted at 23:50h, 04 NovemberHey Fil, I was looking into amps because I want to buy one and I was wondering what amp I should get in your opinion that isn’t too expensive and gets that good AC/DC Rock sound?
Erik
Posted at 22:27h, 04 NovemberVery clear and informative, I will have a better look at this tomorrow. Btw we use the same cable for the guitar ^^
SGACE
Posted at 22:21h, 04 NovemberThis is a great post, the SOLO DALLAS that we all know.. I imagine the time that you consumed to prepare and record it in such a great detail, and that makes feel dizzy.. Such a great tutorial, thanks my friend.
You took my memories way back when I saw them play it live in Oct of 1996 or 1997 in Wolverhampton.
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:39h, 04 NovemberEfharisto 🙂
SGACE
Posted at 22:44h, 04 NovemberPrego my friend.
Michael91
Posted at 21:39h, 04 NovemberYou’ve done a really great job!
love your new background with the stack, but I also miss a bit the good old solo dallas red:)
Thank you!
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:08h, 04 NovemberHehe thanks MIke 😉 I’ll try and get a red curtain to drop in there somwhere 😛
GoingDownOnTheWay
Posted at 21:02h, 04 NovemberI can’t get it done. To difficult for me. It’s not the speed, but the way it is played. Until the end I thought “well, there are so many little things going on in that single position” – that’s exactly what you mentioned.
I mean this solo is so awesome in its way to fit the song. To be free like a bird. That’s what the licks sound like, they sound like birds. They’re ‘fast’, yet slowed down they still remain beautiful because of their character.
For me it takes time to internalize a solo as a whole before I can ‘play’ it. Got one week till the next part.
Thank you Fil! Great tutorial
SoloDallas
Posted at 21:16h, 04 NovemberGlad you like it 🙂
Do NOT worry about how long it takes, it doesn’t take or anything of that sort. The purpose of this site is learning. Good learning takes time. Take your time, enjoy your, enjoy the learning. It’s beautiful. Too bad you’ll have to listen to my voice over and over? 😛
GoingDownOnTheWay
Posted at 21:35h, 04 NovemberOf course I enjoy learning a song or a specific solo, as much as I enjoy playing the guitar, to me that is what playing is about.
I don’t expact something to happen immediately. That’s not my intention! 🙂
But I need to catch the feeling. Sometimes (I think that) I play good, sometimes even a single note sounds worse than everything.
At this point of time, your site (and your voice!) helped me to get the best results playing AC/DC with my cheap 5watt amp I have ever had. And I think that’s because of the feeling. Something has changed.
For me a week probably won’t be enough to get it for this song. But the licks and notes and everything you’ve shown are awesome. A few minutes later, fooling around, they had already become part of the playing 😀
Thanks! 🙂
banane
Posted at 20:27h, 04 NovemberHi Fil, presumed the tutorial coming up because you were mostly silent the last days 🙂
And it’s great, yes. You are slow, you do explaining a lot and the video is high quality so I can see everyting you do. Amp settings, mic setup, everything is there.
Very well done, Fil. Makes me pick up my guitar right now. Thanks. You deserved your leisure time beer again, hehe 😉
SoloDallas
Posted at 21:20h, 04 NovemberBesten Dank Franz
ich hatte gehofft, dass Du mir Deine Meinung ueber mein erstes Tutorial auf meiner neuen Seite mitteilen wuerdest.
(No worries: I haven’t learned German in two days 😛 Nor it was google: German friends for dinner!) 😛
banane
Posted at 21:39h, 04 NovemberHehe Fil, das war jetzt eine echte Überraschung, etwas auf Deutsch von Dir zu lesen 😀
You’re really a good teacher 🙂
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:09h, 04 NovemberDanke! ( 🙂 )
Tyler
Posted at 20:13h, 04 NovemberThank you fil, hd is great, I liked when you talked about how the solo conveys the message of a freebird like in the begining attack of the solo.
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:09h, 04 NovemberThanks Tyler 🙂
TheBrowling
Posted at 19:46h, 04 NovemberUps! watching the videos made me grab the guitar and I totally forgot about telling you what I think Fil! (that’s good I suppose!). I think that you’ve gone to the next level with this video/lesson (comparing to the ones you made looong ago), in terms of video quality (love HD!), of sound and of explanation, as you explain it slowlier and more kind of note per note. One thing I may suggest is that you should say the key of the solo, not just because it will make it easier for the ones that want to transcribe it and then check it out with yours, but for the ones who would like to improvise over it (although if you can improvise over this or transcribe it, you should also be able to learn the key out of it). Anyway, great start, congratulations and keep ’em coming! cheers from the other part of the mediterranean 😉
SoloDallas
Posted at 19:51h, 04 NovemberThanks very much for this. All your input is highly valued. I need to learn from my mistakes and do better every time 🙂
whiskeyontherocks
Posted at 19:43h, 04 NovemberBravo Fil, keep ’em coming!
SoloDallas
Posted at 19:51h, 04 NovemberThank you 🙂
Mick
Posted at 18:53h, 04 November“Stringers I mean finger strength” HAHAAH I laughed for so long after I heard that.Keep them comeing Fil I really liked this tutorial.Only one a week,Fil your killing me I have to wait that long I dont know if I can do that.OH the suspense lol.Hope to hear from you soon.:D
Dave4433
Posted at 19:04h, 04 NovemberA week is just the time You can get all of these licks right and practice them out, so I think we’ll all have what to do this all week.
SoloDallas
Posted at 19:13h, 04 NovemberWell, when I heard it back, I too laughed hard. Actually, I do every time I hear that… I was going to re-do it, but then I thought: what if this tut also brings smiles and laughs to my friends? So I left it in, as well as so many other imprecisions and mistakes. But the solid part is the playing and showing the lick, I hope 🙂
JaiminhoPagina
Posted at 18:00h, 04 NovemberHey Fil 🙂
Great Lesson!
Do you still want the tabs? 😛
I’ll try to start writing them as soon as I can
By the way, do you want me to add the tabs straight into the video too?
SoloDallas
Posted at 18:04h, 04 NovemberAndrè, TABS: YES Please.
TABS into the video: YES, as well. We’ll load it into Vimeo and it will be an alternate version: fantastic idea!
JaiminhoPagina
Posted at 19:46h, 04 NovemberAlright 🙂
I just need a good quality copy of the clips 🙂
SoloDallas
Posted at 19:52h, 04 Novemberemail
JaiminhoPagina
Posted at 21:04h, 04 NovemberI’m having some problems to download it 😛
I’ll try again when I get home.
Or maybe tomorrow, if it’s better for you 🙂
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:10h, 04 NovemberDon’t rush it, take your time 🙂
HagusYoung
Posted at 17:57h, 04 NovemberThats how i want to see you Fil. Done nicely with the enthusiasm we all love 😀
Hope youre all right, been away quite a while now.
Hows the family doing ?
SoloDallas
Posted at 18:05h, 04 NovemberHagen, bro, all wonderful here.
Reason why I was away: it was THIS reason. Been working among other (real life) things on this. Wanted it to come out nicely. Next ones I’ll be quicker, I just had to learn a few new things (tech wise) to use in this video! VERY glad you like this one
ste
Posted at 17:43h, 04 NovemberFanne degli AC/DC Fil… Tipo i soli di The Jack…Mezz’ora di tutorial… Godo! 😀
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:11h, 04 NovemberAll that WILL come, don’t worry 😉 (He suggested more AC/DC Tutorials! 😛 )
rjofig
Posted at 17:24h, 04 NovemberGood timing, this came in right during lunch break 🙂 Looks good to me, the camera angle works well, and with HD quality and you playing slowly, it’s easy to follow the action.
By the way, your idea of a tutorial just debunking vibratos is great; if I may suggest, tutorials on right/left hand techniques with emphasis on classic rock style of playing would be very useful (most technique tutorials I’ve seen are more generic).
Cheers
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:11h, 04 NovemberWill be done Sir
Dave4433
Posted at 17:16h, 04 NovemberSo far so good. I can hear it all more clearly than ever before, I can see everything better than before.. All looks excellent over all.
Dave4433
Posted at 18:10h, 04 NovemberBTW, what mic’s would You suggest, condenser or dynamic ? (I really have no idea when it comes to mic’ing amps, I’m new to it)
SoloDallas
Posted at 22:12h, 04 NovemberDave, thank you. I’m in love with condensers, so I am not objective right now. However, I have used for a long time the good ol’ trustworthy Shure SM57 and SM58 for guitars, and they are proved and excellent, and not expensive (Dynamic)
TheBrowling
Posted at 17:14h, 04 NovemberI have not started watching the videos yet and am amused!
SoloDallas
Posted at 19:14h, 04 NovemberCurious to know your thought about it.
Alex
Posted at 16:54h, 04 NovemberAwesome Fil, this is one of the main reasons I signed up to the site 🙂
Will you be covering both guitar parts or just the one?
SoloDallas
Posted at 17:04h, 04 NovemberThanks Alex! For now, “Only” the right side guitar solo. Eventually, if there seems to be interest, I may be covering everything else. Let’s see how much attention this one gets 😉
Kris
Posted at 16:28h, 04 NovemberI wish I hadn’t left my guitar at home going to the summer house!!! 🙁
SoloDallas
Posted at 16:30h, 04 NovemberI take it as a good sign that you’re liking this? You know, it was a due tutorial in a long time, and also, my first reappearance speaking on video after more than a year 😉
Evilrat
Posted at 16:26h, 04 NovemberGreat job! Really learnt a lot from this…the notes themselfs and perhaps more importantly the feel of the individual notes. Really good stuff but you seemed a little nervous, relax! You had me on the edge of my seat for some of this 🙂
Can’t wait for more tutiorals and the follow up. May i suggest ‘Beating around the bush’? Cheers
SoloDallas
Posted at 16:28h, 04 NovemberThank you! I was mostly relaxed, but at times, I was on the edge as I just knew that this was my first tutorial in a loong time. Also, everything is different here: sound, gear, guitars, microphones, room, etc. It is all different from the way I used to do it. A lot of technology is involved, a lot of work. I hope you liked the result 🙂
SoloDallas
Posted at 16:52h, 04 NovemberPS I was thinking… the real moments where I was on the edge were actually when I was playing. But hey… I’m ALWAYS like that! 😛
That’s me. I put all of myself into it, I try to get the sound and feeling every time I pick the gee-tar! 😉