Chords for I Thought I Could Never Learn This Riff

When I was a teenager I could pretty much figure out most guitar solos but there was one solo that
I could never slow down and it's got a very fast run in it.
_ _ _ [Db] _
[C] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Cm] _ _
[E] _ _ _ [N] _ Okay that _ smokes and today it just
popped into my head.
The song is called The Evil Eye and it's off Gino Vanelli's brother to brother
record released in 1978 and the guitar solo's name is Carlos Rios.
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Let me play you the solo
[Em] first here it is. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ [C] _
_ _ [Gb] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Em]
I don't know if I could actually play it up to tempo but the first thing we're
going to do is figure out what the chord progression is. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ Okay so I know that that first chord is a minor
9 or [E] minor 9 11.
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] So because I hear that F [E] sharp _ _ [Bm] and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I can tell [Gb] by the notes he's playing right.
The
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] second chord I can tell is a _ dominant 11 chord or [Em] a sus chord but I have to figure out
the bass note. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
[C] _ _ _ [N] Knowing that that's a dominant sus chord I [B] know that's this chord [C] here. _ _
_ So that's a B flat over [B] C which would be this [C] chord. _ _ _ _
Now [N] how do you recognize those things?
I say this a lot of times but it's this vocabulary of recognized _ sounds.
Once you train your ear to
do this.
This is why I created my ear training course.
Shameless plug here if you want to be
able to figure these things out.
I recognize [E] the sounds of these chords.
_ [Em] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ Then these next chords are tricky.
_ _ _ [Abm] _ _ [D] _ _
It's the same chord three times.
It's the same type of chord
three times in a row and it's one of these dominant 11s too.
C over D _ then it goes B flat over C or B
over C [B] sharp _ and [C] then B flat over C.
So it's the same chord as the B flat over C just shifted [D] up.
_ _ [B] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ I can hear it moving down by half steps.
[D] We actually call that planing.
That's when you move
the same chord shape up and down.
So it's like _ [Db] _ _ [C] _
_ easy on the guitar actually to play that.
Listen. _
_ _ _ _ Right.
_ [Em] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [C] _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [E] _
[N] And that _ I _ hear [Gb] that _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Ab] interval because _ we're on that C major chord or the C 11 [Bb] chord.
B flat over C _ or C 11.
I [Gb] hear _ [C] I'm _ _ [Gb] hearing that [G] _ F sharp to G motion in that chord.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ [G] _ _ [N] That's definitely it.
So that's what the chords that Carlos is soloing over.
Let's talk
about the solo.
So the first part of it I recognized because I know what those intervals [Eb] are.
And I know he's [Gb] going. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ I can hear [Abm] it starts in the ninth of that and [Em] he's hammering on.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Db] That's weird.
That [Gm] second lick.
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] It's a mixolydian scale that he's soloing over.
I'll put a [C] little pad here. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
Beautiful scale [Gbm] to use over that C [Em] dominant chord.
It really gives you [Ab] the sound of the
chord.
But the intervals he's playing.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ But [A] then he goes.
_ _ _ Let me play along with it up [Bm] to the fast lick.
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Db] _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ [E] Okay.
The fast part I recognize the beginning of it because it's similar to a kind of bebop lick or altered lick.
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ But then I get lost in [N] there because there's a couple weird notes.
And we're going to use a
slow downer to figure it out.
So let's go to that.
The slow downer app is called AnyTune
Practice _ Perfected.
I just downloaded it.
I made a loop of the fast section.
Let me play it for you.
I slowed it down to 50 [Em] percent.
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
Let me take a smaller section of [E] this so I can just get this
one turnaround that's in there.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _
[G] _ _ _ That's pretty _ [F]
close there.
Let me [Em] try it again.
_ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [Eb] This is the lick.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ Oh [N]
that's amazing.
But that is so hard to play [E] fast.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gb] It was easier probably when I [E] was 17.
If I could have played the notes when I was 17, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
I couldn't learn it when I was 16. _ _
But now that I can slow down that one part of the lick,
I can learn it.
Some of the things when you play these really fast licks that are not
in your style, they don't quite lay under your fingers.
You have to practice them for a while
to get under your fingers.
And you have to practice it at slow tempos and gradually speed it up.
Okay now I know the notes.
I'm going to post a video on YouTube Shorts and on Instagram.
I'm
going to play this solo.
Give me about a week to practice it and I should be able to play it
perfectly up to tempo.
That's all for now.
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Thanks so much for watching. _