1982 Randy Rhoads seminar

There is also a transcription for the session. He really went into details about how to play the transition from the verse to the chorus on Crazy Train. He said that the chords were chordal inversions with ”each 3rd played in the bass on the 6th string”.

I figured out how to do that and realized all the tabs I had seen and the way I had been playing that part of the song was completely wrong.

It is really cool to have this session and hear his voice and his takes on things. For him to have left some details on how he approached aspects of his songs. I also found it interesting when he played some of his leads and fills. They definitely had shared DNA with what is on the album, but were different. It was more of a general feel not a precise recreation.
 
There is also a transcription for the session. He really went into details about how to play the transition from the verse to the chorus on Crazy Train. He said that the chords were chordal inversions with ”each 3rd played in the bass on the 6th string”.

I figured out how to do that and realized all the tabs I had seen and the way I had been playing that part of the song was completely wrong.

It is really cool to have this session and hear his voice and his takes on things. For him to have left some details on how he approached aspects of his songs. I also found it interesting when he played some of his leads and fills. They definitely had shared DNA with what is on the album, but were different. It was more of a general feel not a precise recreation.
Yeah... I'm guessing things had to change to accommodate live performance vs studio arrangements.
 
Yeah... I'm guessing things had to change to accommodate live performance vs studio arrangements.
He talks about the F# min chromatic fill in the second chorus on Crazy Train. He said it was noise and that he could get away with it because he plays it fast and loud but he doesn’t play it live because it is easy to mess up.

I think in some instances he goes so far as to say he doesn’t remember how something is played then talks about the key and structure. Both the Blizzard and Diary sessions were really short. I suspect in some cases he remembered the key, scale, and mode but not exactly what he laid down on the studio track and played extemporaneously.
 
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He talks about the fill in the second chorus on Crazy Train. He said it was noise and that he could get away with it because he plays it fast and loud but he doesn’t play it live because it is easy to mess up.

I think in some instances he goes so far as to say he doesn’t remember how something is played then talks about the key and structure. Both the Blizzard and Diary sessions were really short. I suspect in some cases he remembered the key, scale, and mode but not exactly what he laid down on the studio track and played extemporaneously.
Yeah... It's been a long time since I have listened to Tribute but I remember lots of things being different.

And then, of course, you can layer, overdub, etc stuff in the studio that will never be done live - at least back before the days of everyone using backing tracks.
 
Just added to my 'watch later' list. Looking forward to it.
The "watch" is really just a series of photos from the event and the audio quality is horrible... But Rhandy was someone who was a big influence when I was learning to play and there is not much audio of him, so it was worth it to me.
 
Rhoads had the largest impact on my playing. I have been studying in detail all of his work with Ozzy. I have about 4 songs remaining to learn and I will know Blizzard and Diary in their entirety.

This article has a link to a transcription of the session, a bit easier to analyze some of the musical concepts with it in writing: https://www.woodytone.com/2009/10/27/semi-lost-interview-rhoads-on-his-gear/

Here an article about his signal chain that I found: https://www.guitareuromedia.com/gallery/randy-rhoads-guitar-gear-rig-ozzy-osbourne-1981/

Anyone who has other links to Rhoads content, please post it here. Always looking for new Rhoads content
 
Shame that there’s not more quality footage of Randy. I wonder if there is more but Ozzy sounds so bad on it that it will never see the light of day?
I did some searching yesterday and saw some soundcheck stuff from the tour in 82.

There was some very casual video of Randy playing. I bit of Rudy Sarzo walking on the stage and maybe 5 minutes or so of Ozzy being interviewed.

He seemed surprisingly lucid. He actually said that he had become fairly anti-drug following the end of his time in Sabbath. It made me think (not for the first time) that Randy's death probably contributed a lot to him falling hard off the wagon.

Edit - Here's the video:

 
I did some searching yesterday and saw some soundcheck stuff from the tour in 82.

There was some very casual video of Randy playing. I bit of Rudy Sarzo walking on the stage and maybe 5 minutes or so of Ozzy being interviewed.

He seemed surprisingly lucid. He actually said that he had become fairly anti-drug following the end of his time in Sabbath. It made me think (not for the first time) that Randy's death probably contributed a lot to him falling hard off the wagon.

Edit - Here's the video:


Read Rudy Sarzo’s book “Off the Rails”. Rudy says that Ozzy was always plastered and sounded terrible. He mentioned they recorded lots of shows but Ozzy always said he sounded terrible and the recordings were never seen or heard again.

He completely re-recorded all his vocal parts for Speak of the Devil and Tribute. I’m bet there is more Randy live recordings and video in a vault somewhere. Would love to see it.
 
I figured out how to do that and realized all the tabs I had seen and the way I had been playing that part of the song was completely wrong.

I did a Crazy Train transcription for Hal Leonard a couple years ago, which might be the first (or only, still) thing out there to show that bit correctly.

wLZIo6Z.png


Some other details missed often/always are a G# hammer-on while picking the open A in the verse riff,

LFH5hjN.png


and the actual legato/tap pattern in the solo. The LH note between the tapped notes is F#, not A:

ft4mgJZ.png


(I'd guess he may have done a tap or two ahead of beat 1 there as opposed to starting with the LH F#, and they just cut/muted to have it begin right on the beat.)

The best video evidence of the verse G# hammer is probably 2:05 here. The LH ring finger seems to move quickly up/down before the A5 chord.

 
I did a Crazy Train transcription for Hal Leonard a couple years ago, which might be the first (or only, still) thing out there to show that bit correctly.

wLZIo6Z.png
That is it! The only difference for me is that I play the chords as diads not triads, leaving the second tonic on the B string out. I felt the brightness of that came from Rhoads’ amp tone. Could be wrong about that I know. It is cool to see someone else sorted this out too!

Some other details missed often/always are a G# hammer-on while picking the open A in the verse riff,

LFH5hjN.png
Yes. I heard that G# too and have been playing that for years. On the first and third sequence of palm muted A notes in that phrase, I swear i hear that as an eigth note followed by two sixteenth notes which give it a bit of a shuffle feel. I also hear the second palm muted phrase as two sixteenth notes and an eigth note. I find playing it that way makes it sound and feel more like what Rhoads was doing. What do you think?
and the actual legato/tap pattern in the solo. The LH note between the tapped notes is F#, not A:

ft4mgJZ.png


(I'd guess he may have done a tap or two ahead of beat 1 there as opposed to starting with the LH F#, and they just cut/muted to have it begin right on the beat.)

The best video evidence of the verse G# hammer is probably 2:05 here. The LH ring finger seems to move quickly up/down before the A5 chord.
I am going to play with this and get a feel for it. Thanks for sharing this!

The other place I found Crazy Train tabs to possibly be inaccurate is the ascending chromatic run in the second chorus. Rhoads states it is based on a minor triad ascending fret by fret that starts on F# min with him rushing into the pick gliss at the end of the run. All the tabs I have seen represent this as a minor triad that transitions to a major triad. Even slowed down it is hard to tell what is going on there. What do you think?

Thanks for sharing this. Cool stuff. Which book was your transcription published in? Would love to get a copy.

Did you transcribe Revelation Mother Earth too? That is another one where I have founds tabs to diverge widely.
 
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On the first and third sequence of palm muted A notes in that phrase, I swear i hear that as an eigth note followed by two sixteenth notes which give it a bit of a shuffle feel. I also hear the second palm muted phrase as two sixteenth notes and an eigth note. I find playing it that way makes it sound and feel more like what Rhoads was doing. What do you think?

The other place I found Crazy Train tabs to possibly be inaccurate is the ascending chromatic run in the second chorus. Rhoads states it is a minor triad ascending fret by fret that starts on F# min with him rushing into the pick gliss at the end of the run. All the tabs I have seen represent this as a minor triad that transitions to a major triad. Even slowed down it is hard to tell what is going on there. What do you think?

Thanks for sharing this. Cool stuff. Which book was your transcription published in? Would love to get a copy.

Did you transcribe Revelation Mother Earth too? That is another one where I have founds tabs to diverge widely.

I guess it's pretty much all 16ths for those A's in the verse riff. There are a couple spots like the first verse measure or after the chorus where it begins with one or two 8th notes clearly in both channels.

The ascending lick is sketchy because he sliding gradually instead of 3 notes, shift, 3 notes, etc. So there are some one-fret slides in there, and he also doesn't quite keep the fingers spaced in that minor triad shape. I think the two channels differed slightly but I put these triads for each 3-note group: F#m Gm G G# A A#° B° C° C#° D° (high A final note).

This is the book: https://www.halleonard.com/product/248413/ozzy-osbourne I did CT and I Don't Wanna Stop for it, but the rest of the transcriptions are older and unfortunately probably sort of wrong in spots. I know the main riff of Bark at the Moon didn't have the right chord voicings.
 
Funny, I was just watching this last night. Sarzo got in touch with this guy to clarify some things about that TV appearance.



Greg Norman recorded both Ozzy albums with Randy. He said that once the song arraignment was set
Randy would take a copy and go sit by himself to compose the solo.
Norman said it never took him very long and what he originally came up with most of the time is what's
on the albums. He was also blown away by Randy's ability to play the solo three times (left-center-right)
and nail it EXACT with each pass - even though he'd just composed it that afternoon.
 
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