AxeFx 2 Does Hotel California Solo Harmonies VIDEO

Mark Day

FAS Artist-in-Residence
Fractal Audio Systems
Moderator
Here's a version of the Hotel California main solo. All the harmonies are in realtime using the Custom scales in the pitch block. I used 6 different scales in 4 presets. The arpeggios at the end are utilizing the x/y of two presets. The first preset in the solo is using the phaser and 1 harmony. You can switch these a million different ways using miss and the MFC101. I set my MFC basically for default settings except I programmed my Trem I/A as the Pitch X/Y. So if you watch the video it shows where to do the changes. I was able to easily do the changes with the foot controller however because it is hard enough to make a video and play I decided to use Logic to do all the changes (X/Y, program changes and bypass/on states) for me.

Of course it's not perfect. I didn't even listen to the originals while programming the custom scales(in the Global Menu) so there are bound to be mistakes. No need to tell me my intervals are incorrect. I am incorrect a lot, just ask my wife :)

Have fun with it...it's a blast!



Custom Scale 1 (First 2 arpeggios at end of solo)
A#= -4
B= -5
C#= -3
D= -3
E= -3
F#= -4

Custom Scale 2 (Arpeggio 3 and 4 at end of solo)
E= -3
C#= -4
A= -5
D= -3
B= -3
G#= -4

Custom Scale 3 (Arpeggio 5 and 6 at end of solo)
D= -3
B= -4
G= -3
D= -3
A= -3
F#= -4

Custom Scale 4 (Arpeggio 7 and 8 at end of solo)
B= -4
G= -3
E= -3
C#= -3
A#= -4
F#= -5

Custom Scale 5 (first harmony lick in solo)
F= -4(part of bend)
F#= -4
E= -3
D= -3
A= -3
A#= -2 (bend)
B= -2

Custom Scale 6 (last harmony before Arpeggios)
A#= -4
B= -4
F#= -4
All others =-3. I’m not sure which notes matter but set it up like this J
 

Attachments

  • Mark Hotel 1st Harm.syx
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  • Mark Hotel 2nd Harm.syx
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  • Mark Hotel Arpeggios 1 and 2.syx
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  • Mark Hotel Arpeggios 3 and 4.syx
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I did not expect you to play one of the coolest licks INCORRECTLY!? :p (the one at 1:03)
It's a cool thing to know (and maybe you do, but on some setups it doesn't fit your hands or can be risky).

Steve Lukather uses it a lot as well, mainly on string 2 & 3, but sometimes on string 1 & 2
(a slight variation is here from 0:17 You're the kind of sugar..., vintage Luke solo demo - YouTube)
He may have gotten it from Jimmy Hendrix or this solo here possibly...
 
I didn't think he played it wrong, I thought he was embellishing it! \m/
Sadly, that's not possible with that cool lick :p and a trademark lick from this solo, IMO.
I think Mark may agree, or would I be INCORRECT here? ;)
 
I did not expect you to play one of the coolest licks INCORRECTLY!? :p (the one at 1:03)
It's a cool thing to know (and maybe you do, but on some setups it doesn't fit your hands or can be risky).

Steve Lukather uses it a lot as well, mainly on string 2 & 3, but sometimes on string 1 & 2
(a slight variation is here from 0:17 You're the kind of sugar..., vintage Luke solo demo - YouTube)
He may have gotten it from Jimmy Hendrix or this solo here possibly...
Like I post all over the place....I do things wrong ALL THE TIME. Quite honestly this is how I guessed at it, excuse me for the sacrilegious mistake...lol.

Like I wrote at the end of the video, not one chick in the crowd will notice. I gave up trying to please the guitar gods a long, long time ago, I will NEVER be one lol.

Mark
 
Like I wrote at the end of the video, not one chick in the crowd will notice. I gave up trying to please the guitar gods a long, long time ago, I will NEVER be one lol.
Don't get me wrong. Try to see it as me giving back. I think you would know the lick or tremendously appreciate to learn it ;) It's a fun one that always makes the players not in the know look over. It can take a bit of practice, but is fun to pull off cleanly.
I've seen you improve so much and do so many things well (and better than me), that I just wanted to offer you this :)

Tip for this lick: pick closer to the bridge where the strings are not so close to each other, if you need to.
 
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Don't get me wrong. Try to see it as me giving back. I think you would know the lick or tremendously appreciate to learn it ;) It's a fun one that always makes the players not in the know look over. It can take a bit of practice, but is fun to pull off cleanly.
I've seen you improve so much and do so many things well (and better than me), that I just wanted to offer you this :)

Tip for this lick: pick closer to the bridge where the strings are not so close to each other, if you need to.

Then by all means post a video showing the lick and don't forget to slow it down :)
 
Then by all means post a video showing the lick and don't forget to slow it down :)
I already did. That's me in the previous video ;)
It's a vintage solo, so quite slow by nature :p

You have to bend both strings at once and keep the 2nd one quite close to the first (by allowing it to slide under your finger against the first), so it will have the right pitch (both together will form a tritone; you may have to test this or learn the feel for that, in many positions it's automatic). Then you pick the second string while bending it down, all while the first is still ringing. When bending up, you have to watch out the 2nd doesn't start ringing before you pick it. I try to mute 2 or 4 strings w my first finger at that time (and still get clams :mrgreen).
 
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Thanks for the post Mark. I am always impressed with how so many of you guys make it look so effortless. I am finding out all too well that it is years and years of practice! :)

I could only dream to play that incorrectly! :D
 
I already did. That's me in the previous video ;)
It's a vintage solo, so quite slow by nature :p

You have to bend both strings at once and keep the 2nd one quite close to the first (by allowing it to slide under your finger against the first), so it will have the right pitch (you may have to test this or learn the feel for that, in many positions it's automatic). Then you pick the second string while bending it down, all while the first is still ringing. When bending up, you have to watch out the 2nd doesn't start ringing before you pick it. I try to mute 2 or 4 strings w my first finger at that time (and still get clams :mrgreen).

Sorry dude, I'm very visual. I've learned by teaching guitar that some people need to be shown step by step slowly....I am one of those. Your explanation got me no no where lol. Get out a camera and show me the lick slowly or I won't get it...sorry. I'm not that clever.
 
Hard to believe... I've seen you play so much stuff I can only dream of.
Surely you can figure this out by sound and visual here?
It's not nearly as hard as custom scales ;)

I'll explain it another way:
- pick a note on the first string and bend a full tone up
- when bending down pick the 2nd string that was bent up along with it and bend both back down (both ringing). For the tritone to have the exact pitch, you need to let the 2nd string come close to the first one under your bending finger - that's one of the hard parts about it. But it may also depend on your setup, I guess. If I don't do this, the 2nd string will sound too high when I pick it.

Mark Day, you got all Night to get this down ;) You will come back to it a lot. It's really neat.

BTW: I click on your name every Day! :p (Mark Forums Read)
 
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Hard to believe... I've seen you play so much stuff I can only dream of.
Surely you can figure this out by sound and visual here?
It's not nearly as hard as custom scales ;)

I'll explain it another way:
- pick a note on the first string a full tone up
- when bending down pick the 2nd string that was bent up along with it and bend both back down (both ringing). For the tritone to have the exact pitch, you need to let the 2nd string come close to the first one under your bending finger - that's one of the hard parts about it. But it may also depend on your setup, I guess. If I don't do this, the 2nd string will sound too high when I pick it.

Mark Day, you got all Night to get this down ;) You will come back to it a lot. It's really neat.

BTW: I click on your name every Day! :p (Mark Forums Read)

Ok now I get it. Oddly enough I play that riff all the time lol......just not when I'm supposed to I guess.
 
I did not expect you to play one of the coolest licks INCORRECTLY!? :p (the one at 1:03)
It's a cool thing to know (and maybe you do, but on some setups it doesn't fit your hands or can be risky).

Steve Lukather uses it a lot as well, mainly on string 2 & 3, but sometimes on string 1 & 2
(a slight variation is here from 0:17 You're the kind of sugar..., vintage Luke solo demo - YouTube)
He may have gotten it from Jimmy Hendrix or this solo here possibly...

Geez, I have the record, there is no reason for note for note.
It is all about the vibe for me, I thought it was cool and fun.
 
Geez, I have the record, there is no reason for note for note.
"Geez", wasn't that obvious? If there was I could go on and on (seriously).
Mark has proven good taste in a lot of his vids, as well as good enough ears to figure out some cool things.
Therefore it was really surprising to see a tradeMark lick of this solo played way differently, and I wanted to give back for all his efforts, because it's a very cool lick! You're interested in guitar, or you're not...
I'm happy you didn't analyse that solo... :eek:ops
 
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