Guitar solos " The Final Frontier"

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of solos in general, but this discussion got me interested and I also got intrigued whether the band's three guitarists really have any distinct characteristics I can easily identify so...

I took TFF, cut up and then stitched together each of their solos into one audio file per guitarist. For anyone who's interested, the download link is at the bottom of this post: 1 rar file containing 3 mp3s: One for a compilation of Janick's solos, one for Adrian's and one for Dave's. At the end of each track, i also stitched the Isle of Avalon licks you guys were talking about just in case it might help deciding who really played it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?x9w72rj1q72o7oq

BTW... tell me if messed up with anything so I can correct it. I know I left out some of Adrian's solos from "Starblind" on purpose though...
 
Forostar said:
Who wants to bet? I'd be prepared to wager a lot on it.

There's not a single indication that these melodies before and during the last chorus in Isle of Avalon sound like Adrian or Dave.

Janick 100%. The way of pressing the snares is so remniscant. Also that final note.
I think it varies constantly. Only Dave keeps left most of the time.
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I would bet my life on it being Adrian. Adrians uses pinch harmoics a lot. Janick rarely uses them and dave never uses them.

Adrian wrote the song so it wold make sense that he plays that lick
 
valacirca said:
To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of solos in general, but this discussion got me interested and I also got intrigued whether the band's three guitarists really have any distinct characteristics I can easily identify so...

I took TFF, cut up and then stitched together each of their solos into one audio file per guitarist. For anyone who's interested, the download link is at the bottom of this post: 1 rar file containing 3 mp3s: One for a compilation of Janick's solos, one for Adrian's and one for Dave's. At the end of each track, i also stitched the Isle of Avalon licks you guys were talking about just in case it might help deciding who really played it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?x9w72rj1q72o7oq

BTW... tell me if messed up with anything so I can correct it. I know I left out some of Adrian's solos from "Starblind" on purpose though...
Click to expand...

Thanks, d/l now...
 
Jeffmetal said:
07) Starblind (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) - 7:48
-Adrian Smith - 1:59/2:11
-Adrian Smith - 2:33/2:53
-Adrian Smith - 3:04/3:37
-Adrian Smith - 4:14/4:44
-Dave Murray - 4:43/4:53
-Janick Gers - 4:53/5:04
-Adrian Smith - 5:47/6:33
Licks under the second chorus "The preacher loses face with Christ... then Take my eyes for what I've seen..." by Dave Murray
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I can't seen how you think the licks are done by murray,they are coming directly from right speaker so it will probably be H, although H is normally in the middle.
 
STARBLIND

-Adrian Smith - 1:59/2:11
-Adrian Smith - 2:33/2:53
-Adrian Smith - 3:04/3:37
-Adrian Smith - 4:14/4:43
-Dave Murray - 4:43/5:03
-Adrian Smith - 5:47/6:03
 
Wrong. Dave ends his solo with a whammy bar dive down, then comes the other guitarrist solo which now, after just listened to it 5 times, I still think it's Janick.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Thanks, d/l now...
Click to expand...

Great. Feedback pls :P I just based what to stitch together using ironmaidencommentary as a reference. I found it really interesting so I might do it for their other albums as well... moving backwards (so AMoLaD, DoD, BNW, etc etc...)

Dave seems to be the most distinct of the three since his guitar tone sounds the brightest and the cleanest. Janick's seems dark, driven and distorted as if using heavier-gauge strings. Adrian sounds like his tone is in b/w Dave's and Janick's, but more like Janick. Both Dave's and Adrian's solos tend so sound more classic rock while Janick's solos feel more modern.

All things considered, Dave's and Janick's styles and tones seem the most distinct and Adrian's is like a hybrid of those styles/tones.
 
Adrian has a fuller tone and wider vibrato, that's what makes him differ from the others. I might be wrong about Janick soloing on Starblind, but the last phrasing and the vibrato is more wild than H's.
 
Jeffmetal said:
Wrong. Dave ends his solo with a whammy bar dive down, then comes the other guitarrist solo which now, after just listened to it 5 times, I still think it's Janick.
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I dunno them trills sounds too smooth to be janick. Could be H though
 
Forostar said:
Better pray Maiden won't play it this tour.
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I pray that they will play it on this tour.

1. Its Adrians tone
2. Adrian is known for using loads of pinch harmonics
3. Adrain wrote the song so the chances are he decided to play that lick
4. He does a similar thing in ghost of the navigator
5. Its comng from the centre speaker
 
1. No
2. Loads? Not really, but even if you think so: it still doesn't mean it has to be him
3. Adrian does a huge portion in this song, so room enough for others
4. I admit that this is in this technical style yes, but it's not the playing style. When Janick does it, it sounds different.* Also Janick does it more often in these higher regions of the fretboard.
5. It doesn't mean it has to be him


* Check e.g. his solo in The Legacy (studio version).
 
If we're still talking about that lead near the end of Avalon, I've always assumed it was Adrian. It being Janick never crossed my mind - it doesn't sound like his style.
 
I wonder if some people ever paid attention to Janick's playing if they are so sure.

Adrian hardly plays such high melodies, honestly. Janick does.

More important: Adrian presses the strings differently. He'd never finish such a run with such a thick flat (almost ugly) note, played that way. Janick does.

Jeffmetal said:
As we said the other day, that's Janick all the way. Those pinching quasi-harmonics are totally him. On the other hand, I said that Janick made the solo right after Dave on Starblind, but even having that pinching quasi-harmonic, the concluding phrasing and the final note vibrato is really H's.
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You're correct. This shows that people can play the same technique but they do it with different approach (own personal style).
 
Forostar said:
I wonder if some people ever paid attention to Janick's playing if they are so sure.

Adrian hardly plays such high melodies, honestly. Janick does.

More important: Adrian presses the strings differently. He'd never finish such a run with such a thick flat (almost ugly) note, played that way. Janick does.

You're correct. This shows that people can play the same technique but they do it with different approach (own personal style).
Click to expand...

Yeah that last note is the only thing that makes me think that it could possibly be janick but the lick sounds to clean and perfect to be janick . I think if janick or dave would have played it then they wouldn't have used harmonics. Adrian uses LOADS of pinch harmonics on this record.

They better play it live.
 
I'm slightly confused with the "Adrian hardly plays such high melodies, honestly. Janick does." comment. The licks that we're talking about aren't relatively high melodies relative to what they usually play and I'm pretty sure that I don't quite agree about Adrian hardly playing such high melodies as well.

The way the strings were pinched, yeah, certainly Janick-ish... but I'm not at all confident in saying that it's Janick based solely on that when everything else points to it being Adrian.
 
valacirca said:
The way the strings were pinched, yeah, certainly Janick-ish...
Click to expand...

This is the most important aspect of recognizing a guitarist. The personal touch.

Babo 91 said:
They better play it live.
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Yes, and then we'll just have a laugh about it and take this less seriously.  :ok:
 
Yes, that final note also convinced me that's Janick.
Also the first three notes of the repeating sequence are played somewhat differently throughout the repetition.

It seems to me that Janick had an post-composing idea, they just recorded him and pasted it there.
The tone is similar to Adrian's (because he uses a more classic tone nowadays), the pinch harmonics are reminiscent of his small line in "...and i know" part of Ghost Of The Navigator, but this one is rough and unpolished, and that's just not Adrian.

There's an explanation. I'd like to know what overwhelming evidence "points to it being Adrian", please?
but the lick sounds to clean and perfect to be janick . I think if janick or dave would have played it then they wouldn't have used harmonics
Click to expand...

Lick is clean, but it's far from perfect. The timing of notes isn't perfect. Besides, Janick never played "unclean" licks of slow and mid tempo. He's sloppy on the fast side only.
Janick uses a lot of pinch harmonics, a lot. Sometimes they don't come out quite right ('cause he's sloppy  :D), but as a guitarist i can sometimes hear even a failed pinch harmonic...if you hit it good, you will barely hear the root note. If you hit it bad, you'll hear the root note a lot, with a bit of a harmonic too.
 
correct solografia with all the main solos  and secondary solos

1) Satellite 15...The Final frontier
Smith - 6:31/7:00
Murray - 7:00/7:14
Smith - 7:50/8:19 (secondary solo )

2) El Dorado
Smith - 3:41/3:53
Murray - 3:53/4:05
Gers - 4:06/4:22

3) Mother of Mercy
Smith - 2:54/3:12

4) Coming Home
Murray - 3:34/3:58
Smith - 3:59/4:24

5) The Alchemist
Gers - 3:05/3:35

6) Isle of Avalon
Murray - 3:49/4:14
Smith - 4:31/5:17

7) Starblind
Smith - 1:59/2:10 (secondary solo )
Smith - 2:34/2:53 (secondary solo )
Smith - 3:04/3:37 (secondary solo )
Smith - 4:15/4:42
Murray - 4:43/5:03
Smith - 5:48/6:03

8 ) The Talisman
Gers - 5:56/6:42

9) The Man Who Would Be King
Murray - 4:00/

10) When The Wild Wind Blows
Smith - 4:43/5:03
Murray - 5:23/5:43
Gers - 5:48/6:02 (secundary solo)
Gers - 8:40/9:04
 
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