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Soloing Strategies: Randy RhoadsPosted 03/06/2007 at 2:29pm | by Tom Kolb
In the world of heavy metal, hot guitarists are a
dime a dozen. Yet only a precious few stand
the test of time and become enduring guitar
gods. Randy Rhoads was one such player.
Joining forces with singer Ozzy Osbourne in
1979, Rhoads burst onto the metal scene like a
bolt from the blue. He was blessed with dazzling
chops and an innate comprehension of music
theory, and his style had a perfect blend of
flash and melodic structure. Flowing legato
sections segued to impossibly fast, palm-muted
picking passages; incendiary trills and daring
chromatic maneuvers coexisted with classically
influenced melodies—all of which were derived
from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scales
and arpeggios and laid out across an ever-
shifting rhythmic landscape. What's more,
Rhoads was so precise that he could
seamlessly double-track anything he played,
for maximum sonic density.
Sadly, only three recordings—Blizzard of Ozz,
Diary of a Madman, and Tribute—captured
Rhoads's genius before a tragic airplane crash,
in 1982, cut his life short. But the musicianship that lies within those grooves is as stunning and
inspirational today as it was then.
Sequences and Scales
Rhoads would often sprinkle a solo with a flurry of pentatonic pull-offs such as those in Fig.1. Built
from the A minor pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G), this lick is inspired both by the opening moments
of the first solo in "Mr. Crowley" and by the fill just before the last verse of "I Don't Know." It's
interesting to note that while Rhoads possessed the facility to rip through lines such as these
using alternate picking, he often chose a legato approach for a smoother, more flowing outcome.
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Fig. 2 features a three-notes-per-string legato scale run inspired by the solos in "Crazy Train,"
"Suicide Solution," and "Mr. Crowley." This line zips up the A natural minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F-G)
in a blinding flash of hammer-ons. Make sure you hammer firmly onto every second and third note,
striving for equal volume of the pick attacks.
Blues Licks and Mixed Scales
Rhoads was fond of the blues scale (1-f3-4- f5-5-f7), and often milked its flatted 5th for all it was
worth. For example, notice the emphasis on the Bf in Fig. 3A, an E blues (E-G-A-Bf- B-D) lick
inspired by the opening phrases of the "I Don't Know" solo. Rhoads often mixed blues-scale licks
with diatonic scales, and modes such as Aeolian (natural minor), Phrygian (1-f2-f3-4-5-f6-f7), and
harmonic minor (1-2-f3-4-5-f6-7). Reminiscent of the "Crazy Train" solo, Fig. 3B offers a
composite of F# Aeolian (F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E) and F# blues (F#-A-B-C-C#-E).
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is another hallmark of Rhoads's soloing style. His chromatic techniques ran the
gamut from the simple use of tension tones (notes that lie outside of pentatonic and diatonic
scales) all the way to full-blown chromatically modulating passages such as the ones found in
Figs. 4A-B.
Fig. 4A is similar to a move Rhoads used in "S.A.T.O.," where a minor-3rd hammer- on is moved
down in half steps. Notice that the lick starts on two solid chord tones (G and E, the f3rd and root),
then chromatically targets two resolving tones (D and B, the f7th and 5th). Fig. 4B features one of
Rhoads's pet motifs: a descending fournote slice of a scale pattern—in this case, F-E-D-C of the D
minor scale (D-E-F-G- A-Bf-C). Ascending chromatically, the palm-muted quadruplets hit sonic
fruition with an Af-G-F sequence over the Fm chord.
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Fig. 5 features another of the guitarist's favorite chromatic ploys, this one involving major and
minor triads, along with partial 7th-chord arpeggios, moving along the top two strings.
In this example, an A minor triad (A-C-E) moves up in half steps, then segues to the upper portion
of an Am7 arpeggio (A-C-E-G), which also ascends chromatically. Fig. 6 breaks the bounds of
chromaticism with a pick-tapped trill that ascends in pitch via a gradual bend executed with the fret
hand's 4th finger. Notice that, again, the example begins and ends on solid chord tones (G# and B
[3rd and 5th], and B and D [5th and f7th]).
Tapping and Trills
Unlike many of his peers in the early Eighties, Rhoads avoided jumping on Eddie Van Halen's
tapping bandwagon. When he did choose to tap, though, the results were stunning, as the
sequence in Fig.7 reveals. In the style of the breathtaking climax of the "Flying High Again" solo,
the example follows a double-tap/pull-off/hammer-on sequence constructed from triads that outline
the changes. Some of the most dazzling Randy Rhoads moments are often mistaken for tapped
excursions.
One such passage is the open string- pull-off extravaganza that occurs midway though his solo in
the live version of "Suicide Solution," where he dispatches a sizzling array of triads and partials
along the 1st [Fig. 8] and 2nd strings. Rhoads also had a penchant for classically influenced trills
(two notes played in rapid alternation). He would use them to outline the chord tones of specific
changes, as seen in Fig. 9, where the notes of an Ff7 arpeggio (F-Af-Cf-D) are alternated with
notes a half step below.
The Solo
The solo [Fig.10] is a 15-bar rocker in the style of songs like "I Don't Know," "Flying High Again,"
and "Crazy Train." The first half (measures 1-8) sits firmly in the key of F# minor, riding a i-fVI-fVII-
i-fIII-iv-Vsus-V progression (F#m-D-E-F#m-A-Bm-C#7sus4-C#). Measures 9-12 serve as a bridge,
with modulating I-vi cadences (D-Bm and E-C#m) in the temporary keys of D and E major.
Measure 13 signals a march back up (fVI- fVII-v-i; D-E-C#m-F#m) to the resolving i-fVII-i (F#m-E-
F#m) chordal riff.
The solo opens, in typical Rhoadsian fashion, with a head-turning pinch-harmonic bend. To
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execute this two-octave harmonic, attack the G string aggressively with the side of your pick,
simultaneously brushing the string with the side of your pick hand's thumb; the ideal position for
this contact is right above the rear edge of the neck pickup. Next comes a pull-off flurry made up of
F# blues and F# Aeolian scales, followed by a tremolo- picked E major pentatonic (E-F#-G#- B-
C#) climb. (Tremolo picking, in which notes are picked as rapidly and continuously as possible,
was another Rhoads staple). An F# minor pentatonic (F#-A-B-C#-E) wrapup (measure 4) mirrors
the opening lick.
In measure 5, a short melodic passage capped with a quick trill nods to "Crazy Train," then segues
to a brief Rhoads motif (see Fig. 4B). Instead of moving chromatically, as expected, the motif spills
into a t h ree-notes-per- s t r ing B Dor ian (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-F#) run (see Fig. 2). C# Phrygian
dominant (C#-D-E#-F#-G#-A-B; fifth mode of F# harmonic minor) provides the melodic framework
for the chromatically enhanced legato phrasing of bars 7-8.
The fireworks in measures 9-10 are inspired by the open-string pull-off concepts described in Fig.
8. Accenting the first and fourth note in each sextuplet should give you the propulsion needed for
this rapid passage. A six-note pattern—down five scale steps, then up one—lies at the heart of the
E major pentatonic phrase in measure 11. Visualize the pattern before putting the entire phrase
together. In measure 12 a C#m7 arpeggio is laid out almost entirely on the G string; keep your eye
on the 9th fret in order to hit it precisely. The trills come fast and furious in the next measure.
Targeting the notes of a D major triad (D-F#-A) will guide you through this quarter-note-triplet
passage. Finally, a relatively simple run up the E major pentatonic scale and a pair of dyads
(F#/C# and E/B) provide a logical and musical conclusion to the solo. Now that we've gone through
the solo bit by bit, look back over it and take note of its the rhythmic diversity—yet another
characteristic of Rhoads's brilliant soloing work.
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