Steve Morse "Vavoom" (Deep Purple) guitar lesson
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Steve Morse must be one of the most versatile guitarists on earth, he is an exceptional country/classical/rock/shred guitarist. On top of that he is an aircraft pilot! There are however lots of tricks, even for us mortals, to extract from his playing. In this Deep Purple solo he illustrates some of his trademarked techniques, such as pinch harmonics, chromatic build-ups, stringskipping/speedpicking runs, modified pentatonic scales, country/rock fusion licks etc. |
| Scale and chord theory |
The backing for this solo is just a static E minor groove. However, Steve goes wild and includes almost every note you will find on the guitar. His main target notes are the ones found in a Em pentatonic scale with an added major sixth (=modified pentatonic scale): E - G - A - B - C# - D
Steve Morse is also an excellent country guitarist. Even though his tone is very "rock" in this solo, he uses some country tricks in it. One typical country trick would be to alternate between the major and minor third in the pentatonic scale (G and G#) .
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Steve Morse kicks in with a high-octave pinch harmonic , followed by chromatic three-notes per string run, and ends with yet a pinch harmonic (also called artifical harmonic).
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e|----------------------------------|
b|----------------------------------|
g|-12-12~--------------------14-14~-|
d|------------------12-13-14--------|
a|---------12-13-14-----------------|
e|----------------------------------|
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In this lick Steve uses the major sixth intervall ("dorian intervall") and double stops:
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e|-------------------|
b|-------------------|
g|-------14-----14\--|
d|-------14-----14\--|
a|-16p14-----16------|
e|-------------------|
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Hear how nicely Steve incorporates the major sixth, flat fifth (="blues note"), second, major third, with the pentatonic notes with a "swing" phrasing - in a standard rock situation! Here is definately a lesson to be learned: Don't be afraid to experiment! The phrase is ended with an octave jump and a pinch harmonic, something similar to what Eric Johnson would do.
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e|--------------------------------------------|
b|-13b--13-12---------------------------------|
g|-------------15-14--11-12--12-13------------|
d|----------------------------------14-11-----|
a|-----------------------------------------14-|
e|--------------------------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------------------|
b|-----------------------------------------------|
g|-----------------------------------------------|
d|-14-11-------------------------------14~-------|
a|--------14-12--13-----12-----------------------|
e|------------------15-----14-15/16-12-----------|
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