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The first set of 16th notes in the guitar part is heavily influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, borrowing in the pedal point tradition of Bach.  But, being a major key, it sounds very different from a typical Yngwie tune. Plus, there are a couple of stretchy positions that you usually don’t find in his stuff, like in the 10th measure of the PDF file:  the index finger stays anchored on the D (10th fret) and the third and fourth fingers stretch up to the F# and G (14th and 15th frets).  It totally wouldn’t work harmonically (since the underlying chord is a G) to shift up, Yngwie style, to the 12th fret and anchor on the E.

The long descending then ascending pentatonic riff sort of follows the synth part, but really serves as a staging point for the guitar to follow the rich bass line that follows.

And, following the bass line, the guitar moves into more fast mix between pentatonic scales and D and G arpeggios.  The repeating three-note pattern (A-B-D) follows the underlying synth line, the same line that the poppy sounding synth plays during the opening of the song.  It’s usually during this part, if the crowd is really into it and the excitement builds, that I’ll start to get a little tired.  Just have to remember to relax and things are much easier to play.

Download the PDF here

If you wanna know more about the guitar part, then go here!

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If you wanna learn more about the musical aspects of Revolution and playing it on the guitar, then go here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are the two more interesting parts that I came up with for the tune.  The first is during the sort of “interlude” section which appears at the very beginning and middle of the song.  Straight 4/4 rhythm in a minor.  Chords are Em, F, C, G.  However, I stuck to strict octaves on this section and used the G chord to play a Liszt-inspired 4-octave chordal pattern (pay special attention to the fingering in the 4th measure):

It’s not quite as challenging as it could be because it’s at a reasonable tempo and it’ only in one direction: up!

Now, there’s a really famous Liszt piece that features this technique in the right hand. If you’re a cartoon fan of Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry, you’ll certainly recognize this. And I must say, that the octave lick that I’m playing here is a piece of cake next to this beast. Here’s a snipped of music from the piece I’m referring to, the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt. You’ll notice that the octave pattern goes both up and down, spanning three octaves:

Here’s a video of a amazing performance of the piece. If you want to see these octaves in action, skip ahead to about 5:20, but why not just watch the full performance? It’s quite incredible. I don’t think your eyes will be able to keep up with her hand, but at least you’ll get the idea.  Oh yeah, and you’ll recognize the famous cartoon soundtrack shortly thereafter.

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OK, back to the world of mortals! I decided to put together a little bit of shredding for the centerpiece of the song.  The backing progression is simply the syncopated a-minor lick.  Here t’is:

Note the repeat!  It needs to be played twice.  The nice thing is that it’s all played in one position except for a little section in the fourth measure where you shift your index finger up to the 15th fret.  Other than that, it’s straightforward.

Maybe I’ll develop it a little more for next time, maybe extend it so it’s twice as long (with a second half that’s different from the first) that leads into the chromatic section and back to the main a-minor pattern.