Writing Hair Metal Songs Options

[somewhere online]

Hi Gabe, I need your help. There is a summer party coming up at work and there is a talent competition taking place with a grand prize of a 42" LCD. I want to play an original song for it and hopefully win. I'm 21 but everyone else is in their 40s so I'm thinking that a flashy solo in a hard rock song heavily inspired by 80s hair metal would rock the crowd. I've never composed a whole song so I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction as to which scale to choose, common rhythm progressions in that style, and some licks that would fit the song. I'm thinking of Van Halen, Ratt, Cinderella, Dokken, and Motley Crue as inspirations. I got the structure of the solo figured out and I would apply it to the scale that fits the rhythm. I'm thinking of starting with a full step bend with killer vibrato followed by a palm-muted scale sequence, then slide into hammer-ons and pull-offs in triplets, followed by a repeating bluesy lick that ends with a bend, release the bend into a couple of simple phrases, followed by tapping arpeggios outlining the chord progression, and finally end with a divebomb. Sorry for the wall of text and thank you in advance.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Gabe, I need your help. There is a summer party coming up at work and there is a talent competition taking place with a grand prize of a 42" LCD. I want to play an original song for it and hopefully win. I'm 21 but everyone else is in their 40s so I'm thinking that a flashy solo in a hard rock song heavily inspired by 80s hair metal would rock the crowd. I've never composed a whole song so I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction as to which scale to choose, common rhythm progressions in that style, and some licks that would fit the song. I'm thinking of Van Halen, Ratt, Cinderella, Dokken, and Motley Crue as inspirations. I got the structure of the solo figured out and I would apply it to the scale that fits the rhythm. I'm thinking of starting with a full step bend with killer vibrato followed by a palm-muted scale sequence, then slide into hammer-ons and pull-offs in triplets, followed by a repeating bluesy lick that ends with a bend, release the bend into a couple of simple phrases, followed by tapping arpeggios outlining the chord progression, and finally end with a divebomb. Sorry for the wall of text and thank you in advance.

Hi man! That competition sounds amazing! I would like to help you with it! We can use this thread to work on it. You can post the demos and ideas to work on it and I can suggest you what works better and maybe I could suggest some licks and ideas!
Pentatonic Scale and Aeolian mode will work perfect for this. It's very important to make an amazing backing track with a cool chord progression to make the solo evolve. That's the secret in Zakk Wylde's solo in Ozzy's albums. The backing track has a dramatic evolution that makes the solos very emotive to the ending part. I think that a good idea (knowing that this is one of your first composition) would be to choose 3 or 4 of your favourites and analize the backing's chord progression.
We can do this toghether if you want.
You will find many licks in this style in my Blues Saraceno Style lessons... pentatonic licks with chromatic notes sound killer for this style.

Tell me what yyou think about this and please post samples if you have it!

Gabriel.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Gabriel Leopardi: Jun 23 2009, 04:47 PM

[somewhere online]

You rock! , I really appreciate it. I would love to do a song with a fast rock tempo and these songs come to mind:

On fire-- Van Halen
It has great riffs but my favorite parts are the section before the solo and the solo itself
Kickstart my heart -- Motley crue
Not the greatest solo but awesome riffs and catchy tune
Body talk -- Ratt
I really like the solo in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akIY0aKYknY , the snakeskin guitar is super cool too.
Tooth and nail -- Dokken
Very flashy

I'm going to start working on your Saraceno lessons. Thanks again.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[Jesse]

WOOOW! YEAAH! KICKSTART MY HEART HOPE IT NEVER STOPS!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[Gabriel Leopardi]

You rock! , I really appreciate it. I would love to do a song with a fast rock tempo and these songs come to mind:

On fire-- Van Halen
It has great riffs but my favorite parts are the section before the solo and the solo itself
Kickstart my heart -- Motley crue
Not the greatest solo but awesome riffs and catchy tune
Body talk -- Ratt
I really like the solo in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akIY0aKYknY , the snakeskin guitar is super cool too.
Tooth and nail -- Dokken
Very flashy

I'm going to start working on your Saraceno lessons. Thanks again.

Cool! Let me some examples on how to analize those songs:

Body Talk solo:
The solo is played over the Verse's Riff. This is the backing's chord progression:

/ Fm (Im) - Fm - G# (III) - D# (VII) - Fm - Fm - G# - D# - Fm - Fm - G# - D# -

C# (VI) - C# - G# - D# /

The solo is played using F minor aeolian scale and it starts with a very used 8th triplts pattern. Then he plays some cool bluesy lick over F minor pentatonic. Then he plays another very used pattern over the pentatonic and at the end of this lick the chord progressions moves to C#. This chord change lets the solo resolve with an ending bend.

Here I transcribed the two most important patterns to use from this solo:

E||--16-15-13-15-13----13----------------------------------------------|

B||-----------------16----16-14-16-14-13-14-13----13-------------------|

G||--------------------------------------------15----15-13-15-13-12----|

D||-----------------------------------------------------------------15-|

A||--------------------------------------------------------------------|

E||--------------------------------------------------------------------|

E||-----------------------------------------------13----13--|

B||-----------------------------13----13-16-13-16----16-----|

G||-----------13----13-15-13-15----15-----------------------|

D||--15-13-15----15-----------------------------------------|

A||---------------------------------------------------------|

E||---------------------------------------------------------|

Tooth and nail:

As all the songs that you chose this has a fast rhythm and a progression based on a aeolian minor tonality. The song is in E minor and the riffing parts and chords part is similar to the other songs (Body Talk, Kickstart, On Fire). However the solo is more oriented to the neoclassical style (lik Blackmoore and Malmsteen). Instead ot soloing over a riff (like in the other songs) their composed a neoclassical oriented chord progression specially for the solo. The songs modulates from E minor to F# minor and this is the first progression: F#m - C#m - A - E . He plays a tapping composition using F# minor scale and this is the pattern repeated (he changes the notes but he repeats this idea)

E||--17(T)-14-9-17(T)-14-9-17(T)-14-9-17(T)-14-9-16(T)-12-9-16(T)-12-9-16(T)-12-9---|

B||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

G||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

E||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I did something similar in this lesson: tapping lesson

You'll find other neoclassical chord progressions in my lessons based in the style of Malmsteen & Vinnie Moore.


ok! I hope that this helps you! After checking all the music that you post here I could visualize what you idea is. I think that you could star the song with a riffing part closer to this songs, then start a rocker solo (like body talks and on fire) and then you could go to a classical part with a cool tapping etude. What do you think??

Meanwhile you can also learn those lessons and also work on fastest and rocker licks in Zakk Wylde Style lessons... that will really help you for the rocker parts.

Gab.-

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[somewhere online]

I just wrote this riff that could be played as the opening with some chorus and reverb. I'm thinking that the guitar plays the riff accompanied and after the whammy pull the drums kick in and the rhythm becomes faster. I'm not the greatest guitarpro user so the timing and duration of the notes might be a bit off. Let me know what you think.[attachment=16369:hairspray.gp5]

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by somewhere online: Jun 29 2009, 12:43 AM