The Essentials For A Great Band – Long Hours and Hard Work!
We all know the old adage “practice makes perfect”, and it’s true… that if you do a whole lot of any one thing, it’s unavoidable, you get good.
Steve Flack
When I listen to “Heaven Sent” & “Elegantly Wasted” I hear a band that has done an inordinate number of gigs from local corner pubs to national and international tours gracing some of the biggest stadiums in the world.
So if a band plays to that many people then they’re sure to have a good idea of what people like to hear. and a natural sense for what works in a song.
When I hear INXS, a band that has spent long hours in the studio experimenting and refining their songs until they produce slick, memorable performances.
So What Is It That Gives INXS Their Unique Sound?
As I started this series of lessons on the guitar style of INXS I wanted to explore what made them one of the most popular bands in the world and while there certainly plenty of ingredients that go to make the mix we can see that their guitar riffs are an integral part of the INXS sound.
From the 60’s thru to the 90’s we saw the guitar riff in popular songs reach such a level that some would say almost achieved “high art” status and these 2 songs “Heaven Sent” & “Elegantly Wasted” are perfect examples of why the world was electric guitar crazy.
Heaven Sent, from the “Welcome to Wherever You Are” 1992 album, is such a driving and optimistic song that I wanted to see just what made it so.
It was While “Elegantly Wasted”, from their 1997 album of the same name with riffs creating a whole different mood and atmosphere but why I particularly wanted to transcribe it was for the slide guitar solo, apart from the funky rhythm guitar parts.
A Great Starting Point For The Beginner Slide Guitarist.
The slide solo isn’t all that hard to learn even though it’s effective and impactful so if you’ve never played slide this is a good one to start with.
Apart from the video lessons, I’ve also tabbed the guitar parts out so get into the tabs!
I also recorded it with backing tracks for you to play along with once you’ve learnt the songs.
You’ll have fun with this lesson, I sure did,
See you on the next one
Steve