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6

Unreal

submitted by mahavishnunj to Guitar 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 10:26:25 ago (+6/-0)     (Guitar)

It's no secret who my favorite is, but this is one of the most insane licks I've seen played by ANYONE on a guitar. 14:41 if the timestamp fucks up. This arpeggio idea is nothing new, he usually does it when he's playing really good and super into it. But I've never heard him take it all the way across the neck like this and get so outside with it. The fact that he's picking every note at this speed too, fuck.
JM crazy lick


19 comments block

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[ - ] xmasskull 2 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 11:38:01 ago (+2/-0)

Outstanding fretwork. No wonder you're a huge fan.

[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking 1 point 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 10:44:22 ago (+1/-0)

Pretty amazing. I assume you're a fan of the Mahavishnu Orchestra too.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 3 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 11:05:26 ago (+3/-0)

Yeah, but I like the SECOND Mahavishnu Orchestra more, his playing and composition skills were more advanced. For strictly guitar playing my area of fixation with him is about 1975-1981. Before that he was very hit or miss, sometimes he was brilliant but usually he was unlistenably sloppy. After(and during) Shakti he was spending crazy amounts of time practicing technique and theory, and it shows. By 79 he was inhuman. Thank god for the internet, most of that period is undocumented except for bootlegs.

[ - ] kammmmak 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 11:48:40 ago (+0/-0)

Like what what song

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 12:00:01 ago (+0/-0)

All the bootlegs sound like shit, but I'll find a decent one. In the meantime, here's a good studio example. It's "Giant Steps" which is already impossible to play over, and he blazes over it with just a semi hollow gibson with no effects. From 1978:

JM- Giant Steps

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 12:19:43 ago (+0/-0)

Oh, if you meant second MO, this record should be heard start to finish but here's a burning jam toward the end:

MO- Be Happy

[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 17:58:43 ago (+0/-0)

I have one Mahavishnu album (which I ripped from a CD I used to own), "Birds of Fire". I've listened to it four or five times and enjoyed it each time. (I was surprised to find a track called "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love", having heard the song by They Might Be Giants.) After reading the article about McLaughlin on wikijewdia, I can see I haven't heard his best, and I need to listen to the second incarnation of the band.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 1 point 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 18:21:11 ago (+1/-0)

That's a great record. His solo on the title song is pure evil anger. The first album by the second version of MO("Apocalypse") has an orchestra on it, which turns a lot of people off. I personally love it, but can totally understand that. The second record however, "Visions of the Emerald Beyond" is epic. It's a perfect record on every level. I lean more toward his acoustic shit, but if you like the loud Mahavishnu type stuff, "Visions" is the one.

Ignore anything labeled "Mahavishnu" after that, it's all garbage.

[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking 0 points 2 monthsMar 29, 2025 08:59:31 ago (+0/-0)

I appreciate your response. I actually do like the combination of rock music with an orchestral backing, so I'll look for "Apocalypse". The 70s was the high water mark for that kind of long form experimentation.

Do you also like King Crimson? Fripp's music can be more dissonant than people like, but I've always enjoyed dissonance as long as it's not the main characterization of the music. I think the way Prokofiev would juxtapose a few dissonant chords in a composition to create a memorable contrast only made the more consonant parts of the music more beautiful. I can see a bit of intersection between McLaughlin's and Fripp's styles. Of course, King Crimson's style and tone seemed to change nearly every album as Fripp replaced musicians frequently, and the band hit its peak with the first album (but hey, that's just me -- I've always been a sucker for the Mellotron). I've always been fond of the album "Red" in particular.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 1 point 2 monthsMar 29, 2025 09:58:48 ago (+1/-0)

King Crimson is huge for me. The first record I ever bought was Discipline. It freaked me out and kind of scared me as a little kid, but I was drawn to it anyway. One intersection with Fripp and JM is taking time off to woodshed like hell, and come back WAY better. Fripp did it after Islands, coming back with Lark's Tongues a totally different player. JM did it after MO1 coming back with Shakti. I disagree about peaking with the 1st record though, ITCOTCK and Islands are my least favorite ones.

[ - ] OoklaTheMok 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 16:44:33 ago (+0/-0)

You kids and your damn rock and roll music!!!
Fantastic fret work. The speed is insane. I have never heard of this guy before but I most certainly will be checking out more of his stuff. Great post.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 1 point 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 17:49:17 ago (+1/-0)

If you have any questions- I'm a long time fangirl. He's got alot of drastically different phases. The only thing- AVOID AT ALL COSTS any electric shit from the early to late 80s. He got cool again, but that stretch is horrible.

[ - ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 14:07:08 ago (+0/-0)

He's no Alan Holdsworth.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 14:26:39 ago (+0/-0)

Nobody was or will be. But there are a lot of clones trying these days. If I wanted to sound exactly like someone else I'd go for someone easier.

[ - ] Anus_Expander 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 13:57:34 ago (+0/-0)

I saw him in Germany with a nigger bassist and pajeet tablas nigga, was fab

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 14:33:04 ago (+0/-0)

I got to see him from 98-2017, so not prime but before he got too old. I don't click on any recent vids of him, but against my better judgment watched one from a few days ago. My man actually sounded great, but sat out for most of it. It's not like recent Steve Morse videos where you know for sure it will be terrible and heartbreaking.

[ - ] Anus_Expander 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 15:18:41 ago (+0/-0)

Morse sux now, eh? kek...aging is a bitch.

[ - ] mahavishnunj [op] 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 15:48:11 ago (+0/-0)

It's so sad seeing one of my main dudes from the beginning like this. He started having bad hand issues in the 2010s and for such a smart guy-couldn't possibly have handled it worse. He started picking with his entire arm, which will expedite him to not being able to play at all with quickness. He's pretty much there now. Also, his left hand looks totally fine, but he's not playing any legato. Since I'm now unfortunately an expert on severe hand problems, here's what you do if you're mainly a picker like Morse and I:

1)First and foremost economy pick EVERYTHING. I was already trying to do this, so it won't be as awkward for me in recovery. But this takes so much stress off the right hand it's unbelievable. Morse refuses to do this.

2)Legato. I got hit equally in both hands, so this is not an option for me. But if you can, this is an obvious thing to do. Morse refuses to do this too.

3)see #1 and repeat that over and over.

[ - ] Anus_Expander 0 points 2 monthsMar 28, 2025 17:20:48 ago (+0/-0)

or switch to bass, I did many years ago