"In My Dreams" Solo Project

Hello, is this thing on?

I thought it was high time that I actually do something with my guitars rather than just doing something to them. That was the inspiration for this post on TheFret.Net which is reproduced below. Rather than clog up that forum with regular updates on my progress, this blog fits the need perfectly.

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Well, I feel that basically I've been in a rut in my playing for a long time, so I decided that I needed to set a goal. I wanted to learn a more serious solo, but the problem is that unless I really like the song I have a hard time finding the motivation to sit down and learn it. Since I always wanted to play George Lynch's solo in Dokken's "In My Dreams" (and I consider it one of the finest solos of the 80s), I set that as my goal. I'm typing this so that I can be ridiculed and shamed should I fail.

In order to reach the goal I have done the following:

1. I broke the solo down into a series of licks, saved as separate MP3s.


2. I slowed the licks down 40% in Audacity and corrected the pitch to make it closer to 440 (The song is almost tuned down 1/2 step on the CD, although they play it in standard tuning live. I assume this was some twiddling done in the studio.)


3. I've already got a backing track and the tab from an old guitar magazine.


4. I decided I will play the fast tapping part with two hands instead of one like George does it. When I get the whole thing to speed, I'll start working on doing it one-handed.

In order to reach the goal I will do the following:

1. I will practice some part of the solo every day. I'm going to work through it sequentially since the hardest stuff comes toward the end.


2. I have several dexterity exercises that I will also practice every day to help get my chops up to snuff.


3. I will work on my bending so that the whole step bends in the solo, of which there are several, will be whole step bends and not 0.9 step or 1.1 step bends.


4. Every pinch harmonic, of which there are several, will scream like Mariah Carey caught in a bear trap. For me that is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Lynch's style.

After I reach the goal I will do the following:

1. I will record myself playing all guitar and bass parts using the backing track I already have.


2. I will reward myself in some small way for the accomplishment. I'm thinking something along the lines of getting a good fuzz pedal or maybe a ZYS. As a matter of fact, I will buy no gear other than possibly strings (although I've got some spare sets already) or picks until I reach this goal.


3. I will commence working on my next goal: the "Crazy Train" solo.

It is my goal to have the solo learned by February 10.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the song, here's the video from YouTube.