GnR Out ta Get Me - Solo Analysis

[olly]

Hopefully some will be familiar of the song Out To Get Me by Guns 'n Roses?

I think Slash is an amazing playing and his melodic solos really do inspire me. I wanted to break this one down and see what makes it tick and then use the ideas that I like the sound of in my own music.

Basically the song starts in a key signature with two flats - I make this the key of Bb. Being the tonality of the song, however, is based around the G5 chord, I'm assume that it is in fact in the key of Gminor - the relative minor of Bb.

To break down the chords, the first section of the solo seems to fluctuate between 2 bars of a C5 based section then 2 bars of a G5 based section. If this was me soloing I would use G minor pentatonic - but its the other notes Slash uses that really makes it sound colorful to me.

Here is the tab:

Code: Select all

-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------
--17b18--17b18--17b18--17b18-|-17b18--17b18-17-15-17-------|------------------
--17b19--17b19--17b19--17b19-|-17b19--17b19-17-15-17-------|------------------
-----------------------------|-----------------------17-15-|------------------
-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------
-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------
                                                                              

----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------
-17--17-15b16--------17--17-15b16-------|-------------------------------------
-17--17-15b16--------17--17-15b16-------|-------------------------------------
---------------17-15--------------17-15-|-------------------------------------
----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------
----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------
          x2                                 

--------------------------|-----------------------------15-------18b20-|------
-18b20--18-r15--18--15-18-|-17b18p15----15--------18b20----18p15-------|------
--------------------------|----------17---15---------------------------|------
--------------------------|-----------------17-15----------------------|------
--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|------
--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|------
                                                                              

---18-----181715----|-----18-----------------|-------15------------------|----
-----------------18-|-17---------------------|----------18---------------|----
--------------------|--------17b19p15-15--17-|-17b19-------17b19--15--17-|----
--------------------|------------------------|---------------------------|----
--------------------|------------------------|---------------------------|----
--------------------|------------------------|---------------------------|----
                                                                              

-------------------------------------|---15---------15----|-------18-------|--
----------------------18b20p0--15b17-|------15rb17-----15-|-18b20----18b19-|--
-17b19p15-17p15----------------------|--------------------|----------18b19-|--
----------------17p15----------------|--------------------|----------------|--
-------------------------------------|--------------------|----------------|--
-------------------------------------|--------------------|----------------|--
            

----------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------|-
-------18-18-18-------17b18-|-17b18-------------|---------------------------|-
-17b19----------17r15-17b19-|-17b19----------17-|-17b18-17b18----17b18-17b18|-
----------------------------|----------17-17----|-------------19------------|-
----------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------|-
----------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------|-
         

-------15----15------15--------|-------------------------|-15b17-15-15b17-12|-
-15b17----15----15------15rp13-|-15-15b17-13-15-13-------|------------------|-
-------------------------------|-------------------14-12-|------------------|-
-------------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|-
-------------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|-
-------------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|-
 .                                                              

-15b17--15b17rp12-----------------|---------------------------------------|---
------------------15b17-15b17rp13-|-1313----------------------------------|---
----------------------------------|------1412141412----1212---------------|---
----------------------------------|-----------------14------1412121210----|---
----------------------------------|------------------------------------12-|---
----------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---
                                     .               

---------------------------|---------------|----------|---------------|-------
---------------------------|---------------|--2b3r--0-|-5b6r-3--------|-------
---------------------------|-12------------|--2b3r--0-|-5b6r-3--------|-------
-10b11---------------10-12-|-1412-10-12/--|----------|---------0-3-0-|-------
--------12p10-12--12-------|---------------|----------|---------0-3-0-|-------
---------------------------|---------------|

Now the bars aren't written out very well here but hopefully you can grasp where my issue is coming from - it is where we hit the e note on 17th fret of the B string - this is not in the G pentatonic - it is a note in the C chord and it is in the G dorian Mode - its a change of something that i like and would like to know how or why this could have been chosen?

Also there is a very major type pentatonic bend from 15th fret of the b string up to 17th fret then hitting 15th on the E. Now is this still Dorian as the notes work but it just doesn't seem to have that Dorian sound.

Hopefully this is enough info for some people to understand. I believe the solo then goes on to modulate to A minor in a similar fashion the Gminor

[Instructor]

Can you explain it a bit more? The E isn't in G Pentatonic, but Pentatonic isn't a Key. E is in G major it's the 6th. Plus if it's played while C is playing its accenting the 3rd of C...

Please isolate where you're looking at and what chord's playing at the time...

Instructor

[olly]

To be honest it was so long ago that I wrote this post I forget exactly what I was trying to work out now.

I might try and give it another listen over the weekend and I will let you know!