A few questions for the girls

[Metallicat180]

I have a few questions for the girls and if you could answer some/all of them, I would be very grateful!

How did you go about choosing tracks for the tribute album? Did you go with your favourite ones to play, the ones you're feel your best at, fan favourites etc?

Is there any Maiden song that you've attempted to learn but found too difficult and thought "we'll leave that one for another time!" Which song in your current set did you find the most challenging to learn? (my money's on ROTAM or SSOASS).

How do you go about learning Maiden tracks? Do you listen to the albums and work them out by ear or do you find the tabs for them somewhere? How do you know who's playing what, I can never figure out who does what solo! Do you each learn the parts individually and them come together and play them or do you learn them altogether bit by bit?

Just a few questions I've been wondering about!

 

[CrankYanker]

Yeah, inquiring minds wanna know!

 

[momadave]

I wanted to know some of those questions too... you read my mind.
I also have a couple other questions that I hope you ladies could address:
Has Iron Maiden actually heard your tribute cd to them? If so, what kind of feed back have you heard from them? Were they as blown away as I was? Did Derek Riggs listen to the cd for inspiration to do the album cover or did you guys give him some direction?

I finally got my cd yesterday and I was completely BLOWN AWAY! (Many thanks to your sales person. He/ she got my disc signed and was very helpful when I was in a panic state about not receiving my cd right away). I've listened to it 3 times through now, and it just gets better. The entire spectrum of it - from tracks to artwork to sound - it's quite awesome. I'm very pleased and I hope the boys have all heard it and are pleased as well. WONDERFUL JOB!!

thanks and I can't wait to see you in S.F. or Sacto

--David

 

[Metallicat180]

I wanted to know some of those questions too... you read my mind.
I also have a couple other questions that I hope you ladies could address:
Has Iron Maiden actually heard your tribute cd to them? If so, what kind of feed back have you heard from them? Were they as blown away as I was? Did Derek Riggs listen to the cd for inspiration to do the album cover or did you guys give him some direction?

I finally got my cd yesterday and I was completely BLOWN AWAY! (Many thanks to your sales person. He/ she got my disc signed and was very helpful when I was in a panic state about not receiving my cd right away). I've listened to it 3 times through now, and it just gets better. The entire spectrum of it - from tracks to artwork to sound - it's quite awesome. I'm very pleased and I hope the boys have all heard it and are pleased as well. WONDERFUL JOB!!

thanks and I can't wait to see you in S.F. or Sacto

--David

Good question that too! Maiden obviously know of the ladies having met them, but it would be interesting to see whether they've heard the tribute cd or not! Maybe I should email Bruce's show again!!

 

[momadave]

Ladies,

Why did you put Remember Tomorrow as part of the same track as Hallowed Be Thy Name and not just add another track? If it's for the surprise factor, it worked! That is a smoking live version of that song!

 

[MiniMurray]

How do you go about learning Maiden tracks? Do you listen to the albums and work them out by ear or do you find the tabs for them somewhere? How do you know who's playing what, I can never figure out who does what solo! Do you each learn the parts individually and them come together and play them or do you learn them altogether bit by bit?

we usually have about 1-3 new ones to add to the list for rehearsals, so we all work on them individually first then just jump right in when linda counts it off! as far as guitar parts, jojo and i will learn them seperately first, then sort out the harmonies/solos over the phone-we used to get together alot playing when we had like 8-10 to sort out tho. yeah, some songs are easier to determine who plays what just from having listened to im for so long but some are a real bugger to sort out. we actually reverse the solos on notb, jokingly to say we're adept at both, but actually it's just something we've always done. seeing live concerts/vids helps sort out the parts, or for me, hearing dave play thru his neck p/u or just the way he hammers and pulls off. sometimes i reference powertabs, but most the time they suck and i just put in the ear time.

 

[Doodoobubbachuck]

These were the songs we knew best at the time we started recording the cd and we also had to keep in mind the tight time frame we had to slam this stuff out in so we couldn't very well have taken on a song like Rime to record, though that would have been fun as hell!

Once we commit ourselves to learning a Maiden song we gotta do it no matter what and we'll keep at it until it's sounding right. 7th Son was fun! It all just makes your brain go into overdrive until you get it right. What a feeling! I wish we could play that one again someday, but we need Michael there for that!!! Sara and I and the management went to the Joint last night to jam with Michael Kenney at his farewell party cuz he's leaving this weekend to hit the road with Maiden! We gave him a handful of CD's for each of the Maiden men and he said he would deliver them personally. (THANKS MICHAEL!) *I just got goosebumps typing that!*

Hope this answers some q's for ya!

 

[momadave]

Thanks Sara and Linda for the feedback. I have to say... the tribute cd is amazing! I can't stop listening to it. All the parts are done so well. It really is SOMETHING! Aja has quite the beautiful voice.

 

[Metallicat180]

Thanks for the info girls! That was great to hear how you guys actually go learning stuff in the band.

That's so cool about you giving Michael copies of the cd's for the Maiden guys! I hope you get some great feedback - that would rule!!

 

[Rendclaw]

While it helps to have the music in front of you, its always best to just jam along and figure out the parts... Seventh Son is one hell of a song to play, even though most of the melodies are fairly simple, its the timing that bites you in the ass if you;re not paying full attention. I always watch Maiden England for pointers on that song, because I think that version outdoes the studio version, and the version in Eddie's Archive, as I think that was one of the first times they played it live. Everything is perfect in the Maiden England version.

*grumbles and mutters about having to transcribe melodies and rhythm parts from the abominable Cherry Hill songbook*

 

[RoboCaster]

While it helps to have the music in front of you, its always best to just jam along and figure out the parts... Seventh Son is one hell of a song to play, even though most of the melodies are fairly simple, its the timing that bites you in the ass if you;re not paying full attention. I always watch Maiden England for pointers on that song, because I think that version outdoes the studio version, and the version in Eddie's Archive, as I think that was one of the first times they played it live. Everything is perfect in the Maiden England version.

*grumbles and mutters about having to transcribe melodies and rhythm parts from the abominable Cherry Hill songbook*

Let you in on a little secret, okay here goes, Iron Maiden don’t really use those bar chords all that much.

Yea they finger tip the notes instead in order to play those chords with palmed neck and many times, just go ahead and let the B and E (1,2) ring out as a voice over (makes for sweet sounding arpeggiation ), a movable voice over; all patterns are moveable.

Okay here is what you get with palming the so called “bar chords” using the finger tip method: you get quick access to voice over, vibrato on the chords as well as notes, but you can quickly launch integers, pentatonics, riffs, runs and then seamlessly return while keeping your leads palmed.

Some times they do use the bar chords mostly when using heavy middle finger damping on the beat, but you develop an ear for hearing it and can distinguish the difference. That said, they use many chords that are close without too much distinction and that’s what I like the way you can graduate a song as each turn around begins again and you will notice that there really is not too much distinction between strumming and picking leads, they are one in the same or without too much difference between the two, it’s all in the rhythm, but movable. IMO any other style is just simply boring…

Hope this ends up making sense to ya and helps ya out some, along the way to guitar heaven.

 

[RoboCaster]

One more thing, I tell ya what I described above works good! You know I’ve been getting teenage girls coming up to me and asking for autographs, yea and I say “Oh is this because of my photo in the news paper?” and they say “Huh?”, hee, hee, yea I can see dudes around me starting to crumble. It’s a blast man, it’s like the “cross road”, every day. Hee, hee. Anyway… rock on!

 

[Air Raid Siren]

Thanks Sara and Linda for the feedback. I have to say... the tribute cd is amazing! I can't stop listening to it. All the parts are done so well. It really is SOMETHING! Aja has quite the beautiful voice.

TY!

As a singer, I'm really lucky in the sense that the melody is always up front and since it's connected to the lyric, so much easier to hear than some of the playing parts. The thing I find most challenging (besides pure stamina!!!) is choosing which line to sing as the melody when there are layers of vocals to contend with.
In the studio, since I did the backing vocals as well as the leads (ala Bruce), some of the songs were very challenging to pick out the parts. It really made me appreciate the genius of Martin Birch. Take Aces High for example. On the original recording, in the choruses, he mixed the guitars and vocals so seamlessly that it tricks the ear into thinking there is a vocal part when it's really guitar overtones creating a beautiful harmonic. Amazing!

 

[Metallicat180]

TY!

As a singer, I'm really lucky in the sense that the melody is always up front and since it's connected to the lyric, so much easier to hear than some of the playing parts. The thing I find most challenging (besides pure stamina!!!) is choosing which line to sing as the melody when there are layers of vocals to contend with.
In the studio, since I did the backing vocals as well as the leads (ala Bruce), some of the songs were very challenging to pick out the parts. It really made me appreciate the genius of Martin Birch. Take Aces High for example. On the original recording, in the choruses, he mixed the guitars and vocals so seamlessly that it tricks the ear into thinking there is a vocal part when it's really guitar overtones creating a beautiful harmonic. Amazing!

Does it really???? Woah, that is an awesome bit of trivia!!

 

[Air Raid Siren]

Does it really???? Woah, that is an awesome bit of trivia!!

Of course I wasn't a fly on the wall when they were in the studio, but that's how it sounded to my ear. It's very subtle - almost sublimal if you know what I mean! Take a listen with that in mind and tell me if you agree!

 

[Metallicat180]

Of course I wasn't a fly on the wall when they were in the studio, but that's how it sounded to my ear. It's very subtle - almost sublimal if you know what I mean! Take a listen with that in mind and tell me if you agree!

I will do!!!