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Paradigm Shift - Liquid Tension Experiment

W

wishface

Jan 27, 2012
538
53
#1
Hello, I'm trying to learn the end run at the end of this song by the above band. It's not my favourite band in the world, but it has the god that is Tony Levin on bass and I have never heard him play fast runs like this before, so I've given myself the goal of trying to learn it.
The only tab I've found is here, but the fingering is very odd which makes me question it's accuracy. He plays it on the 4 string (at least according to youtube!). It's the final 16th note run at the end at some speed. Oddly I've been trying to find footage of Tony playing fast because for some reason I was curious to see just how fast he could play as he's one of my favourite bass players.
I'm not much of a tab follower: i always played along with bands/records not to learn the parts but to try and imagine my own by sort of copying what I heard and thinking of what I'd play. That plus I'm lazy.
Thanks.
 
#3
Looking at the tab of that run, I would say just start with moving the first 13 notes one string over and down 5 frets. That should keep you in relatively the same position for most of the run. Seems like that run should only need 1 or 2 position changes.
 
#4
Holy smokes! That run is so fast you can probably play any old notes and get away with it!

Seriously though, you're gonna need one of those widgets that let's you slow down music but retain the pitch.

I'm not sure why they scribed it in 6/4 and not just 2 measures of 4/4 with a half note rest at the end. I guess they figured it's Dream Theater so we gotta use wacky time signatures....

Good luck!
 
#8
t77mackie said:
It's weirdness may be attributed to the fact that he's using those creepy rubber fingers.

Will listen to and report back.

OH, and you gotta soundcloud yourself playing this.
Click to expand...

I can't play it. That's the problem.

Fortunately :p neither can anyone else on youtube (except the band themselves and it does look like T-Lev is playing the riff full tilt, though I'm still not convinced that's actually what he's playing).

In fact I'd be even more impressed if he did this run using funkfingers! He isn't though.

I never knew he could play this fast though! I was kinda hoping he couldn't. No disrespect, TL is awesome, but it means i'm even less awesome than I thought! :D
 
#9
bunkaroo said:
Looking at the tab of that run, I would say just start with moving the first 13 notes one string over and down 5 frets. That should keep you in relatively the same position for most of the run. Seems like that run should only need 1 or 2 position changes.
Click to expand...

It's more the speed of it. That run is extremely quick 16 notes and raking it is made more difficult by virtue of the D flat note riff early on. You need to play alternate well and the rest you can probably get away with raking.

Not me though, it's too fast for me!
 
#11
wishface said:
It's more the speed of it. That run is extremely quick 16 notes and raking it is made more difficult by virtue of the D flat note riff early on. You need to play alternate well and the rest you can probably get away with raking.

Not me though, it's too fast for me!
Click to expand...

Good point - I was thinking more of just the fingerings. I'm a pick player. :)
 
#13
He also plays a 5 string, which I didn't notice. The tab is written for a 4 string and as such that's what I'd assumed Tony was using. So if he's playing on a high C (i didn't think TL was a fan of the higher notes) he can do that run without needing much of a position shift. Still bloody difficult though - and I'm still not convinced that tab is exactly what the bass is playing.
 
#15
Ok, I'm going to come out and say it: that tab is wrong. :D

Some of the stuff is being played, on the record, with funkfingers, and I'd be very srurpised if that tab reflects it accurately. Some of what's tabbed is way more awkward than it seems to sound, and if there's one thing i've learned from playing what I listen to is that what you hear is never as difficult as what you think you hear (except of course when it is!)

Unfortunately without a means to isolate the bass track, we may never know!
 
#16
Why don't you use a program like transcribe and attempt to figure it out yourself? If you can play paradigm shift up to that point, transcribing something remotely close cannot be that hard, especially with a program for assistance in looping and slowing sections.
 
#17
That's what I'm doing. But while it's a decent programme, it can't separate the mix. The song is decently mixed, but I can't hear the bass distinctly enough to work out at that tempo what's being played. The fast parts have distorted guitar matching the run and, for me, it's harder to discern exactly what the mighty TL is playing.
 

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