Dev’s Boogie

Dude,

As we all know, this is not any boogie-woogie. This is no holds barred shredfest.

We know how the song came about but if you allow me, I will break down part by part and share what is the inspiration behind it.

To begin with, there was no plan to record Dev’s Boogie. You know why? Because the whole songs were not laid out to be that way.

The first 2 part of the intro was a lick I rip from a Guitar Player lesson on minor “oriental” sounding licks. I added the “Marty Friedman” to complete the clean intro before launching into the high gain licks part. I am very happy with the tone, played on the bridge. The pinch harmonic was crisp and clear.

All rhythm were played on the bridge pickup. The Am – Fm – Gm progression was actually by David Bryan’s keyboard intro in the opening of Bon Jovi’s Live in London 1998 Concert. Sambora then came out and did some talk box licks, before the band opened the show with Livin’ On A Prayer. The progression gives that rock feel and “raise your sword and fight” kind of vibe.

The progression maintained through the song although second part is two measures less – to prevent it from being too monotonous.

My first part solo was the very first solo I composed prior to recoding. As you know with all my work in SB Influence, all solos are improvised in the studio, with most of the song being heard for the first time there. I don’t really know what was the theme behind the solo. Even during composing, I basically just winged it and practice it over and over again so I can play the same thing during recording.

First half of the solo is standard minor and minor pentatonic fare and as I approached the second half, I threw in a good dose of minor harmonic licks. If you listen carefully, they are very similar to what I did in Mind Games.

The ascending lick and half time feel melody serves as break for each part – intro, Dev’s solo, my solo, interlude, etc – just to break things down to ease the musical flow of the song. If you remember, we attempted to do harmony on the break but just couldn’t get the timing right. The plan for it was to double track the part but due to communication breakdown with the producer, it didn’t see the light of the day.

I slowed down the piece with a slow part with just one chord strumming. The plan was to have someone solo over it in a live show (with spotlight on the soloist) as well as some choir vocals (don’t ask me why). Because it sounded too dull, I messed around with some melody using keyboard during mixing (to simulate the choir). I had a few version of it and the producer had probably chosen the best one for the final version. There was even plan for a piano tune on it but that is another story. Would have been great cos’s that will put some Dream Theater vibe into it.

The main progression then surfaces again, this time, two measures less. Initially I had flanger on but once again, producer took it out during the final mix. However, I thought it was rather good as the rhythm was thick sounding.

My solo for this part was totally improvised during recording. As of all my electric works, solos are done using neck pickup.

Then comes what I always thought to be my proudest achievement – the harmonized licks. This is purely Iron Maiden influence and I am really happy how it sounded, although a little too repetitive. I thought the repetition added more character to the music as well as paving a nice flow to end the song.

I save the best for last. Your solo. Every time I listen to this song, I get something new feelings about it. I feel that your solo actually added the balls needed for this song. They are melodic but brutal at the same time. Thanks for the killer melodies dude. Definitely another highlight of the track.

I spent two weekends mixing, adding keyboard and doing drum programming with the hot shot producer. Overall, I am quite happy with it.

So put them all together, there you have it. Dev’s Boogie.

I hope more people can get to hear this track. I have so far shared it with only two person – one guy whom I met at the mechanic. This Chinese guy had some issue with his audio system and went to your neighbourhood mechanic for some repair. He had John Petrucci’s Wishful Thinking going on. So conversation started from there and he owns a alarm company and plays an Ibanez Prestige RG. This 45 year old gentleman’s comment – not bad, good rock vibe. That was the first and last time I saw and spoke to him.

The other person is a guitar teacher (although he is more like a shopkeeper). His comments - “Sounds like you just play through some repeated progression from some guitar lesson jam track. I do that with my student all the time”. Well, if you think about it he is quite right. Then again, right or wong he may be, it doesn’t matter.

Most important, Dev’s Boogie pushed me to play beyond my usual capability and I had some great stuff recorded from your magical hands. It was a confidence booster for me and I really hope to have more chance to record my stuff.

Till then, I am looking forward to Return to Boogie.

Here’s probably what happened when you unleashed the fury from 1:54 to 2:04

1. Some earthquake happening in some land
2. Mustaine decided to compose Dialectic Chaos and hired a brutal guitarist to record it to top us
3. The sonic wave created as a result of speed and brutality of the solo sent some interference to global network and electronic systems, causing the world wide web to be down for 10 seconds and malfunction of electronic-based parts
4. All Dream Theater’s members’ mind froze for 10 seconds
5. Al DiMeola’s fingers cramped for 10 seconds
6. Planets in the solar system got misaligned for 10 seconds
7. Planets beyond
   Milky Ways
   experience some tremors (for 10 seconds)
8. Some alien spacecrafts crashed into each other due to the sonic wave as of (3) above
9. Our southern neighbour ( the island country), sank 10 inches down sea level (for the record they are sinking average 4 inches/year)
10.  Council of Guitar Gods made you the Supreme God