Phil Hilborne’s A-Z Of Great Riffs T - Toto In the second part of the Toto A-Z, Steve Lukather wants to invite everyone to a rather unusual party - and don’t forget your guitar! “ During his session career, Steve Lukather has recorded or performed with artists as diverse as Don Henley, Hall ‘and Oates, Diana Ross, Joni Mitch Michae! Jackson and Barbra Streisand, Clever lag, eh? Steve used to ‘employ tons of rack gizmos. Nowadays he ean signature Musicman Luke guiter and signature amp, the Rivera Bonehead. ¢ odd time This ts, generally speaking, any timo signature ‘that has any odd ‘number (apart from 3) at the top ofthe pair of 26 1/8 5/8 7/8 14/8 13/8 15/8 47/8 5/47/4, ete. 1 this month's AZ we are taking a slight departure {rom the norm by looking at fone single example instead of our numerous shorter ‘dees. This is an excerpt taken from the very strangely entitled Instrumental rack ‘Party In Simon's Pants’ as recorded by Steve Lukatner fn his 1994 solo elbum Candiman, Although not actually a Toto track per se, it does feature two of the band members of the time period (le Steve Lukather and ace crummer Simon Philips) 30, to my mind anyway, it's fair game for it to be included in a Toto AZ! Due to an odd time signature ‘and also some of the ather rythmic ideas involved, itis pretty tricky to {get through ~ 0 you would be well advised to make sure that you make every effort to read through all the following performance notes before embarking, on playing through it Have fun! Performance notes Ex 1 -intro/main riff This is the main odd time 17/8 rift eames Phil Hilborne is one of the UK's top Seo eC ed writer to pen regular rock guitar oe tment TS eC ai) Sr te ates notation that is now the standard Cy eee ore ea ee ced which repeats throughout the tune. 1 find the easier way for ‘me personally to Visualise this Is to think of it simply as being a two bar phrase — in normal yA time ~ that is very syncopated and has got an extra eighth note stuck on the end of it! Another method would be to think of dividing it up into smaller units in ‘order to make counting easier. One way that works is if you look at it as being a bar of 7/8 followed by a bar of 10/8, or even as a bar of 3/4 followed by a bar of 11/8 is yet another way of looking at it. You ‘must find a way of understancing ‘and counting it so that you can play through it confidently and in time: Technically, itis very important that you follow all of the eut off (CO) ‘symbols throughout, and also that you perform the pull offs and the Slides as indicated. Right. Everyone ready 10 party? Let's go! Coe eas eee A aac) eee ne Caen tay Guitar Chord Method, Cc Guitarist from 1985-95 and has ene oc ee Bone aia SOc nea Simon's pants not pletured) PPT RU hit ee egy Pree Ce na ae eet eens) ees Pen Ay eG st po ee ny rf in Pes eto parts; you could use a short CeCe ee) eee erro ey reo eke ecu Pro a eR Corer sy Poon eet sat For more info on Phil's gig dates, mailing list, merchandising etc Boome et OSCE B ee ee $813 4SR; email Piet esac 24 © Gultar Techniques August 1998‘Party in Simon's Pants’ J 10 [655] wn % x iss a et bi (200s exngs) s Poco co co 7 1 0 Sam cae Ex 2-rhythmic displacement riff cisplacement ideas. Here we see a performed. it happens four times in total, Section 1 repeating pattern involving an eighth note/ ending up with the hammer on/pull offs Tho piece reverts back to 4/4 time at this pair of sixteenth notes combination that is _ phrase that starts on the last sixteenth, point and incorporates some rhythmic played an eighth note later each time it is note of beat two of the second bar — nice! x2 H PO__PO-H PO a= ar > cs cs. cs. ce Gs cs cre Nc. ‘August 1998 Guitar Techniques @ 25iron cs os ce os os cia NC. 7 G5 cs cs ca as as cia Ne. Ex 3 - rhythmic displacement riff that nearly every two note interval is hold __and count through this section carefully, Section 2 for three sixteenth notes duration, which as it's pretty easy to accidentally read Yet more displacement ideas! We are stilin obviously creates displacement acrass the and play it incorrectly! 4/4.time here, and what is happening is beat and a very syncopated feel. Be sure e "7 psuss =O Dause D D Dsusa D —Dsusé. BD Dsusd Ex 4 - fingerstyle phrase. Play this fingerstyle or using your index and middle to achieve a snappy and pentatonic phrase with a hybrid pick/fingers fingers and the notes on the D aggressive sound should ‘At this point in the proveedings approach; the notes on the G string with either your thumb or _be the arder of the day here, the band stops for a solo guitar and B strings should be played the pick. A lot of attack in order 26 © Guitar Techniques August 1998xa ° a as © ear " cya) oc cys) © cH) CNC. Bis C5 Ex 5 ~ pre-solo section ‘mute it alittle with your right hand palm and overshooting your destination. This After playing sixteenth note ideas for so all should be okay. particularly applies to the descending (ong, this mainly triplet based phrase can ‘One final thing to look out for is the F5.05 move. Be warned! easily catch you rhythmically unawares! it's sling diads which appear during beats. not too hard to play though; just make sure three and four of bar 34 - these are pretty ‘that you back off the guitar's volume control rapid and it may take some practice in order abit in order to clean up your tone and also to perform them accurately without xs coma gis a Daass cua) B5(+6) pls cs FS CB ss 8 é = 1 x rs 6 + + + Lot 4 a a ras pada cay B5(b6) ps cs FS cS Dadas ea) 85(5) Bis C5 FS 5 s August 1998 Guitar Techniques © 27Ex 6 - octave fingering of the main 17/8 riff in the orginal, this wes played on sax, and placed low in the mix. Get another gulterist/keyboardist to play this while you Dada cya) B5(>6) play the lower version; it sounds great! Next Month, we wil be taking 2 look at U for Uli Jon Roth. Sources This month's example was taken from the Bis cs following album: FS cs Steve Lukather, Candyman (Columbia/Sony 475964 2). ain FF OCTAVE FRVGERING ass 4 oe a —+ : es | = core | az = % Q Ey Poco coco rococo 5 = 4 = 3 (5) — 3y : NC. ots: ‘ary in Sines Pants writen by kate an Pips, © Buy Love ant Party Pubtenng/Womer Chappel. Used se ppt Iteration! Muse Pubcon Lid, 28 ©@ Guitar Techniques August 1998