Nice little twist for "I'll feel a whole lot better"

[mcd220]

Without question, one of the all time great mid '60's songs, to be sure!

Nothing "Folk-Rock" about it, this is straight ahead Rock, or early "Power Pop", if you will.

Here's a trick for the end of the song that REALLY ADDS to the "Feeling" of well; "Feeling a whole lot better!!"

Near the end, at the first "Oh when your gone", the chords are A to G, and remain as such throughout the end of the song.

What I've been doing for years, and I kind of stumbled to this from a mistake that Chris "Kinda" makes here, and also while thinking of The Beatles "If I Needed Someone".

At the first "Oh when your gone", instead of going A to G, try these blends for BOTH Roger & David's parts:

X02220 300000

What we have now is a standard A chord, but then the second chord is now a G6 addA (Or something like that!).

Also, just like Paul does on "If I needed Someone", KEEP YOUR HILLMAN UP ON "A" DURING THE ENTIRE "Oh when your gone" segment, AND ALL THROUGH TO THE END OF THE SONG.

The Bass can play a little "Figure" here, but make sure it's rooted in "A", instead of just going A to G.

This will really add to the emotion, and "Danceability" of the song. You see, now the guitars, while still hitting a low G root on the E string, you have that A string ringing open, (plus your Hillman ringing it out too)

Very much in keeping with the "Raga/Bluegrass" thing again. :0)

Now, for the very last chord, have your Crosby end on this:

X02200

And make your final McGuinn chord the Pure Prairie League "Amie A" like this:

X07600

ACTUALLY, I THINK this IS what's on the record. David is ending on an A sus2, and Roger is ending on an A add2.

The blend here will be striking! These days, Roger just hits a plain old "A", but this could be because he's doing it solo, and he has changed a few things over the years.

Hey, that's his perogative!

But try these blends out, and I GUARANTEE you it will literally make the song sound more Byrds than The Byrds.

Honest! :0)

Christian



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[jimk]

Cool! I really like these suggestions of yours. Do keep up the good work here. Thanks, man.


JimK

[mcd220]

Thanks Jim! Chris

[37012player]

Para phrasing some band...."So you want to be a Rock'n'Roll star well listen Know to what Chris has to say"........

I'm amazed by this one Chis, I agree...more Byrds than the Byrds. My favourite early Byrds tune, I wish they had have done a little more of this in the early days....kind of like the early Beatles LP's always ending with a "rocker" (Twist & Shout, Money) GREAT stuff mate!!

Thanks for your post, great work. please keep up the good work. Am I starting to see a pattern here...open E and B strings are your style thing?

Si.......

[mcd220]

" Am I starting to see a pattern here...open E and B strings are your style thing?"

Looks like I'm busted!

Best, Christian

[jdogric12]

Chris, excellent stuff. I just stumbled on this thread. To be honest, I only read about half of the topics now due to the volume of posts and lack of free time. Can you please post this in the Musicianship topic? It's a great read, and great info. Cheers, J

[mcd220]

Sure, no problem. Christian

[37012player]

Chris,

I'd be very interested on your thoughts on the Solo and Outro also. Double tracked perhaps, and if so are the two 12's playing the same sequence or a variation??

Simon...

[mcd220]

Thanks Simon; the solo in "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better", although posessing simple straightforward symmetry, is truly one of the all time great Guitar solos in the whole of Rock history.

Although the 12 string break in "The Bells Of Rhymney" is my FAVOURITE, the solo in "IFAWLB" is THE MOMENT of ultimate glory for the Rickenbacker 360/12 Guitar.

The cherry on top and reining supreme, for all 365 days of 1965...

For those seconds from 1:09 to 1:38, NOTHING was ever going to go wrong again...

I'm VERY hard pressed to find another Pop/Rock song from the mid '60's that has a cooler, and more adept solo than this song. It ABSOLUTELY fits Gene's wonderful tune like a tailor made suit...

Oops... Sorry. Stupid me. :0(

I meant, turtleneck sweater, Nehru jacket, Kaftan, Sarong, Mini-skirt, Peter Tork fringed boots, but NOT suit!!! :0)

All the credit in the world is to be given to Roger here for delivering this perfect, delicious, musical arrangement.

To answer your question, yes; like most all the songs on the MTM album, the 12 string is double tracked here. You REALLY notice it at the beginning of the song right after Crosby's intro when Roger joins. A very "Choral" sound, and this came from him laying the Rickenbacker down twice (Plus the compression of course, too)

It's sounding like to me that during the solo, he doubles the first track unison note for note, without any extra harmony notes.

I MIGHT be wrong here; the middle of the solo does sound MAYBE a little too busy to not be an overdub of "Extra" notes. Let me play with it, and I'll let you know what I come up with.

Another point that almost proves the solo is double tracked (Apart from the sound) is the fact that during the solo, unlike TTT, you don't hear another Rickenbacker playing chords underneath, only David's Tennesean.

Something I've harped on for many years with Guitarists is the fact that this solo; Roger is hinting at playing it in somewhat of a "Triplet" feel. This also makes the riff sound "Busier", etc.

Now, please pardon this terminology in advance here. When it comes to music, I'm pretty much a ditz, (If we were talking airplanes, I would sound much more intelligent) I've always been a "By the seat of my pants" kind of player, and it's an atrocity that I don't know all my correct terms and theory after all these years.

But here we go anyway:

Instead of just going like this (The first couple of Bars):

Bah duh, duh, duh, duh, duh-Bah duh, duh, duh, dee, duh.

Try it this way instead:

Bah duh dee-dud-ala duh duh-Bah duh dee-dud-ala dee, duh, etc

Now that I've embarrassed myself profusely, it's off to sing "Zippity-do-dah" from Disney's "The Jungle Book". :0) :0(

ANYWAY, playing it in the triplet feel will REALLY ADD to the whole effect.

ALSO-VERY IMPORTANT: YOU GUYS GOTTA HIT THAT HIGH TONIC (A) ON THE G STRING AT THE 14TH FRET AT AROUND THE END OF THE THIRD BAR.

This is the "Golden note" during the entire solo, and really "Makes it".

THIS NOTE IS COMMONLY OMITTED BY ROCK BANDS ALL OVER THE WORLD.

BZZZZZZT! Uh uh; ain't gonna fly, not when I'm around.

So hook up the Janglebox, put the reverb on about 4 or 5, add maybe a TINGE of chorus, fry the tubes just a LITTLE BIT, play it in triplet, and let her go. You'll get a really wonderful "Double tracked simulation", as it were that will sound as good as, or "Better than the record".

So much so, you'll think your actually on "Hollywood A Go-Go"; surrounded by dancers in mini skirts and suede boots. :0)

Hey! Nobody said we could'nt dream around here!!! :0)

As far as tabbing out the whole thing, I just don't really have any experience (OR the patience) in actually doing this. Steph asked me if I would do the same thing for "Why?", but I really don't know quite how!! ;0(

I mean; I can play it, but it's hard for me to write it out without getting myself a bit confused.

BTW, THE INTRO (12 STRING PART) TO "SET YOU FREE THIS TIME" IS MERELY A RE-HASH OF THE "IFAWLB" SOLO INTRO.

Best, Chris


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