Guitar Expertise Question Re Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick

Every time I hear the Budokan version of I Want You To Want Me, I am knocked out by the figure Nielsen plays from 3:21-3:25.

To me it is the pinnacle of the song, the apogee.

My question is, from a guitar standpoint, is it difficult to play? It sounds very fast and accomplished, not just the notes but how it fits into the song's near-crescendo. But what do people who know guitar say? Comments?

 

Descending triplets within the scale, no big whoop. Just learn your basic rock box-shapes and you can play any CT riff

 

Thats' very interesting, I need to know more about guitar-playing. To me it sounded hard! By I think you'd agree the timing is very good.

 

Nielsen is a monster plank-spanker. He was good enough to be drafted into The Nazz when Todd Rundgren split.

 

It's not that easy! Rick's guitar part is a master class in alternating between lead and Rhythm Guitar. I've never heard anyone play it exactly like RN.

 

The whole song is not easy if you play it exactly like he does. The way he intertwines rhythm and lead guitar is pretty amazing. I've never tried that particular lick, but it's a great one.

 

Sounds like it's all descending on one string, yes? I too have always loved that fill but I've never actually tried to play it.

Agreed about Nielsen's playing....Sloppy but tasty!

 

It's fast but not difficult. I never really practiced scales just to build speed, but I think I could play that line pretty quickly if I put my mind to it. It does sound really neat in context though. I think playing something catchy in context is the apex of being a good guitar player, but that's just IMO

 

There’s nothing difficult about those particular passages from Rick Nielsen, but this particular solo from Holdsworth on the U.K. song In the Dead of Night is much more difficult:

Solo starts around 3:09 -

 

Only a matter of time till someone post a clip of some technical player/shredder, saying Nielsen isn't really a great guitarist. I've always loved his sloppyish-style...he's the perfect player for CT music.

 

I never said that Nielsen wasn’t a great guitarist. I merely said that particular musical passage isn’t difficult play and simply gave an example of guitar playing that actually is difficult to play.

 

Eh. It's all perspective anyway. I've had some real shredders tell me I'm amazing because I can play syncopated fingerstyle, which seems second nature to me. To some people it seems impossible to alternate the thumb on your right hand like that. Lots of different lanes. The real virtuosos can do it all but that's a long study. The guitar is a wildly versatile instrument.

 

I’m not into guitarist who shred just for the hell of it as this has never been impressive to me, but I felt that providing an example of what I feel is ‘tasteful virtuosity’ from Holdsworth in this U.K. piece was entirely appropriate.

 

Oh I'm not saying it wasn't. I was not responding to you. Just a general comment.

 

It's not difficult. Nielsen has used it several times, here he plays it twice - at 1:21 and again and 2:04.



The lick contains several open strings which makes it a lot easier. I'm sure he's not the first to use it, but I can't think of older examples off the top of my head. Part of the key to using it well is putting it in the right places - which he is great at. That's pretty much the best part of his lead playing. He does play sloppy - sometimes excessively so - live, which can be frustrating. A lot of that is because he's busy doing his showman thing: running all over the stage, jumping, raising his arms and pointing, etc. etc. The rest of the band settles in to do the "heavy lifting" and let him be the "front man."

 

There isn't anything sloppy on the studio records, he's clearly concentrating on playing well and cleanly executing what he wants. The same lick on the studio recording is right in time - at 1:57:

 

Rick Nielsen is not a great guitarist. There, I said it. He wrote lots of good songs and that is why the band is still around.

 

Doesn't hurt to have Robin Zander singing your songs!

 

I saw him on the Hall of Fame show - last year I think? He is still at the top of his game and I think he smokes cigarettes, that's pretty amazing.

 

Nothing against Rick Nielsen, but it's not particularly difficult. And you can even hear he's a little sloppy at doing it in the middle of it (but "clean" is not really part of his style).

 

For anyone interested, I found this complete tab of the Budokan version (pdf file), so you can see how to play that triplet fill:

https://www.guitar.ch/tablature/CheapTrick/IWantYouToWantMe.pdf

I think it's slightly different from the "California Man" run that's linked above --- similar rhythm but the California one uses more open strings.

 

I wonder if Rick Nielsen would find it hard, interesting...

 

To me it sounds better on the live recording I posted.