“I WANT MY CROWN”
Eric Gales (featuring Joe Bonamassa)
THIS SLICKLY CRAFTED arrangement celebrates modern blues guitar sensation Eric Gales’ talent, artistry and technical prowess, and the song is presented as a pretext for a playful lead guitar duel with the equally renowned and accomplished Joe Bonamassa. Both axmen turn in inspired, tastefully ripping solos on their similarly styled instruments (with Joe playing a Fender Stratocaster and Eric sporting his signature Magneto Eric Gales RD-3 guitar), and the exhibition match ends in a satisfying draw.
The contest gets underway after the song’s 3rd chorus, at section H. Joe solos first, then he and Eric proceed to trade eight-bar phrases, then “fours,” then “twos” over a funky vamp in A, each demonstrating their improvisational creativity and technical virtuosity, with breathtaking displays of smooth, clean alternate picking, bold, precise string bends and shimmering finger vibratos.
Both six-string pugilists base the majority of their solo lines on the A minor pentatonic scale (A, C, D, E, G) but also draw upon other resources to serve up some colorful melodies. For example, check out Bonamassa’s chromatic descent on the high E string in bars 63 and 64 — the “A minordrop
G# F#) line cliche” (A - - G - — and Gales’ imaginatively winding 16th-note run in bars 79-82, for which he combines notes
# from the A Mixolydian mode (A, B, C , D, E,
# Eb,
F , G) and the A blues scale (A, C, D, E, G) and uses hammer-ons, pull-offs and legato finger slides to create a smoothly rolling melodic contour.
Notice also how both improvisers will often utilize adjacent, overlapping “box” patterns of A minor pentatonic within a single phrase and smoothly traverse them, by either sliding audibly or silently shifting a finger up or down a string. Gales’ first solo at section I offers some great examples of this approach in action. As always, when sliding, use a light touch and try not to press down on the string any harder than necessary to produce a clear tone, as doing so will only increase friction and drag, making the slide needlessly difficult.