Steve Morse Part III- Composer & everything else...
Welcome to part three
Welcome to this third and final part of my trilogy about Steve Morse. This last episode will focus on Steve as a composer & arranger, and Iīll also include some final thoughts.
The second part of the trilogy basically dealt with Steve as the virtuoso-guitar player, and I hope I showed you some interesting licks. But we should not see Steve Morse only as a playerīs player, as a guitarist... after all, the music of the Dixie Dregs, the Steve Morse Band ( with both bands, Steve wrote the major part of the music ) and Deep Purple show him as an amazing composer, songwriter and arranger.
It doesnīt matter whether weīre talking about amazing leadlicks, intricate counterpoint-duets between bass & guitar, classical parts for the acoustic guitar or wacky unisono-fusion parts, Steve composed and used all of these elements.
Melodies
Steve Morse wrote some wonderful melodies, that often get a certain twist by a special trick Steve likes to use: shifting the accent. Instead of writing a melody with lots of different note-lengths, he used lines that have constant, repeating note-values ( like 16th-notes etc. ), but he kinda moves around the position of the bass- and melody notes. ( Like instead of having the bass-notes and / or accents only on 1-2-3-4, he might split them up to 1-2+-3-4+ etc. )
A great example for this can be heard in the song "The Introduction" ( which is the title-song of the debut-album of the Steve Morse Band ). The interlude right before the solo is a beautiful piece of music IMHO... it is an ascending chordal part with a quite remarkable melody... and although it sounds like many overdubbed guitars, Steve pulls this one off live with only one guitar, playing both the melody and the bass note.
Here is that part:
Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 1
As you can see, itīs all straight 16th-notes, but the melody- and bassnotes kinda jump around. The chords you have to play are kinda tough to learn, but at least you can concentrate on them as long as you remember that itīs straight 16th notes throughout, so you donīt have to learn some complex, odd-metered part here.
By the way, the transcription you can see above were done by Steve himself. I asked him to do so a few years ago, since I had seen a bunch of different versions around. Just wanted to see what he really DID play... so there ya go !
Steve used some variation of this "shifting accent" method again several times throughout his career, without ever sounding repetitive. Another fine example can be found in the celtic-inspired "Rally Cry" ( from the 1995- Steve Morse Band release "Structural Damage" )
This is the middle-part of that song:
Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 2
The only part that might be a problem here is to get used to the bar of 2/4. The chords are pretty simple. You may use your left-hand thumb to fret some of the bass notes. Oh yeah, in the original recording, this part is doubled with an acoustic guitar...
More riffs
Native Dance
This is one of my favorite parts Steve ever came up with... it's a part that occurs in the song "Native Dance" ( from "Structural Damage" ). This part is played on electric guitar, the chords are derived from the bass-line. Later, while Steve played some variations of this line, he added another melody on top of this one through a guitar-synth set to a steeldrum-patch.
Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 3
Again, pay attention to the way Steve positions the bass-notes and thereby sets the accents. The actual bass note of the first chord ( D ) occurs on the 1+, the E at 3, D at 4+ etc. Try this for yourself: Make up an arpeggiated part or a melody and try to take away any static structure... don't put the accents always on the downbeat, move them around. You might come up with some really cool stuff !
( By the way, I paid tribute to Steve by using my arrangement of this part in my song "Angeldancer, at the very end... )
Endless Waves
Another one of my favorite Morse-songs would be "Endless Waves", a rather unknown song from the "High Tension Wires" Album. Itīs a ballad with acoustic guitars and guitar synth, played in a rather slow tempo ( 63 bpm ).
Check out those first four bars:
Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 4
An interesting thing happens here. Steve is playing all arpeggios, but the way he merges them together, the way he arranges them make the final result sound like one long, beautiful melody instead of sounding just like a bunch of arps !
Steve uses this device pretty often, and itīs something you should try yourself, cuz it not only is an interesting compositional tool to play around with, it also can help you to make up some wonderful pieces of music. So try it... instead of just playing some arpeggios ( and make them sound as if youīre doing just that ), try to merge them to one long melody by arranging them the way Steve did in our example !
Our final example for today is the solo-part of "Endless Waves", at least the beginning of that. In our transcription, you can see the actual solo guitar in the upper staff, and the accompanying second guitar in the lower one. Pay attention to this rather common chord sequence that still sounds kinda special due to itīs re-occuring melody part ( the C and B on the B-String ). Steve also uses a Slash Chord ( Am/G ) in this one.
Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 5
General comments and conclusion
About playing those kinda things...
Well, as I said in the second part of this trilogy already: the examples in this trilogy might be difficult, and if you wanna learn them ( or other guitar parts by Steve Morse ) you really have to sit down and practise a bit.
One very important thing is: if you do find a problem while playing one of these parts, donīt keep repeating the whole thing until the mistake goes away ( it most likely wonīt, and itīs way to unproduktive to eg. Repeat a 16 bar exercise over and over cuz there is a tough part in bar 13 ! )
Do it the "Steve-way": Find the problem, isolate it, work on it, solve it.
That means: If you do i.e. have a problem with the small pull-off in bar 2 of the "Endless Waves"-Intro, isolate that part and practise it on its own, repeating just that little bit till you can nail it. Then add the previous and following few notes and see if you can still nail it when you play it in context. Finally, play the whole part... so solve the problem and then go on until you can play the whole exercise. You might have to work your way through it bit by bit, but tīs worth it !
OK, here, at the end of my trilogy and tribute to Steve Morse, Iīd like to add a few personal thoughts:
There is so much left for me to say and write about Steve, so many musical examples, so many stories and infos about the man... but instead of going on and boring you to death, Iīd like to let you go and discover Steves music on your own. Iīm sure you can find at least some parts of it you will like.
Yes I am a fan of Steve and he has been a huge influence for me. I consider him a fantastic guitar player, a hard worker, a great songwriter / composer, and an incredibly nice, warm-hearted person.
Steve might not be extremely popular, not a flamboyant media-star in the eye of the public, but he has a dedicated following that supports him, and that he would give a lot for. With Deep Purple and some guest spots he was able to win over another audience, more fans coming from different parts of the world.
All this without "selling out" or doing what he really doesn't want to... he plays the music he truly loves and is happy with that, while heīs out on the road almost all the time, with the Dregs, the SMB or Deep Purple.
I recommend Steveīs music to every guitar player ( not only shred-freaks ) and every musician in general. Because what youīll hear is not only flawless playing on both the electric and the acoustic / classical guitar, not only wonderful songs / compositions, but youīll hear music straight from the heart of someone who loves what he is doing, who hung on to it, who does it cuz he achieved the freedom to do it and pay his bills after hard years of fighting just because he believed in what he was doing.
So before I might sound too pathetic, Iīll sum it up: You can hear more than just a lot of notes, great songs, wonderful melodies... you'll hear a human being offering you whats in his heart. If you get to meet Steve while he is on the road, be nice to him... and send him my regards !
Thanks for your time, I hope you enjoyed reading this trilogy, hope you found something to practise, learn or experiment with, and I hope I got a few of you interested in Steveīs music. If you do have any questions, feel free to post them in the forums here at iBreatheMusic. Also, check out Steveīs Site at http://www.stevemorse.com
Here is a short selected discography with some listening recommendations ( also check out the first part of this trilogy for more info about Steveīs discography )
The Dixie Dregs
"The Great Spectacular" ( Demos, 1975, currently only available through Steveīs management ).. Check out: "TO Witcher", "What If...", "Kathreen"...
"Freefall" ( 1977 ) "Sleep", "Holiday", "Refried Funky Chicken", "Northern Lights"
"What If" ( 1978 ) "Odyssey", "What If", "Night Meets Light", "Little Kids"...
"Night Of The Living Dregs" ( 1979 ) "The Bash", "Long Slow Distance", "Patchwork"...
"Dregs Of The Earth" ( 1980 ) "The Hereafter", "Pride Of The Farm"...
"Unsung Heroes" ( 1981 ) "Cruise Control", "Day 444"...
"Industry Standard" ( 1982 ) "Bloodsucking Leeches", "Up In The Air"...
"Full Circle" ( 1994 ) "Calcutta", "Ionized", "Sleeveless In Seattle"...
there are more Dregs-releases, including some live-ones, but I recommend to check those albums first. If you do need more info, check out Steveīīs site !
With Deep Purple:
"Purpendicular" ( 1996 ) "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", "Cascades"....
"Abandon" ( 1998 ) "Any Ful Know That"...
s.a.
With the Steve Morse Band / Steve Morse solo:
"The Introduction" ( 1984 ) "The Introduction", "Cruise Missile"...
"Stand Up" ( 1985 ) "Distant Star", "Unity Gain"...
"High Tension Wires" ( 1989 ) "Ghostwind", "Tumeni Notes", "Endless Waves"...
"Southern Steel" ( 1991 ) "Battle Lines", "Simple Simon", "Vista Grande"...
"Coast To Coast" ( 1992 ) "The Oz", "Morning Rush Hour", "Long Lost"...
"Structural Damage" ( 1995 ) "Good To Go", "Just Out Of Reach", "Native Dance"...
"Stressfest" ( 1996 ) "Rising Power", "4 Minutes To Live", "Stressfest"...
"Major Impacts" ( 2000 ) "Well I Have", "Prognosis", "The White Light"
"Split Decision" ( 2002 ) "Busybodies", "Great Mountain Spirit", "Momentīs Comfort"