Fancy Riffs

Eddie Hazel

 

Hazel was a funk guitarist for the legendary band Parliament-Funkadelic. He was inducted in to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. His most highly regarded piece of music is his 10 minute guitar solo instrumental "Maggot Brain" named after the album title by Funkadelic. Before recording, producer George Clinton told Eddie to imagine that he had just found out that his mother had passed away, only to learn later on that she was in fact not dead.

Maggot Brain

Music Theory: This song (Maggot Brain) is in the key of E minor. Eddie lays down a backing guitar progression as follows: E minor, D major, B minor, C major. The progression resolves to an E minor chord. Since the song is in the key of E minor, Eddie solo's using the E minor pentatonic scale. This is one of the most popular scales to use in rock music, especially when laying down a guitar solo. He starts with striking the 15th fret on the b string which is a D note, and begins to bend the string up a whole step to the 17th fret (an E note, hence the key of E minor), which is where that ascending sound is coming from.  

TIP!! Eddie is putting an immense amount of vibrato in to his notes, which gives each note that singing and raw emotion quality. This is simple in theory, but difficult to master. In order to use vibrato, one must place their finger on a desired note. From that position, the string must be bent, but subtly, in an up and down direction. This movement will make the note falter, but not to the point of it reaching a note above or below its key. The point is to make the note swirl around without falling out of it's key. Once mastered, its up to the guitarist whether they want to play it fast or slow; both ways sound good, but it's truly personal and is good practice to find subtle ways to hone your own sound. 

Eddie was highly influenced by Jimi Hendrix, but without a doubt was his own player with his own sound. He has been under the radar for many years, but one listen from Maggot Brain and the solo from Super Stupid and it will have many checking their head and asking how they were so blind to the brilliance that is Eddie Hazel.

Super Stupid