Caffiend: Verse and Prechorus

We are in the key of E. The opening riff is based on the first three notes in the E major scale, i.e., E-F-G. This riff is played three times and then followed by the same riff in E minor, i.e., E-F-Gb. The two rhythm guitars, as is the case throughout the piece, are duplicating each other on either side, one clean and the other distorted.

At the end of this sequence there is empty space as the guitars hang on the Gb. Two lead guitars jump in to “respond” to the “call” of the upward moving riff. One of the leads (straight up the middle) is playing very simple blues licks, while the other (slightly to the left) is hitting harmonics at various spots on the fretboard.

After two runs through this entire cycle, the song moves into the prechorus. The progression is B-A-B-D-A-C-D. For the distorted rhythm guitar (wide right), these are played as straight E-shaped power chords. For the clean rhythm guitar, as in much of the song, the bottom three strings (E, A, D) are fretted in a typical power chord shape, while the top three strings (G, B, E) are left open. Generally the E and the B strings are played as single notes after the full power chord — this is a great way to fill space with one guitar, incidentally, and a technique I doubtless learned from listening to copious amounts of Alex Lifeson.

During this section, one of the lead guitars (the cleaner sounding one slightly to the left) is playing a simple line, probably on the B string, that mirrors the progression. The distorted guitar is tacit.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. When I recorded this, I pretty much soloed across the entire song. But on playback I discovered that not all of the song needed, or even wanted, a solo running through it. So I cut the volume on this channel during the prechorus. As well shall see next time, this decision led to an interesting effect on the lead parts in the chorus.

On this day…

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