6 Times Denny Dias Went Beast Mode (Re-Upload) 

I agree!

Me too! Amazing!

I think this is his complete recorded history

Dudes timing phrasing and note choices were just out of this world. Add that to stellar technique and yes I agree he was a total BEAST😄✌️

I agree! Always beast mode 👌

@dennydias-id5jh Hello there. Did it take a while to make that solo? Did you have to play it a few times to get Walter and Donald's approval?

🎯🫵

Or even better, with him

He has and one of Baxter and one of Carlton and gadd

@@kennethpeller7411 I can't find the video Rick did on Denny Dias. Can you give us the link?

Wow, that’s unbelievable! I can’t imagine what that’s like 🤯

His wife occasionally posts to the Steely Dan FaceBook group I belong to. She’s an awesome lady, and keeps us all advised on some of Denny’s comings and goings…

That’s really cool to know, thank you!

Great info. I would love to hear it.

@@twoblacklabs904 thanks for mentioning me♥️ Andy Bergsten has actually played with Denny at the iridium among other places and they have performed some of Denny ‘s original music.

_Underrated?_ By whom?

I would agree. Unless you're in the know, you never hear Denny's name being mentioned. Tragic as that is.

@dennydias-id5jh Well Denny you and Jeff made the SD sound back in the day, music that will never grow old, and I've got to say your playing on Your Gold Teeth 2 is just amazing, a standout solo, absolutely sublime. Guys like me who play in R'n'R bands can only dream of playing like that. Thankyou for the great music and guitar playing !!

​@dennydias-id5jhYou are a legend!!! Thank you 🎉🎉

​@dennydias-id5jhI have finally stopped going to see the Dan live. I've been to so many great performances. But i would fly to anywhere in the world to see you guest star with the Donald. THANK YOU

yes!

Absolutely, well put!

I think most bebop is in 4/4 time with a lot of 8th notes denny would've felt right at home for a bebop guitarist imo

it swings which is hard to do by soloing imho

Agreed on all counts!

@dennydias-id5jh My pleasure Denny! Your Do It Again solo is also a challenge to transcribe!

@dennydias-id5jh If you are really Denny... who was the first drummer for Steely Dan and what are the chords in the outro to Bodhisattva?

@dennydias-id5jh Apologies Denny. We unfortunately live in a world with bad actors attempting evil things. I just wanted to confirm.

@dennydias-id5jh True enuf Denny. I certainly don't. Just wanted to confirm.

Melodic jazz solos on Gold Teeth and Aja by Denny-two that I really like.

I think the most underrated.

Definitely, it's great that they could keep creating together!

That fact is a key, if often understated, part of the whole 'SD sound' story, you know? Dias is a monster player.

Same here!

Me too, Jay. me too.

Thank you very much! Denny is a monster and making stuff like this is definitely fun

Thank you!

yes - he was looking for 2 players with jazz chops who were not jerks ... hmm

Haha, I understand the sentiment!

Well said!

He plays the guitar like it's a piano

He also weaves some crazy fucking notes together!

Absolutely!

Absolutely, thank you very much!

That's awesome! Definitely an amazing performance

Green earrings was Larry Carlton

They're all my favorite from every album including the new one two against nature

Denny knew exactly where to put the notes and leave enough space for those notes to melt into your mind. The best!

You know, what makes me hate shredding so much is not so much the moronic thinking that 'lots of notes = quality', that is part of it though. But it seems that most rock shredders can't or won't play through chord changes. They just do this modal masturbation and it's freakin' boring and unmusical. Most rock players are in either one of two categories....1. Shredders or 2. Non-shredders. But what both groups have in common is the limitation of most always playing boring modal solos, avoiding soloing over chord changes and most always being a slave to the pentatonic scale. What makes me love guitar playing like Larry Carlton's solo on Kid Charlemagne is the same thing that makes me hate boring, one-dimensional, one-chord shredding. Give me phrasing, harmonic and melodic sophistication any day over mindless shredding. Especially when you thrown in all the affectations like overdone whammy bars, pinch harmonics and all the other lame cliches that are out there. However, I must say, that I do like a lot of rock guitar players. I guess I just find the genre to be kind of lame for the most part.

They definitely were! According to Wikipedia, the first solo on that song is Denny and the second is Skunk, but Skunk might come in towards the end of the first solo section when the guitar is playing with the woodwinds, so sorry if I got it wrong!

Skunk did have a big role. Firstly in the duo playing at the start and in the middle with Denny. Also from the 4 Minutes 10sec mark ,Skunk takes over the lead pretty well to the songs completion.

Agreed!

@dennydias-id5jhIt's my pleasure and honor!

By whom? Not by Walter and Donald anyway.

Larry Carlton

@@kennethpeller7411 Nope it was Dias

To this day, Denny's solo sometimes still brings tears to my eyes its so beautiful with feeling.

@@mikeloomis687 It's jaw dropping. It's always been my favorite Denny Dias solo.

Seriously, it does make my eyes watery …

Bothisatfa is my favorite solo from Denny Dias

Agreed, thanks!

Definitely a lot of Bebop in his playing style. No one else comes close.

Woah, I definitely will! Unbelievable to hear from someone who's played with Denny, thank you so much!

@numberoneradio339 my mind just went to him... cool man... i guess being a 'jazz rock' guitarist in the 70''s required highly individual and motivated people - like Holdsworth too...

Thank you, for some reason I don't think I was aware of that one when I made this video but it's definitely an awesome one, should have been in here!

For SURE!

Can’t really argue with that!

It's been one of my favorites since I was a teenager in the 80s. But I found out just today (from another video) that it's Dias! All this time, I thought it was Skunk Baxter, LOL.

@@sgringoMe too! The second solo on the song is Skunk, so until recently I just assumed the first was too

@@sgringo this video is great in that if you put all the solos together like this, you can hear the common thread, and while Skunk is great too, Denny has a thing that no one else touches.

@@sgringo Baxter actually comes in at 2:11, everything before that is Dias

Haha!

This.

Wow, that's pretty wild! l don't even play guitar, so even though I knew it was impressive, its interesting to hear just how advanced this stuff really is! I guess all we can do is just keep on listening and doing what we can

...for me it’s brain memory...and arthritis..

I can relate.

You can do it. Get one of the new apps that can separate the tracks, mute everything but the solo, slow it down and listen to and work on short phrases one at a time before stringing them together like a pearl necklace. I’m 63 and got it down in the last year!

He's in Becker and Fagen's shadow

and Elliot Randall... my favorite.

It's pretty sophisticated playing, though. Lots of jazz chops, be-boppy stuff. Not that I'm taking anything away from Carlton, though. Just two wonderful players.

Thank you!

Would you like to share it? I would be really glad

Totally right! I was about to write the same comment... 🙂

Thanks, I will!

Amen, this guy is killer! And I think they found him through an ad asking for jazz chops, which he obviously has.

@@coreycooper2261Denny placed the ad. Fagen and Becker responded to it.

i d like someone to ask him about that@@c-bonus9092

Absolutely!

Absolutely!

Idk man I think it’s just the right amount in a way but yeah that’s prob the best juice he ever served. He almost doesn’t sound human on that track

Very true!

Yes I was under that impression too… Dias solo and licks throughout the rest of the tune but that bit was Parks (ANOTHER brilliant Dan guitarist).

Without a doubt!

Keep it grimy.

No shame, I was surprised when I found out too!

He is a great player and shared his talents with us. ☮️🎸

Same here, 50 odd years of being a Steely Dan man and the guitar work I never accredited to Denny. My bad.

Me too!

At least they got him to play up until the Aja album

Actually, DD was the founding member of Steely D. He met DF and WB in NYC after they responded to his ad for musicians. They played together, then moved west and picked up JSB along the way. It is a point of dispute who the founder was.

@@johnj5985 To be fair Denny was the founder of Steely Dan, but after Donald and Walter joined it was a matter of time until they drove the other members away with their perfection. But afterwards they made sure Denny stuck around for more albums

@@johnj5985 True, good point

Jazz guy who rocked

Haha, since I don't play guitar I hadn't even noticed those! Thanks for mentioning it, that makes it even cooler

Wicked!

Name a song that compares to "King of the World" I dare you!

@@msmaxipad I won’t even try :) Such a fantastic solo, Denny is so underrated.

Nope!

absolutely

100% agree. A lot of guys can play a lot of notes fast and baffle you with speed, but Denny knew exactly where to put those notes. His playing has always blown my mind.

ok, ok...

J Baxter plays the solo just after the one by D Dias. He plays also the end solo of the song.

That's skunk Baxter and Denny Dias both on that song

(Me too)👍