Nuno is the face of unfairness, insane guitar player, writes the coolest shit, looks good af, gets all the chicks, has no hair loss, what else could you want?
Oh man, I would kill if you had Weekend Wankshops JUST for Nuno licks and riffs. Man's playing style is as slippery and stylish as an eel at an awards show.
After seeing Nuno playing this a thousand times, I am pretty convinced he actually plays it legato rather than alternate picking and the compression comes from his very trembly-presence-y sound and muting during legato, which is one of his favourite techniques. If you look at his right hand, he only picks the first note in every string.
I thought so too at first but really theres only a micrometer of difference between hitting the string on the way up or not. If you listen carefully on the album you hear the tell tale "eek" of the pick hitting the string twice. To be in the groove the emphasis is definitely on the down strokes though. But yeah I bet if he played it only with the left hand and palm mute all but some notes would be there and "chug". It's all of it coming together (including his calluses) that makes his sound so fat (not his amp ;)).
I have been looking for a quality lesson on this riff for YEARS... thanks so much Ben, you make it look easier than I could have ever imagined from all the (incorrect) tabs I've seen
Pornograffiti is without a doubt one of the finest albums ever. Randomly the intro and outro solos on He Man Woman Hater are played by Dweezil Zappa! I know it states that on the album sleeve but loads of people have missed that.
One of my favorite things about Nuno is his rhythm playing is as impressive as his soloing. He's the complete antithesis of a lazy "chugging rhythm" player. There's always melody, interesting fills and grooves.
This is really one of the trickiest riffs in rock/metal history. It shouldn't be as difficult as it is, but you've got to match Nuno's swagger in order to get it right, and that's no easy feat.
I think Nuno didn't play two pick, one pull-off on down way part of riff. You can see on Nuno lessons he play one pick downstroke pull-off, pull-off, next string downstroke, pull-off, pull-off
This is the 1st TRUE video tutorial on how to play this riff CORRECTLY!!! It's a common mistake to play the main sequence of this riff with the "standard alternate picking shape for sextuplets". Aka: down, up, down // up, down, up. So it's common to play it wrong (with a lot of troubles) with every note picked. ....it seems unbeliavable....or maybe this seems weird..... but Nuno doesn't pick every note....! All the live-videos of this song, shows undeniably this little detail. It's just enough to look CAREFULLY at Nuno's right hand. For the first time, a well-made tutorial...!!! Great job, Ben!!!
When I first heard Nuno play I was blown away. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, much less play what hes playing. So I spent a lot of time trying to break I down so I could learn it. I have to say those few months really developed my ear and overall playing.
He-man Woman Hater was one of my favorites growing up. This song was the definition of a guitar-gasm...flight of the wounded bumble bee followed by an epic rock song. The riffs, fills, melodies, and the solo were all insane, completely off the charts. Nuno was one of the best. I haven't mastered the guitar well enough to even attempt to play this one out...still struggling to get a pinch harmonic to come out right. Super impressive job on the riff, Ben!
Man, Ben, I already thought you were a super cool guy, but when you said that Pornograffiti is one of your favorite records of all time, that did it. Anyone that says that is someone I can be friends with. I'd been hearing "Hole Hearted" and "More Than Words" since I was, I guess, around 8 or 9 (my mom loved the band and Nuno especially), but it wasn't until I bought the album when I was about 17 (in '99) that I discovered that Nuno Bettencourt is, simply put, one of the greatest rock guitarists ever to pick up the instrument. And if that weren't enough, he plays a ton of other instruments well, and he's a better singer than Gary Cherone! Wtf, man?!
fuck it man. you’re the first guy on the internet playing it perfectly right !! (except nuno lol) the picking hand especially is really on point and it took me months to understand how it worked and a ton of live nuno performances. congratulations brother !❤ keep it up
Dude! You're the best at playing this riff like Nuno, hands down... Even heard a version from Rick Graham (amazingly technical guy) that didn't sound anywhere near as good. Amazing! Thanks for the tips
Awesome riff and great lesson. No one seemed to know whether he picked it or pull off/hammer on - looks like it’s a mix. There’s an interview where he was asked but he’s very much a “listen and play it your own way” guy and wouldn’t answer.
Thanks for this. I'll be adding this tune to my list tomorrow. I'm a big Nuno fan from back when Pornograffiti first came out 25 year ago, and it's remained one of my all time favs ever since. Sick guitar tone and playing on that album. I have an N4 in my guitar collection, and I can't help but bust out some Nuno riffs every time I pick it up.
"Every track is full of just ridiculous, amazing guitar playing" When i first kissed you being the exception Nah pornograffiti is my favourite album of all time i love it
After trying for a week and having a hard time sync'ing left and right hand going from 8ths to 8ths triplets, I decided to have look at Nuno playing this. I went to this video *ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zSLvqwgXo2M.html&t=3m39) Starting from 3m39s and setting playback speed to 0.5, it really looks as if the picking is 1. A string: Downstroke on C, hammer on to C# 2. D string: Upstroke on D string 3. A string: Downstroke on C#, pulloff to C, pulloff to A 3. E string: Downstroke on G#, pulloff to G, pulloff to E 4. G string: Downstroke to B, bend to C# This will make it easier (at least for me) to get the timing accurate enough on the triplet sections. But needs very accurate palm and finger muting (and Nunos Rat settings correctly) to get the right sound.
This one’s a barn burner! One of my all time fav’s too! When this came out George Lynch was interviewed in Guitar Player For The Practicing Musician and referring to Nuno was quoted saying “he’s a fiery little fucker”. Which for the times was the highest praise!
Yes! George is my hero & when he said that, I took notice & was not disappointed! He's also said "Nuno is very real to me". I think in that same interview.
Ben it is a legato run! not alternate. Because of the palmmute you still get that (tu)tuduhduh tuduhduh tududuh sound. So you only pick the strings once! For the rest a great lesson as always. Cheers!
Always enjoy your videos man, keep up the great work. This is a massive long shot, but does anyone remember a video by Ben where he's talking about playing fast legato stuff and he specifically mentions Joe Satriani as having some really weird / fast / difficult legato lines? If anyone remembers it please let me know!
That is very much a "Feel" thing that is personal to Nuno, tbh. It's very hard if not impossible to replicate his feel. This is as close as I've ever seen
Nice .If you feel like it , I'd like to get your take on Nuno's solo from Get the Funk Out . I've even watched him demonstrate it and I don't get his turn arounds in each section of the tapping parts
Great vid. I love your lessons. The way you move swiftly thru them is so easy to follow. Some lessons are SO slow and monotonous. I mean obviously if your're good enough to be playing/learning this song, you shouldnt have to go thru each note, fret and string one by one. Thats my thought, anyway. So. thanks!!
its actually all hammer ons and pull offs, it is not all picked. Just sounds like it with the palm mute and strong pull offs. Only picked notes are the first notes of each string
Nice! By the way I have the line 6 axsys 212 as well. I noticed the amp in the background. Mine was first edition, yours looks like the updated version at the time.
Thanks Uncle Ben! BTW your Rosanna lesson was the bomb! I've been trying to get that solo right for years, but within 24hrs of watching your vid, I had it down. You made a subscriber out of this old rockstar wannabe!
You play it very nicely, for some reason this is like the most difficult rock riff for me to play, difficult to keep the other strings muted, difficult to keep it flowing and grooving.
