Gotta add that the leads on Long Time were played by Barry Goudreau. I'd change the video's name to "Boston's Greatest Techniques" but since over 90% of the techs are Tom I think I'll just leave it as is. Thanks to everyone who informed me.
Thanks for the hat tip to Barry, who's been credited with writing the leads to FP/LT. Tom is Def a studio master and innovator. But Barry is no slouch on the Axe. (Ref Orion the Hunter & RTZ) It's hard to know without actually witnessing it, how much Barry potentially influenced Tom during all the pre-Boston years of Mother's Milk. When Barry plays Boston, eyes closed, it's hard to tell both parts & playing apart. Great Video !!! 👍
For sure! Hitch a Ride may be my all time favorite tune. Puts me right back to the late 70s. The ending of that song is epic and brings chills up my spine.
The solo always makes my eyes sweat and if you listen closely to the end of it, you can hear an audience yell out "Woooooooooo!!!!!". Pardon me while I play the song, now.
When I mixed More Than A Feeling (on my channel) I featured the guitar effects at the end of the sing. It was on the record, but they didn’t showcase it.
Love the video! Tom is one of my favorites. Keep in mind that all the solos in Long Time were actually done by Barry Goudreau along with the solo in Let Me Take You Home Tonight and Used To Bad News. Barry also did the intro solo for Don't Look Back. He contributed some great stuff.
The long sustained notes...sometimes the sign that Barry is playing. I've read that Barry taught Tom how to play guitar, you don't stumble across that too often. Maybe Tom keeps that hidden because of the bad blood that developed... It seems Tom played organ only, started jamming and forming a band with Barry, and Barry showed him lots of guitar. And Tom was playing great very quickly, super intelligent guy, of course. Other projects with Barry, like Orion The Hunter sound much like Scholz, so maybe it's largely Barry's style, possibly tone as well. The half-wah tone may have come from Schenker or Ronson, with Ronson being the originator, I'm pretty certain.
Good to know. I always thought the first album was Tom geeking out in his basement. Great to learn that he allowed others to play main parts on this classic album, thanks.
@@Lance37acorrect. That song was reportedly cut at Capitol Studios, while Tom furiously and meticulously recut the demos in his basement studio - albeit between floods, freak snow storms and power outages!
Barry Goodreau said in an interview once that the key to the Rockman sound before the Rockman was a wah pedal locked in a permanent position, but it was paralleled with the guitar's dry signal rather than exclusively in series. The rest was just basic tools like a compressor/expander and a good old Marshall. He continued to use this on his first solo album and Orion The Hunter, he never used a Rockman, even though it may have sounded like it.
Another great video, sir! I grew up hearing my mom blasting Boston, Foreigner, and Journey every Saturday while she cleaned. Always loved how precise and tight their music is. Then I learned how picky they were in the studio, so it made sense. 🙂
Despite never having to seek these band's music out, it was always 'just there', it became a musical influence in the rock guitar DNA. One day you ask yourself "Why do I know the lyrics to these REO Speedwagon ,Journey, & Bon-Jovi songs??? & sing along to the solos" Oh, thanks Big-Sister, Mom, etc.
Excellent job Tom is a genius many times over. Incredible songwriter, guitarist and recordibg engineer. He'has been one of my music idols for many years along with Brad Delp. They made an incredible team... RIP Brad
Boston really is GOATED, in my book. The instrumentals are ridiculously tight and, lack of a better word, perfect, in every way. Execution and writing wise. Also, if you ever get the chance, check out the isolated vocal tracks. Mind, and ear blowing performances. And that's all natty, no pro tools, no bullshit. Just brilliance. Nice work, Mike.
One of my other favorite music channels is Rick Beato. He does this series "what makes this song great?" and he breaks down iconic songs to their cores. He's done two Boston songs and really digs into not only the guitars, but the bass played by Tom and the keyboards. If you haven't seen them, I HIGHLY recommend them. But the one thing Tom does is pushes the mid frequencies way up. The graphic eq is the opposite of scooped, it's the Anti-Metallica curve. That pushes it so far forward into the mix and makes it jump out at you. Very aggressive tone. Heavily distorted and his playing is so tight. My local rock station is WFBQ Q-95 in Indy. Same as yours, nothing but Boston, Aerosmith, Forigner, Journey, Eagles, etc. It was so ingrained into how my music taste developed.
🤘🏻🔥🤘🏻 Yess!! I've been looking forward to this. I have always loved the sound of Boston. That harmonizing is just quintessential Boston to me. I love that solo on More Than a Feeling, makes me feel pretty happy when I hear it. I think that one has to go on my Happiness Playlist. Definitely a unique sound for sure :-) That Les Paul just looks and sounds killer. I can't wait til the day I get to own one 😊
A large part of that Boston sound was in the way their vocals and guitar work were so inter-twined. We often could not tell exactly where Brad's vocals ended and the guitar mind-fuckery began. Pure genius...
Wow, thank you for this! It's truly one of the best guitar videos I've seen in years of watching. I've loved Boston since they came out when I was a kid, and I got chills when you layered all the parts at 4:19.
He pick scrapes down the unwound strings too, like Ronson did (last Spiders From Mars concert) several examples. Lifeson does it too, check out live LA Villa solos from the 1970s. Also, the "flutter" is called a mordent, it's used often in classical music. Gave Boston a classical sound right out of the box. Just trying to help out, great video BTW.
This was a lot of fun to watch. Great job on the solo harmonies. You really showcased how Tom pushes those notes to a whole new level. And another thing, been listening to Boston since the debut album and never picked up on the addition of adding a "quick 5th" into a solo. As soon as you played it I had one of those, "Oh man! THAT's what I was missing" moments. Isn't it fantastic how music can surprise even after close to 50 years?
Great video. The rack mount effects are THE best means to get that sound. A guy who engineered his own sound. And was amazing at writing melodies with that rippin' guitar sound.
Thanks for this!! I heard an interview where Kurt Cobain said he WAS influenced by More Than A Feeling when he wrote Smells Like Teen Spirit. Probably why he referenced it at the Reading concert.
OMG, one of my guitar heros. What a guitar player, what a producer, and what an engineer and inventor. Tom Scholz invented guitar modelling. And also an inredible organ player - sometimes playing both an organ and a guitar at the same time.
Great material… See that you really appreciate and understand music and guitar solos. Had the joy of playing guitar on many of these songs in a 1977 cover band…in Humboldt county, CA.. Wild times…
Thank you for this video! It'll be a huge 'refresher course' help as I've been getting back into practice post-surgery with a steel plate in one shoulder. I was just starting to advance from Rhythm to Lead as a guitarist in '86 when the Third Stage album was brand new. The 'Dirty Arpeggio' technique just naturally found its way into my emerging style of lead playing without me or my guitar teachers (in two different towns, one during semesters and the other during breaks) ever really analyzing it and breaking down the exact source(s) of what was becoming my style at the time.
In terms of his gear, Tom designed and built a lot of his own gear. He was an engineer with Poloroid before his music career and then started his own company, Rockman, making rack effects and the Rockman headphone amp. The sounds produced by Rockman products were very widespread in the 80's rock scene, but there was nobody who sounded like Tom.
Boston was the sound that shaped my childhood. Don't Look Back was probably the first album I bought when I was beginning to learn about Rock and Roll. I have everything they have released and some days I listen to all of it nonstop. Also, KQRS 92.5 FM is not only one of the best stations ever, there morning show was for decades the best in the world.
Some, not a lot…in the video it was just lead on Long Time. The rest of what he showed is all Scholz. That said, Barry was an outstanding player and I would have liked to see more of him on other Boston albums. Was not to be. I never really liked any of his other bands or solo work.
"A Man I'll Never Be" us my favorite guitar work by Scholtz. Boston was a very tight band, I saw them live back in the day, they didn't improvise whatsoever.
I remember buying the first album when it was released and seeing them live about a year later in Greensboro NC. Tom has always been a big influence in my playing.
I haven't met a Boston song I don't like (First 3 albums) but "Don't Look Back" was the first one I heard, and it was the first guitar song that made me say, "WHAT IS THAT?"
I had a Rockman when I was in college in the late 80s. Boy do I wish I still had that thing! Lots of guitar playing with headphones after coming home from the bar in the wee hours…
The string holder after the nut is awesome, you can't even tell its on there until you look close lol Awesome lesson also, lots of these guys use similar things in their own way
Dude, this is one of the best videos EVER! Thank you 🙏 for doing it. I love the music of Boston & Tom Schultz. Got to see them on the south terrace of the Biltmore Estate with the sun going down several years back, had no dream I would ever get to see them. Some of the first albums I bought in the Columbia House 10 for a penny. Been a fan since they started. Have some of their album art tattoed on me somewhere…
There is an excellent pedal from Japan called the GOAT Generator. It closely duplicates the Rockman analog distortion circuit into a clean amplifier. It also goes a step further and allows you to push a distorted amplifier for Bostonesque color. The controls are straight off the Rockman gear.
Thanks for the Boston episode. Truthfully, my all time top favorite band is... Boston. And yes Somethig about you. Great Song! -Gotta gotta have you! Brad delp's vocal intro. Beautiful. and arguable the best rock scream in rock music history happens at about 3:16. Sorry. I had to pause your video to go listen. I went back to 1976 for a moment. It was nice. Thank you Mike. Thank you Donald (Tom) .
Boston has been my favorite band since I was a kid. I'm more a singer than a guitar player but im no stranger to great rock guitar sound, great grooves, great melodies, great lyrics, great bace grooves, great drumming, great layers. Top 5 great bands of all time. I got to see them once and sadly that was about it with their limited touring, limited production and lawsuits that kind of took the wind out of their sails. I remember waiting for years before they were legally allowed to release their third album. It was good, not epic like 1st and 2nd but their music will stand the test of time. Great job covering this iconic band. Remember, More Than A Feeling came out in 1976. That's 3 years prior to the band that changed the world. Boston was already doing it and influencing millions
What I love (and hate LOL) about Boston is that the lines and solos are so melodic and intrinsic to the song that you can’t really jam a Boston song - you’ve got to learn it almost note for note.
Hi Mike from the Art of guitar it’s me again Tony! So I’m just going to riff! I watched a video of yours about how you got started on guitar it must have been like recorded 3 years ago I think. So I have my account but n my phone but I also watch your videos on my Tv without signing into RU-vid so I could not like it at the time. Anyway I just wanted to tell you a little bit about me. Also I watched your band come back together today before I went to work. I think it was a pod cast episode. I thought you look super young compared to the other guys! Me I just turned 40! And people say I look young anyway still riffing. I would like to tell you that you have really inspired me to keep practicing and achieving more then the Level 3 students that you taught (I also watched that video on the TV) anyway I keep saying anyways I’m just riffing. So Mike my first girlfriend I mean my first guitar was a strat STYLE PREMIER RUBY RED GUITAR WTH a 5 way selector and the 3 single cool pickups with a black pick guard in the classic strat style! It was stolen when I went on a vacation with my dad. So that sucks. But as a kid I was really into movies and the Movie La Bamba was very important to me. I really liked how Lou Diamond Phillips portrayed Ritchie Valens! The scene with Joe Pantilione and Ritchie recording Let’s go was super important to me as I got older because I understand that a producer will get the best out of you and playing a song 99 times is ok but that 100th take is the take. Seriously that movie and Crossroads really git me into playing guitar. My older brother used to have two guitars and I wanted to play one. He always said no I’m not letting you touch my guitar. So long story short he was partying one time and he said hey bro do you want to play the guitar I said yeah. Of course I did not know how to finger the guitar but my picking hand was strumming and his friends started calling me strummer I had no idea what that meant at the time. Anyway I was about 6 I think. Also MYV WAS ACTUALLY PLAYING MISIC videos in the early 90’s so Bon Jovi was big and I heard my. Brother singing this very cool sounding song. He would sing “EXIT LIGHT ENTER NIGHT” Wow I was hooked. Man it’s so great to talk about this don’t know if your read this but it’s fun to get this out. So fast forward with my Simpson watching ass. It was when I was in Junior High that I finally got my first guitar the Premier guitar I talked about. And I had a gorilla amp it was like 20 watts but it only had like a 6 inch speaker sounded like shit but it did have distortion no need to cut the poor peavey speaker cloth 😂 I was all into metallic learning Ride the lightning was super fought so I only learned the main riffs to the songs from Killem all to the black album. I was still not keen on Load and reload at the time but as time changes load has become one of my fav albums. Man Mike I’m going to tell you about the guitar that got away! So after 2 years of playing I was 16 my mom who baight me my first guitar asked if I needed anything for Christmas 2000 I said I need a n new guitar I said I want an ESP LIKE KIRK HAMMETT! She bought me an M-Ii deluxe all black with a Seymour Duncan in the bridge and a Hot rail finger Coil in the neck position 24 frets and a Floyd rose baby. I was set. Had a bad ass case with black velvet not hot pink!!! Man it was cherrie hot my self a Crate Gx-15 and man I was in metal heaven. Sadly two years later my guitar was stolen along with my guitar pedals I had a crybaby and a rocking Distortion and a Yamaha flanger! I was so upset they broke my window and broke my mirrors and stole my bong and weed stash as well. I was devastated for months. Mike in getting sad taking about this. But that’s my story I live Metallica in a Zz too fan Black Savvath and Ozzy rule love nirvana and The Beatles Can’t get enough of mo town groove! Thanks for the time! Have a great day
I love this band sooo much, you have an exellent taste in music Mike - also you do great honor to Boston and Tom the genius. Probably getting young duds to listen to them too
Let me just say my cousin and I picked up "Third Stage" in 1986 on Cassette and I wore out that tape 2 times before getting the CD a few years later. So ahead of it's time, this concept album rocks my socks, cool the engines, we're ready, Amanda! Can't you see!
KQ 92 with Tom Barnard in the morning, classic. I woke up with A Man I'll Never Be in my head, by coincidence. First 3 notes of MTAF solo, so familiar...hmm- oh, Bowie's The Prettiest Star-the head. Amazing how much Tom's tone is like Ronson's. Cocked wah or Rockman, so mid- forward,bites and cuts through. By coincidence, they both stripped their LPs to Natural- coincidence? Great stuff, Mike. Ü ♫
Yeah Tom was just light years ahead of anyone who was doing the garage band thing at the time...for one he as a master degree on mechanical engineering from MIT ...and when he was shopping around for a label he was turned down time after time and the labels that were interested wanted to tell Tom what to do and how to record Boston's music..so Tom basically said screw you and basically started working on a music laboratory in his basement...and he went on to create some of the most important music gear in history and of course to record some ground breaking records...his guitar tone was and is instantly recognisable....🎸🎸🎸
His Hyperspace pedals are highly modified EchoPlex tape machines. Really if some company that makes a solid state echoplex pedal should be able to fairly easily recreate this much more economically.
I had a portable Rockman X100 unit and it sounded awesome, especially in the clean department. I wish I had an adapter for it. The 8 battery change was annoying .
I saw m and Barry was playing more than leads on Long time at least live..lol they both match up and ya he builds just about Everything he builds himself..he's a Genius...also developed some Polaroid cameras I grew up living near Boston ,so I followed their work. Brad Delp could sing like Angel...Was in Beatlemania .. your right his fav we effect pedal he build some stuff for Eddie Van Halen ,on Van Halens first tour.. another thing is he was playing a lot of the harmony leads on One string like On More than a Feeling. Barry had a few hits on his own with Orion the Hunter Dreams and So ya Ran
His solos kinda sound the same. I saw the original "BOSTON." I was just a kid at the time - from that area. "BRAD DELP" was the reason Boston became a household name. The 1st album was recorded in Scholz's basement or apt. Scholz layed all the tracks except VOCALS and DRUMS. "BARRY GOODREAU" introduced Scholz to Brad. BRAD DELP then recorded the vocals and JIM MASDEA and SIB HASHIAN recorded drums. Once the record company signed Boston, Scholz officially brought in Goodreau, Sheehan, and Hashian. Of course BRAD DELP was in - NOBODY could replace him. So, in order to tour, "BOSTON" had to learn the songs off the album!! A bit strange to say the least. THEY definitely weren't a group of musicians who got together, jammed, and wrote songs. AND it fairly obvious, since Scholz dictated policy, fired GOODREAU, and 2 others left by 1982. Only 3 albums were recorded between 1975 and 1986. If you notice, the album "muzik" sounds VERY MECHANICAL. If I listen to long, my brain (via ears of couse), wants to hear something less COMPRESSED and PROGRAMMED sounding. It's not a natural sounding distortion... if that makes any sense. Scholz designed it that way so he could have distortion at a very low volume, so the neighbors wouldn't complain.
Love KQ, still stream it here in Wichita (IHeart), also half assed morning show! Question: how do you really unlock “from major scale, to know all the other scales”? Meaning I have the major scale muscle memorized, but can’t use (and know) other scales by what is unique of them.
