Solo #5: When I’m Gone and the Art of Teenage Angst

This week I chose to the learn the solo on “When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down. Every time I hear this song it takes me back to high school. Baggy jeans, frosted tips, and a wall of guitars.

For this particular song, I spent some time learning the picking pattern of the intro before I dove into the solo. That clean arpeggio intro and verse, juxtaposed against a wall of angry guitars in the chorus, were a staple of my listening habits during my teenage years.

Linkin Park, P.O.D., Project 86, and many others.

I enjoy learning the pattern, and then during my practice time applying it to other chords and keys to see what sounds I can create.

Here is part of the pattern for you.

Learn This Lick

Try learning it as written first, then move the same picking idea through a few other chord shapes.

Now, on to the solo.

The solo in this song is more about the angst and attitude, and less about the agility of your fingers.

The rhythm guitars play a riff based on an Am – D – G – Am progression, with some fun power chord slides. This song was at the height of the “wall of guitar” sound, so there is a lot going on sonically.

Distorted guitars are panned left and right, and the solo isn’t mixed very hot compared to the rhythm guitars. That makes a few of the notes hard to pick out, so for this solo I took a little more liberty in playing what I “think” is happening.

I believe it still gets the point across.

I remember sitting in my room as a teenager with my Peavey Raptor and Peavey amp pack that I got from my local, small town music store. I would listen to this album and others like it trying to figure out how to make my gear sound the same.

Hindsight being 20/20, I know now there is no way to recreate the sound of this album with a cheap Strat copy and an amp with onboard distortion. But back then, I had a blast turning the distortion all the way up and trying to sound as angry as possible.

For the actual solo, each bar by itself isn’t too difficult. But, playing in time is as important as ever. Also, this is first solo I’ve done that uses the melodic minor scale, adding more color beyond the classic pentatonic minor scale.

It is interesting how one note can take the song from blues jam to angsty rock. Halfway through the solo they dwell on that fact, hanging on the B note (2nd note of the A minor scale) for the majority of two measures.

The solo ends with a unison bend walk up. Unison bends add a ton of tension to solo, which draws us in as we anticipate the release. Then, it comes with the high unison bend on A at the top of the neck.

Lots of angst, lots of distortion, and some baggy jeans. That’ll get you most of the way there.

What I Learned This Week

1. You don’t always have to transcribe every note perfectly.
   Sometimes the mix makes that nearly impossible. Listen closely, figure out the intent of the phrase, and make a musical decision.
2. One extra note can completely change the character of a scale.
   Pentatonic scales are a great foundation, but pay attention when players reach outside the box. Those notes are often what give a phrase its personality.
3. Unison bends are instant tension.
   They’re simple mechanically, but they can make a phrase sound huge. Find a few places inside your familiar pentatonic shapes and experiment with them.

Five down, 47 more to go.

What’s an album that instantly takes you back to learning guitar as a teenager? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear it.

See you next week.