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Harry Cody - Second Coming

fizzy

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Sep 30, 2010
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okay I'm new here.
maybe I should take some time to indroduce myself, but instead of that you can go to my myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fizzysuxx
btw I've got a Les Paul Alpine White Custom, but sadly from Epiphone (the price... you know it)

enough said, after hours of hunting the web about informations about Shotgun Messiah/Harry Cody. I found this forum and I couldnt believe hes here.

So my question goes to Harry (I tried to contact you but for some reason it didnt worked...^^). Your tone on that record is just AMAZING! On the cover it says that you uses gibsons and the "tommy folkesson hotwired marshall head". what else? Is it right that you had the wah on half postion?

hope I'll get an answer

btw: The run on the top E-string at the end of the "sexdrugsrocknroll" solo is just not from this earth, I fail miserably everytime I play it... you rule man!, biggest idol for my guitar playing

--SUXX
 

Cody

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Hi and welcome, Fizzy!

Thanks for the compliments! On "Second Coming", the main sound is a 50w Marshall head modified by Folkesson, with a couple of other amps simultaneously mixed in.

The guitars I used were a stock Gibson Les Paul Custom (Alpine White, no less) - I think it was a 1989 - and a guitar put together by Grover Jackson. It had a fully scalloped board, a Floyd Rose and a single active Jackson pickup.

Anything with a whammy was the Jackson - including "SexDrugs...", and anything without a whammy was the Les Paul - including the solos for "I Wanna Know" and "Can't Fool Me".

I did use a wah for all the solos, sometimes more as a tone control at about the halfway point, sometimes more as a regular wah - "Red Hot", for example.

The run at the end of "SexDrugsRockNRoll" is tricky, for sure. It makes it easier that every other note is a pull-off.

G string: 13-9 ..13-9
B string: 12-9 ..12-9 ..17-12 ..17-12
E string: 16-12 ..16-12 ..19-16 ..19-16 ..22-19 ..22-19 ..22(bend up a full step to E)

Cheers,
Cody

:salude
..
 

skhan007

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Wow, very cool to hear this straight from Harry.

My band opened for Shotgun Messiah in the early 90's in Newark, NJ when Tim was the singer. I remember that gig distinctly because my Marshall failed on me during sound check. Luckily someone let me borrow their head for the show.
 

59Vampire

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Curiosity got the best of me after never hearing of Shotgun Messiah. I haapened to have my 98 R9 in hand while testing tubes and reading this post last night and checked out a few videos. Ahhhh the days of my youth! Cant believe I missed out on that band then. Great work, too much Ibanez:) Regardless, it inspired me a bit so I plugged in an mi crunch box( iwas in the 5e3 not exactly a metal amp ) and was getting some nice tones as I tried to rip off " I dont care about nothing"---dont woryy- wasnt successful- tone yes- ripping off no(couldnt get those opening harmonics after the main riff 5-10 seconds in the song- heck i aint no shredder). Anyway, looks like fun stuff that can be played with HISTORIC( yes there is historic content here) Les pauls!!

Thanks for posting. Its always way cool when the pro's post. Not only from an educational point, but just awesome to get the viewpoint of someone who has done it.
 

fizzy

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Hi and welcome, Fizzy!

Thanks for the compliments! On "Second Coming", the main sound is a 50w Marshall head modified by Folkesson, with a couple of other amps simultaneously mixed in.

The guitars I used were a stock Gibson Les Paul Custom (Alpine White, no less) - I think it was a 1989 - and a guitar put together by Grover Jackson. It had a fully scalloped board, a Floyd Rose and a single active Jackson pickup.

Anything with a whammy was the Jackson - including "SexDrugs...", and anything without a whammy was the Les Paul - including the solos for "I Wanna Know" and "Can't Fool Me".

I did use a wah for all the solos, sometimes more as a tone control at about the halfway point, sometimes more as a regular wah - "Red Hot", for example.

The run at the end of "SexDrugsRockNRoll" is tricky, for sure. It makes it easier that every other note is a pull-off.

G string: 13-9 ..13-9
B string: 12-9 ..12-9 ..17-12 ..17-12
E string: 16-12 ..16-12 ..19-16 ..19-16 ..22-19 ..22-19 ..22(bend up a full step to E)

Cheers,
Cody

:salude
..


wow thx for the fast answer!!!

you know I'm playing my ass off over here, and I just cannot really believe that the guitarist I'm listening to just answered my question, awesome! Thanx for the tab too;)!
anyway I tried to nail your tone (which is pretty impossible coz I think you have such a regognizable tone as Slash). But here we go:http://www.sendspace.com/file/qhuf9v

its the "living without you" solo, which is very nice n melodic, (and not that that hard^^).

btw I wanted to tell you (and tim skold) that I admire you both for taking the style changes. espicially from "second coming" to "violent new breed". I think you need a lot of courage for that. I just can imagine that you've lost alot of fans and potential buyers back then.
 

Cody

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Good job on the "Living Without You" solo! It's always a trip hearing others play my stuff!

:salude

Yeah, we completely followed our muse into some deep waters on "VNB". We knew we might be slitting our own throats, but it was the sound we were after.

At the time, most of our contemporary bands either kept doing what they had been doing, or went heavy grunge. We had no interest in doing either. In fact, already "Second Coming" would have been much more machine/programmed sounding if it weren't for the fact that we didn't know how to get that sound live yet - it was easier and cheaper to keep the rock band format and arrange the music accordingly.

Unfortunately, apart from some fantastic reviews, pretty much nobody else liked where we went with "VNB" at the time, including our label. They killed the album out of the gate.

It is gratifying that people have grown to appreciate it after the fact. I think it's Shotgun's best work - I'm proud of everything we put out, but "VNB" is my personal favorite.

:frank:
 

SFW

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Sweet! Cody, I just wanted to say it's super cool that you're here. I can't tell you how many hours I killed trying to get the pick scrape to Heartbreak Blvd. right...lol! I have always dug your playing and style. Thanks!
 

fizzy

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awesome!

that shows that you really have charisma and a personality, I dig that for sure.

dont wanna be a pain in the ass but I do have 2 questions left.

1: What the fuck are you doin in the intro for "I come in Peace"?
-I believe the tuning is in Dropped D
-the chords must be: D5, F5, G5, F5
-how to get that "noise" over the chords? I think its pick tapping the D-String at the 17th fret area, but I'm really not sure.

2: the equipment on the first album?^^
- you play A "custom Ibanez JEM 700" as to see on the backcover and the hilarious video for "shout it out":hank
- I suppose you play a "jackson flying V red vintage" with EMG pickups as to see in the "dont care about nothin" vid.
- amps, effects? did you only turned down the volume on "bop city intro"? And "the effect for "I'm you're love"

I'm desperately trying to learn the first album now, but some parts seem to be impossible (shout it out). So you told me that you played a jackson with a fully scalloped neck. So do you think its quite impossible to reach this speed with a normal neck?

I very into "sleaze" (gnr and so on) so second coming fits very good for me with awesome songs like (nobodys home! fav!!!!, heartbreak blvd., Sexdrugs, ride the storm..) and the first record is just awesome guitar wise with a killer tune named "nervous". But I like VNB the most. As a record its just the most complete piece. Not a filler on it I think. And the mix between skolds awesome voice and your awesome solos is perfect. But I'm not into industrial at all, I always disliked marilyn manson lol^^. I just like your album.

btw. you can email me, then I didnt need to spam this forum with my unknownledge anymore.
 

Cody

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Sweet! Cody, I just wanted to say it's super cool that you're here. I can't tell you how many hours I killed trying to get the pick scrape to Heartbreak Blvd. right...lol! I have always dug your playing and style. Thanks!

Thanks, man! The key to the scrape is that I use copper picks - plastic doesn't get that nasty edge!

:salude

1: What the fuck are you doin in the intro for "I come in Peace"?

Actually, it's just standard detuned, so the chord positions are E - G - A - G in the open positions - not bar chords.

The noise is me hitting the chord, then pretty much stabbing at the low E string with the side of the copper pick - short scrapes at something like a 45 degree angle - while the chord is still ringing.

I'm aiming for a spot between the pickups (a little closer to the neck pickup) where the scrape creates a B note. The two first scrapes are on the B, then I gradually go closer to the neck, so the noise goes down in pitch.

2: the equipment on the first album?

The first album was a 24-fret, scalloped, Floyded Yamaha RGX1212 with a Schecter Superock in the bridge, through a 1969-71 or so stock metalface Marshall 100W half stack - volume on 10.

I used just a hint of two-knob Boss Overdrive OD-1 to get rid of the "graininess" of the stock Marshall sound.

I don't remember if we changed anything for the "Bop City" intro. It could very well just be the volume knob, as I didn't put very much thought into it. For a quote/unquote "shredder", I have a fairly punk attitude about gear and tone. "Attitude" trumps "nice" any day.

On "I'm Your Love", the intro noise is just feedback and whammy abuse. If you're asking about the tone on the song itself, it only sounds different because we had to detune the guitar and bass for the singer to reach the high notes. Same setup as every other song, just the timbre changing with lower pitch and looser strings.

The album was recorded in Sweden in '87, and the videos were shot in '89 after the US remix, so the guitars in the videos weren't used on the album. I still have the Ibanez - great guitar - but I never even owned the Rhoads. I called Grover and asked if I could borrow a red Rhoads for the video, and he sent a guy over with it. Looked fantastic - I'd still love to have one.

So you told me that you played a jackson with a fully scalloped neck. So do you think its quite impossible to reach this speed with a normal neck?
.

The scallop doesn't really affect speed, in my experience. It just gives you insane control over the strings - it's like they're glued to your fingers. On the Second Coming tour, I played a Les Paul Classic with the stock high frets, and it worked pretty well too.

There are no shortcuts to speed. It's all practice, I'm afraid. In my teens and 20s, I played for hours every day. Most of my everyday activities included a guitar hanging around my neck.

:salude
..
 

fizzy

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Cody; said:
Actually, it's just standard detuned, so the chord positions are E - G - A - G in the open positions - not bar chords.

The noise is me hitting the chord, then pretty much stabbing at the low E string with the side of the copper pick - short scrapes at something like a 45 degree angle - while the chord is still ringing.


I'm aiming for a spot between the pickups (a little closer to the neck pickup) where the scrape creates a B note. The two first scrapes are on the B, then I gradually go closer to the neck, so the noise goes down in pitch.
[/qoute]

thx man! even I cant create that sound, the chords are ringin too much for me, I know how to create it. Does that mean that the whole VNB is in (D-g-c-f-a-d) tuning? I always thought its dropped D.


The first album was a 24-fret, scalloped, Floyded Yamaha RGX1212 with a Schecter Superock in the bridge, through a 1969-71 or so stock metalface Marshall 100W half stack - volume on 10.

I used just a hint of two-knob Boss Overdrive OD-1 to get rid of the "graininess" of the stock Marshall sound.


I don't remember if we changed anything for the "Bop City" intro. It could very well just be the volume knob, as I didn't put very much thought into it. For a quote/unquote "shredder", I have a fairly punk attitude about gear and tone. "Attitude" trumps "nice" any day.
[/qoute]

thank you very much!

If you're asking about the tone on the song itself, it only sounds different because we had to detune the guitar and bass for the singer to reach the high notes.[/qoute]

wasnt Zinny Zan singin this song aswell? why only detune this one then?


There are no shortcuts to speed. It's all practice, I'm afraid. In my teens and 20s, I played for hours every day. Most of my everyday activities included a guitar hanging around my neck.[/qoute]

I'd love to have some practice tips from you.


--I messed up with the qoutes sorry bout that
 

Cody

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Does that mean that the whole VNB is in (D-g-c-f-a-d) tuning? I always thought its dropped D.

Not all of it. The recording was kind of chaotic - some of the riffs were changed on the spot, depending on what worked best with the tracks. The final backing tracks had such a different feel from the demos that every guitar part was subject to change.

The only track I know for sure is drop D is "Revolution". The tracks I know for sure are NOT drop D are "I'm A Gun" and "Sex".

MOST of the rest of 'em are not drop D either, but I can't swear which is or isn't.

And about "I'm Your Love":

wasnt Zinny Zan singin this song aswell? why only detune this one then?

We lost our original singer right before we started recording the album, so we actually recorded most of the backing tracks, then had singers come to the studio to audition by singing along with the tracks.

Zinny ended up winning the gig, and when we got to recording "I'm Your Love" we found that it was a little too high for his normal range, and a little too low for his falsetto - right smack in an uncomfortable register.

We detuned the guitar and bass, and re-recorded our parts, and Zinny pulled it off. Thank God it was the only song we had that problem on.



My practice tips would be no different than the advice that's already out there:

Speed: If you keep screwing up a certain part, you're playing it too fast. Slow down until you can play it flawlessly, stay there until you consistently succeed, then slowly increase the speed.

When you practice technique, do so with a minimum of effects, so that you hear what you're doing. I actually do most of my practicing without an amp, but that can lead to unpleasant surprises when you DO plug in and find that some things are a lot harder than you thought.

Don't ONLY practice technique. Play songs you like too. It keeps it fun, and helps you be a well-rounded player.

:salude
..
 

fizzy

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My practice tips would be no different than the advice that's already out there:

Speed: If you keep screwing up a certain part, you're playing it too fast. Slow down until you can play it flawlessly, stay there until you consistently succeed, then slowly increase the speed.

When you practice technique, do so with a minimum of effects, so that you hear what you're doing. I actually do most of my practicing without an amp, but that can lead to unpleasant surprises when you DO plug in and find that some things are a lot harder than you thought.

Don't ONLY practice technique. Play songs you like too. It keeps it fun, and helps you be a well-rounded player.

:salude
..


yea, its bascially what everyone tells you. thank you anyway!!! Its always nice to get advices from somebody, you look up to.

about scales, did you started with learning all the pentatonic first, and then the modes (ionic, diatonic,... and so on.) or didnt you had a "training plan" you followed, and just played along to songs you liked? but I cant imagine the last, because "songs" like "the explorer" shows that you must have a pretty good knowledge about music theory and scales.

thanks for your advices in general so far! they helped me out alot!
 

Cody

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about scales, did you started with learning all the pentatonic first, and then the modes (ionic, diatonic,... and so on.) or didnt you had a "training plan" you followed, and just played along to songs you liked? but I cant imagine the last, because "songs" like "the explorer" shows that you must have a pretty good knowledge about music theory and scales.
Actually, I was just a play-along kind of guy. I've got a good ear, so I understood modes and basic theory (like relative minor etc.) without knowing the names for them. I just figured them out, and knew how to apply them. I'm still not sure what mixolydian is, for instance, but I can pretty much guarantee that I sometimes use it when I think it fits.

I started out playing basic 12-bar rock totally by ear - basically '50s standards with a cranked amp - so it was all pentatonic stuff; either in minor or major.

For the first couple of years, in my first band, I didn't even know the names of the keys we were playing in. We would just say "Let's play this one on the fifth fret", for example. After a few years, I went back and learned the key names and cowboy chords from a beginners' book. By then I was already being called a guitar hero in the local papers.

Not your typical story, I'm sure, but... whatever works.

:salude
..
 

fizzy

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yes you are right, I cant deny that I'm a bit surprised^^

well I try to learn all the modes now, that I can transport them into every key. Its always the same, somebody tells you "cmon play a solo" and you stand there and dont know what to do lol. I think you can avoid that if you got a pretty good backup knowledge of theory.

so that would been all questions from me so far, I have to give ya a big thank you for answering those which such an amount of information, it really helped me a bit.

hope I can hear some blasting guitar solos from you in the near future!
 

fizzy

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gotta bump this thread again, sorry for that in advance.

Harry, I've figured out "I'm a Gun" and it makes so much more sense to play it in D standard than in dropped D. And I figured that songs like "Jihad" and "revolution" only work with dropped tuning. Anyway the solo in "I'm A Gun" is still insane. my question, what happend to you and Tim Skold after the record was done? I mean there are in general only rarely live performences on the net, but I couldnt find anything from that era. and thats a shame I think because its my fav record. and I have to ask the question why did you guys broke shotgun messiah up?
I'm asking because I saw the news that Tim Skold reformed a so called "supergroup" with members of turbonegro, satirycon etc. So I keep on asking myself why isnt he working with Harry Cody anymore?

I hope you dont mind asking me that.
thx
 

Cody

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... what happend to you and Tim Skold after the record was done? I mean there are in general only rarely live performences on the net, but I couldnt find anything from that era. and thats a shame I think because its my fav record. and I have to ask the question why did you guys broke shotgun messiah up?
I'm asking because I saw the news that Tim Skold reformed a so called "supergroup" with members of turbonegro, satirycon etc. So I keep on asking myself why isnt he working with Harry Cody anymore?
After the album was released, we went on a bare-bones tour with almost no support from the label. I know that some video and audio from that tour exists, but I don't have any copies. I'd love to see/hear some of it again.


Why break up the band? I'm a stubborn guy, but you can only slam your head into a wall for so long before you ask yourself if a different strategy is in order. Good reviews don't pay the bills, or I'd be set.

We've both gone on to do far better financially separately than we ever did with SM. Tim and I always worked very well together, and we've talked about doing something SM-related on a few occasions over the years, but it usually falls through because there still is no financial incentive.

I wouldn't sully the SM name by doing something half-assed, and - let's face it - we are too cult to attract the kind of money that it would cost to give the fans what they deserve and expect.

For that reason, I don't think there ever will be a reunion.

Anyway the solo in "I'm A Gun" is still insane.
Thank you, and yes, it is. I've got a handful of really challenging solos - the kinds I worry about before I go on stage - and that one has to be in the top three scariest to play.

:salude
..
 

fizzy

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I get your point. Its just kind of sad, that I only have 3 SM records to listen too, but I prefer 3 great albums than 10 boring ones. I just hope that I can hear your guitar somewhere again maybe on Tim Skolds Solo record or anything. Did you record anything different than SM? are there any official releases? I know that you made something for Tom Waits, I believe. But I'm not sure...

lol top 3 scariest to play is nice haha
 

fizzy

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Im so sorry for bringin up this thread again. And I even know that this is the wrong thread but I wanted to ask you Harry:

Do you have the tab book from the first album with Shotgun Messiah?

I try to figure them out by ear, but its nearly impossible because you throw in so much licks in such an short amount of time, that is incredible.
And its impossible to find this Book too, it may appears on once in a while on some forums but i had no luck getting it so far.
So if you have it or if you know where I can get it, I would be very thankful.
I recently learned "dont care about nothin" because the tab was on the internet but there are only 4 songs from the first record, but Id love to play them all!

thanx in advance, from the musician point of view you're my biggest idol on the guitar.
 

Cody

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I do have a tab book, but I have to tell you that it's not worth the effort. It's VERY inaccurate, and should be AVOIDED as anything other than a showcase of very bad photo retouching.

I told the publisher that I would make myself available in any way necessary to make sure it was accurate - I didn't want it to turn out like a lot of the tab books I'd struggled with when I was younger.

They never contacted me. When they sent me the first draft, the entire solo for "Squeezin Teasin" was a half step off, and there were inaccuracies throughout.

I told them it couldn't go out like that, and that I would happily sit down with the transcriber in person and SHOW him how I played everything. I'm not great at writing tab (or I might have done the whole book myself), but I corrected the end lick of "The Explorer" for them.

Once again, I never heard back. Next thing I knew, they'd published it with the only corrections being the end lick of "The Explorer" - the only thing in the book I know to be accurate - and the solo of "Squeezin" was now in the right key, but still transcribed wrong. Very disappointing.

I haven't checked out anyone else's transcriptions on the web, so I don't know how accurate they are, but I'll tell you this: I'm very seriously considering making instructional videos to post online, where I show how I played all that stuff.

It won't happen in the very near future, because I would do it in conjunction with launching a Harry Cody website with articles, photos etc... but it is something I would like to do.

:salude
 

fizzy

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Really? When I buy a tab book, I expect its 100% accurate and made professional. That is such a shame, especially for this record where you shred so much.

I could send you the .pdf for "bop city", "shout it out", "dont care..","squeezin' teazin'","explorer", and "nervous" if you are interested in checking them.

I think video tutorials would be a DREAM! Id even buy them^^ I can imagine a lot of guitarists would love to see you play these songs, especially because there is NO live recording of you playing these songs with Shotgun Messiah, which is a pity too.

I feel kinda ashamed to ask you this but do you think there is a possibility that you could send me at least "Im your love" "nowhere fast" and "dirt talk". Id even buy the book from you, even its not accurate.

thanks again for giving me so much details, its well appreciated!!!
 
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