This is absolutely deadly. Was looking for a video of someone playing Faith and saw that you upload pretty prolifically on here….. glad I stumbled across this.
I've been listening to John McLaughlin since discovering the MO over 46 years ago, without any but the most rudimentary sense of just how complex the music was. (No musical training). Watching this video was like opening up a fine Swiss watch and actually seeing the mechanism in operation. I still don't "get" how the gears all mesh together, but it's obviously been crafted by someone a whole lot smarter than I am!
Relatable. I was gifted BoF when I had just turned ten years old and I hadn't heard anything like it in my life. It took me repeated phases of listening to it carefully (especially after I took up drums in sixth grade) to even start to understand what I was hearing, and then finding the sheet music book in high school helped crack the code for me. I've taken up other instruments since (most recently guitar) and now I can see that this MO material *is playable* if you apply yourself. I was rather proud of myself when I tried to learn the "BoF" head melody from a magazine transcription and realized that there was a discrepancy between that transcription and both what was in my head and what my fingers wanted to do - and I discovered the MO sheet music book agreed with me! It was as though listening to the music for decades had internalized the act of playing the line in my mind and that internalization had escaped to my fingers naturally.
Thank you Howard from England it's an inspiration of the soul to hear you explain this magic To any of your students who may not know press the three little dots At the top right of the screen And in the drop-down menu we can slow down the speed of the video playback thanks to TH-cam Technology it helps us to really absorb the scales and what you are teaching here wonderful work
I just bought this album a few weeks ago! After learning Rain Song slowly tonight and seeing alot of your Jimmy Page videos i was so extremely pleased to see this!!
Thank you for making this vid!! There are not many vids on Birds Of Fire where the piece is played correctly. You are the only guitarist that I've seen play it correctly. I learned this piece by ear in 1980 by lifting the tone arm up and down on a Technics turntable 😅.....though I was classically trained and that helped immensely.. ..You are a universal guitarist! Thank you again for sharing!
Been looking for a video like this on Johnny Mac for awhile now! Thank you sir for taking the time to explain this great stuff. Clear, concise, and applicable lesson as well kudos!
24/7 Guitar with Howard Hart No problem man! Hey I have just one question about birds of fire. If the chords are based around Ab and Bb Super Locrian, how come you can improvise in E blues and it sounds right?? Thanks for the reply.
Sorry... this one slipped by me. My guess is that it simply adds tension, rather than clashing with the chords. In his book, J.M. simply states "E Pentatonic Minor may be interspersed" - He actually takes that approach on several compositions in the book. I think possibly he was always looking to interject the blues element into the music... just a guess on my part :-)
24/7 Guitar with Howard Hart Awesome thanks for the reply! Makes sense now, that’s one of the things I love about McLaughlins playing. He’s a jazz player and has immense musical knowledge but he’s not afraid to rock out with distortion, always has a Bluesy vibe to him.
Howard, thanks so much for this lesson on McLaughlin. Ever since I was turned on to him in the '70s, he's been a favorite. Now that I'm striving to become a mediocre guitar player, your explanations have helped tremendously in breaking McLaughlin down so that even I can follow. I'm wondering if you have considered doing a lesson on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat as recorded on My Goals Beyond; it's got to be one of his all-time best songs, IMHO. Thanks again. Allan
I was fortunate enough to see Mahavishu Orchestra, original band twice in the early '70's and also saw McLaughlin with Santana as well. All of it was amazing!
Awesome, since I’m a huge fan of MO and theses magical arpegios. There is a incredible chord progression ( always the similar Mclaughlin pattern ) in the album Apocalypse ! Don’t remember the title since it’s include in a long track. It begin with Horns as I recall. With a crazy Narada Mickeal Walden on the beat )
Nice video! Thank you a lot. I'm trying Meeting of the Spirits but I'm having a lot of pain in my left hand with the first chord position. Maybe is just a matter of time and practicing. Cheers!
Thanx so much... I'm a big fan of cross-picking. It just seems like such a powerful technique. There are other approaches of course (all valid) but I tend to favor it for arpeggiated chord work
OmG - I do feel really obliged Mr Hart. Yes, and if it should take the rest of my life (i am 60 ) I will work on Your J.mc L exercises (and so many others) ! Its a quest ! - Should You plan to spent some time in Germany You will allways find friends and shelter - just let us know ! (sorry for the bad English) - BEST !
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart Going to be watching this many, Many times. I've liked J.M. since it was pointed out to me about 25 years ago that he was probably "a bit rubish". Your guitar is astonishingly beautiful. Like; Really Amazing. (This video is just so good.)
Hi - it's called "John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra" - I believe it's still available at Amazon. It features John's personal transcriptions of the music - Howard
I know the fingering and the notes for the "BoF" arpeggio but I've been struggling to get the right hand to actually play the right strings at the right times so I'm carefully watching how you do it.
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart You aren't kidding. BTW I had been going down/down/down/up/down and you're going down/down/up/down/up - obviously your way is good; haven't made up my mind about mine :)
Great job. However I always found it very difficult to play the low notes on the Meeting arpeggios without using my left thumb, and if you check out the old live videos, this is indeed how John fingered it; by wrapping his thumb around the neck. You've obviously mastered it though!
Thanks for the post... J.M. has indeed always played it with his thumb. I'm not much of a "thumb guy". Maybe it's just the way I play, but Paco's fingering has always suited me better... I seem to achieve better string balance. Having said that, a few of my students use their thumb as well lol! Thanks again :-)
Hi - Thanks for watching... Believe it or not, it's a "cheapy" Tele. My American Tele wasn't with me that day, so I just shot the video with the red one. It's actually set up pretty nice and plays well. Thanks again :-)
Hi - For the video I'm using an Orange 20RT practice amp. The chords are played using the clean channel with Chorus and Delay. The melody is played using the dirty channel with Delay as well, but no Chorusing. Mid-position on the Tele - Howard
6/4 is absolutely correct. None of this 5+5+2 stuff, excellent. I listened to Cobham and that's what he played. Finally someone go it right. In the chord arpeggio pattern of course.
Man, I always had a question. Why when I listen to the beginning of "Faith", the 12 strings guitar sounds like if John was making another arrangement with higher notes? Yes, I can listen the arpeggio that you are making on this video, but I think something else is missing! I don't know, maybe I'm in an error. 🤔
It is interesting... the recording does seem to have that 'effect' - and the 12 string obviously has the octaves ringing out. But in J.M.'s book, he doesn't offer up another part. One can only guess as to how he layered it.
Indeed he does :-) I rarely use my thumb. Instead, I use Paco De Lucia's fingering for Meeting Of The Spirits... It's comfortable for me. But I'm sure the thumb works better for others. Either way is fine.
Hi Erick - It's called "John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra". It contains John's original scores for the music. It only contains music notation... no TAB. I'm guessing it's probably available thru Amazon - Howard
This is absolutely deadly. Was looking for a video of someone playing Faith and saw that you upload pretty prolifically on here….. glad I stumbled across this.
You dont see Mahavishnu tutorials very often.... Thank you very much! Greetings from Chile!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it :-) I've always loved McLaughlin's music, and it's a pleasure to share it with others
I've been listening to John McLaughlin since discovering the MO over 46 years ago, without any but the most rudimentary sense of just how complex the music was. (No musical training). Watching this video was like opening up a fine Swiss watch and actually seeing the mechanism in operation. I still don't "get" how the gears all mesh together, but it's obviously been crafted by someone a whole lot smarter than I am!
Relatable. I was gifted BoF when I had just turned ten years old and I hadn't heard anything like it in my life. It took me repeated phases of listening to it carefully (especially after I took up drums in sixth grade) to even start to understand what I was hearing, and then finding the sheet music book in high school helped crack the code for me. I've taken up other instruments since (most recently guitar) and now I can see that this MO material *is playable* if you apply yourself. I was rather proud of myself when I tried to learn the "BoF" head melody from a magazine transcription and realized that there was a discrepancy between that transcription and both what was in my head and what my fingers wanted to do - and I discovered the MO sheet music book agreed with me! It was as though listening to the music for decades had internalized the act of playing the line in my mind and that internalization had escaped to my fingers naturally.
Howard Hart is 100% correct and he has got the right sound and feeling !
Wow !!! John McLaughlin and The MO were so amazingly radical and groundbreaking ! Great video and playing sir !
Indeed they were! Still extraordinary after all these years. Thanx for the comment and taking the time to watch
Thank you Howard from England
it's an inspiration of the soul to hear you explain this magic
To any of your students who may not know press the three little dots At the top right of the screen
And in the drop-down menu we can slow down the speed of the video playback thanks to TH-cam Technology it helps us to really absorb the scales and what you are teaching here wonderful work
I just bought this album a few weeks ago! After learning Rain Song slowly tonight and seeing alot of your Jimmy Page videos i was so extremely pleased to see this!!
You’ve got a very nice tone. I like John’s compositional style with those arpeggios, odd time signatures and modal influence
He is a giant :-) Thanks for watching!
This is superb,give us more thanks
Well Done Howard- So glad I found your lessons on this- Great Breakdown of one of the greats!
Thank you so much :-)
Wow 😮
Fascinating, Howard, Brilliantly explained and demonstrated!
Thanks so much... I'm it was helpful:-)
Thank you for making this vid!! There are not many vids on Birds Of Fire where the piece is played correctly. You are the only guitarist that I've seen play it correctly. I learned this piece by ear in 1980 by lifting the tone arm up and down on a Technics turntable 😅.....though I was classically trained and that helped immensely.. ..You are a universal guitarist! Thank you again for sharing!
Thank you so much :-)
Excellent analysis and playing. Some of the best guitar work and composition of all time.
Thank you :-)
great transcriptions, thanks so much. Really unlocked his thinking for me.
Thank you :-)
Been looking for a video like this on Johnny Mac for awhile now! Thank you sir for taking the time to explain this great stuff. Clear, concise, and applicable lesson as well kudos!
Thanks so much for the comment... Greatly appreciated! :-)
24/7 Guitar with Howard Hart No problem man! Hey I have just one question about birds of fire. If the chords are based around Ab and Bb Super Locrian, how come you can improvise in E blues and it sounds right?? Thanks for the reply.
Sorry... this one slipped by me. My guess is that it simply adds tension, rather than clashing with the chords. In his book, J.M. simply states "E Pentatonic Minor may be interspersed" - He actually takes that approach on several compositions in the book. I think possibly he was always looking to interject the blues element into the music... just a guess on my part :-)
24/7 Guitar with Howard Hart Awesome thanks for the reply! Makes sense now, that’s one of the things I love about McLaughlins playing. He’s a jazz player and has immense musical knowledge but he’s not afraid to rock out with distortion, always has a Bluesy vibe to him.
Thanks, what a great and beautifull job 👏❤
Howard, thanks so much for this lesson on McLaughlin. Ever since I was turned on to him in the '70s, he's been a favorite. Now that I'm striving to become a mediocre guitar player, your explanations have helped tremendously in breaking McLaughlin down so that even I can follow. I'm wondering if you have considered doing a lesson on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat as recorded on My Goals Beyond; it's got to be one of his all-time best songs, IMHO. Thanks again. Allan
Thanks :-) I'm definitely starting to do a few more acoustic things. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat might be a good choice... thanks again
Pretty convincing tone for a telecaster
Amazing lessons! You have beautiful time and tone and the way you structured the video is excellent. Thank you!
Thank you! 😃
Awesome work man. What a master Maclaghlin is. Knocking that stuff out decades ago. Legend.
Thanks so much for the comment... He is indeed a master. And as you say - He did it all decades ago! All the best :-)
I was fortunate enough to see Mahavishu Orchestra, original band twice in the early '70's and also saw McLaughlin with Santana as well. All of it was amazing!
Oh yeah! :-)
Fantastic dude thank you very much.
Thank you for watching :-)
Great stuff Howard...how 4 people gave you a thumbs down for this I'll never understand.
Nice... very nice... thank you 🍺🍺🍺😉🤘
Thank you! Cheers!
Awesome, since I’m a huge fan of MO and theses magical arpegios.
There is a incredible chord progression ( always the similar Mclaughlin pattern ) in the album Apocalypse ! Don’t remember the title since it’s include in a long track. It begin with Horns as I recall. With a crazy Narada Mickeal Walden on the beat )
Nicely done Sir. More Johnny Mac please. Subbed.
Awesome
Thanks for that!
Thanx for watching!
Nice video! Thank you a lot. I'm trying Meeting of the Spirits but I'm having a lot of pain in my left hand with the first chord position. Maybe is just a matter of time and practicing. Cheers!
Absolutely awesome, thanks so much
You're very welcome! Thanks for viewing it :-)
Nicely done. Noted is the cross-picking within the arppegio
Thanx so much... I'm a big fan of cross-picking. It just seems like such a powerful technique. There are other approaches of course (all valid) but I tend to favor it for arpeggiated chord work
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart John McLaughlin would note it, as well. Nice playing.
Great tutorial! Glad I found you!
Thank you so much for watching :-)
The birds of fire description was amazing!
Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it :-)
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart for sure! Def subbed
OmG - I do feel really obliged Mr Hart. Yes, and if it should take the rest of my life (i am 60 ) I will work on Your J.mc L exercises (and so many others) ! Its a quest ! - Should You plan to spent some time in Germany You will allways find friends and shelter - just let us know ! (sorry for the bad English) - BEST !
Thanks so much for the post, and the very kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the lessons. All the best to you, Howard
thanks a lot , it is great guitar lesson.
Thanx so much for watching :-)
This is awesome thanks man.
Thanks!
Great stuff! Thank you very much for your efforts, this stuff isn’t easy...
Best regards from Norway
Georg
Thanks for checking it out... It is indeed challenging music. I hope you found the video useful. Take care, Howard
Absolutely! You have a ton of cool stuff here on your channel.
Thank you friend
Excellent!
Many thanks!
I tried doing it the way he does it (Live) using his thumb for the root notes. I find it easier that way. Awesome lesson!
Cool, thanks!
Also John's pick strokes.
great stuff.
That. Was. Amazing.
Thank you - and thanks for watching
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart Going to be watching this many, Many times.
I've liked J.M. since it was pointed out to me about 25 years ago that he was probably "a bit rubish".
Your guitar is astonishingly beautiful. Like; Really Amazing.
(This video is just so good.)
Thank you
thank you! very insightful.... What is the book you keep mentioning though? The one from JM himself...
Hi - it's called "John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra" - I believe it's still available at Amazon. It features John's personal transcriptions of the music - Howard
I know the fingering and the notes for the "BoF" arpeggio but I've been struggling to get the right hand to actually play the right strings at the right times so I'm carefully watching how you do it.
McLaughlin is a cross-picking madman :-) I think many of his tunes are excellent for the developing this technique. Thank you for watching.
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart You aren't kidding. BTW I had been going down/down/down/up/down and you're going down/down/up/down/up - obviously your way is good; haven't made up my mind about mine :)
Great job. However I always found it very difficult to play the low notes on the Meeting arpeggios without using my left thumb, and if you check out the old live videos, this is indeed how John fingered it; by wrapping his thumb around the neck. You've obviously mastered it though!
Thanks for the post... J.M. has indeed always played it with his thumb. I'm not much of a "thumb guy". Maybe it's just the way I play, but Paco's fingering has always suited me better... I seem to achieve better string balance. Having said that, a few of my students use their thumb as well lol! Thanks again :-)
I can't do it either way so I simply tune the D string up a 1/2 step! Much easier!
Excellent rare tutorials! Thanks; Did you ever do modern Mahavishnu 84? Nostalgia perhaps?
Although I have those recordings, I've yet to delve into learning anything in particular... Do you have a favorite?
24/7 Guitar with Howard Hart
Nostalgia from MO84.
Florianapolis from Adventures in Radioland.
Triology from In Between Nothingness...1975
Awesome Awesome Awesome
Great stuff! Many thanks. "What guitar are you playing here?
Hi - Thanks for watching... Believe it or not, it's a "cheapy" Tele. My American Tele wasn't with me that day, so I just shot the video with the red one. It's actually set up pretty nice and plays well. Thanks again :-)
Sounds great! How did you achieve the tones used in "Meeting of the Spirits"?
Hi - For the video I'm using an Orange 20RT practice amp. The chords are played using the clean channel with Chorus and Delay. The melody is played using the dirty channel with Delay as well, but no Chorusing. Mid-position on the Tele - Howard
i had the published scores but at some point they disappeared. what are the opening chords before meeting of the spirit kicks in?
6/4 is absolutely correct. None of this 5+5+2 stuff, excellent. I listened to Cobham and that's what he played. Finally someone go it right. In the chord arpeggio pattern of course.
yES!!!-- THANK U ..
Man, I always had a question. Why when I listen to the beginning of "Faith", the 12 strings guitar sounds like if John was making another arrangement with higher notes? Yes, I can listen the arpeggio that you are making on this video, but I think something else is missing! I don't know, maybe I'm in an error. 🤔
It is interesting... the recording does seem to have that 'effect' - and the 12 string obviously has the octaves ringing out. But in J.M.'s book, he doesn't offer up another part. One can only guess as to how he layered it.
McLaughlin uses his thumb to get the bass notes of the chords in "Meeting of the Spirits" - watch here: th-cam.com/video/LcQKjffxIOY/w-d-xo.html
Indeed he does :-) I rarely use my thumb. Instead, I use Paco De Lucia's fingering for Meeting Of The Spirits... It's comfortable for me. But I'm sure the thumb works better for others. Either way is fine.
cool song
What Mclaughlin book is he talking about?
Hi Erick - It's called "John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra". It contains John's original scores for the music. It only contains music notation... no TAB. I'm guessing it's probably available thru Amazon - Howard
@@247GuitarwithHowardHart thank you very much, Howard. Great work by the way, stay safe.
6:04
"Binky's Dream , one idea for video class, TK
I have the same paint job on a strat lol
Nice finish for such inexpensive guitars :-)
Nice sting skipping action....my main axe is bass....my muscle memory fucks up my six string playing..well ./...thats the excuse I use
LOL :-)
Dayem! So it CAN be played by mortal man...
I still think J.M. is from another planet :-)
Hey....wheres the gong!. Birds of Fire with no gong? ahahaha
I sold it off... The neighbors kept complaining every time I hit it LOL!
Gd ex plain ing...
Love the lesson, need to clean up your neck!!!