Bad Horsie'This is a gut-wrenching, gag-reflexing groove. The basic tuning is Drop D (low to high: DADGBE), but then the entire guitar is tuned down one whole step. You don't have to tune down to jam on this tune, but it helps to have an industrial-strength pair of underwear. One of the coolest things about this vamp is that when the bass is pounding out the low D and nothing else, it allows you to set up some different tonalities. You can basically play any scale in the key of D, and it technically works because there are no other notes in the vamp to dictate a definite tonality. Anything goes.
When the 'second-riff' section comes in, a blues-rock tonality is implied. This is where blues and pentatonics will work best.' - Vai
Bad Horsie Naked VampMain RiffThe naked vamp begins with a long intro section that features Steve’s heavy pounding riff (heard in the original track after the free-time intro). The guitar part makes good use of the lowest open strings – the notes D, A and D (a D5 power chord) – and muted strings as texture. A slide is used throughout to slur the power chords on the low three strings during the riff.
ThemeThe theme melody also sounds in D and can be played over the intro vamp. It is blues-based and incorporates the major 6th (B) from the Dorian mode prominently.
This section is filled with numerous signature Vai-isms, including harmonics, whammy-bar manipulations and the classic off-the-neck string bend in the final measure. The entire phrase is played with the wah pedal.
Second RiffAt 1:13 in the naked vamp, Steve plays the groove for a secondary time. This is a charging blues-rock progression set in a double-time feel, made of power chords on the lowest strings and originally heard after the tune’s main riff. The chords are G5, Aflat5, D5, E5 and F5 root-fifth octave voicing based on the D blues scale, and are again slurred with a slide. This groove signals the beginning of a solo vamp as a loop. The sustained Fmaj7sus2 functions as a turnaround in the vamp to mark new repetitions of the loop.
SoloIn Steve’s recorded solo;
Note that he uses the wah throughout to color his lines. Blues-based sounds are found in the first four measures – these are decorated with whammy-bar embellishments and pinch harmonics and are predominantly situated in the blues oriented shapes at the 10th and 13th positions. In measures 5 and 6 (over the double-time feel), Steve plays virtuosic rock lines that mix major, minor and blues sounds.
Note the presence of both F# and F in these lines as well as A-flat from the blues scale. Check out the wide interval jump (perfect fourth) in measure 6 (the ‘and’ of beat 3), which adds considerable spice to the melody. Measure 7 is also filled with intervallic leaps and unusual melodic contours. The section closes with a characteristic phrase in measure 8 containing whammy-bar divided harmonics alternated with fretted notes.
Measures 9-12 are the solo’s climax – a tour de force of rapid trilled notes and tapped lines. Steve implies a variety of sounds including diminished arpeggios, straight blues licks, diatonic lines and abstract chromatic melodies (as in measure 11).
There are 4 seperate tabbed parts; (must be logged in to access or view)
Main Riff
Theme
Second Riff
Solo
