Anyone else notice this?

[Sound_bender]

I couldn’t help but notice, after the Nightmare album came out and all the tours to follow ended. A7X went quiet for like a year and then when they came back with “Carry On”, I could help but notice the first time they played it live (their first show in a long time) Syn was holding his pick completely different, utilizing economy pick instead of alternate, and completely changed his whole style?! How does one even do that? I’ve alwyas payed close attention to his playing as he is my favorite. Does anyone else notice the change in style on his solos on HTTK and The Stage compared to older albums? I think every album is a masterpiece and all of his work on them are completely brilliant, but since HTTk and his renovated style, I’m truly amazed. It’s crazy how someone can be so educated in music and still pack so much feel into what they play. I met Syn in Chicago this year and wanted to ask him about this personally but didn’t have the time unfortunately. Hopefully he will see this!

 

[Daniel Sobota]

You are right about that change after the Nightmare tour. He started studying gypsy jazz around that time and he had to completely change the way he hold the pick. As for the change in solos on the latest two releases, I would say yes. His solos are much more about the feel and emotion rather than just straight up shred fests. Even though there still is some shreddy stuff.
I hope that on the next album he adds more twists and turns to his solos and starts utilizing floyd rose again a bit more, because nothing gets me harder than hearing those epic squeals haha.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Hes always been about the economy picking. Lelouch is right though, he changed the way he held picks after really pursuing gypsy jazz. The bands composing abilities took a big leap after nightmare. I remember him saying in some interview that theu had been analyzing classical compositions with one of their producers. I feel like they have made leaps and bounds over the last couple albums in terms of harmony and structure. Its honestly super refreshing and inspiring to see such a well established band make changes like that and grow. A lot of bands get stuck writing the same album over and over.

 

[Syn Gates]

Thank you guys very much! You guys have really done your homework I’m really blown away! Ya Gypsy really changed my playing way more than anything else since I started adopting economy picking. I can add one thing actually, I’ve been obsessed with the late and brilliant Allan Holdsworth who is famous in the Jazz Fusion community for his legato playing which at this point, is unrivaled imho. If you check out my tips in The Legato Overview Lesson you’ll see some references and a link to a brilliant Coltrane cover called Countdown.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

If you have a chance, check out Alex Machacek. He’s an austrian guitarist that pretty much idolizes Holdsworth. He was my private instructor at MI. For that outside fusion stuff, the dude is a monster. It’s difficult for some people’s ears, but he definitely knows what he’s doing.

 

[idssdi]

I think I made a playlists on youtube with instruction videos (gypsy jazz, country, classical, Paul Gilbert stuff) and there also should be some allan holdsworth and Steve gamba instruction videos in there. I might need to go and check that out

 

[Ed Seith]

Criss Oliva from earlier Savatage (he was killed in a car accident after “Edge of Thorns” in 1991) was insane at legato stuff in a more metallic context.