Learning HTTK Solo and Need Advice

[Jak Angelescu]

Hey there! I’m learning the solo for Hail to the King by A7X (obviously, lol) and I’m having trouble on a spot. My tab book says one thing, several different tab sites and videos show another thing, and yet none of those sound like what I HEAR is going on when I slow the track down with my program. The spot I’m having trouble on is the section of the 4 groups of sixlet notes on the A5 chord where he goes into “crazy time” sound. Roughly 3:35 time slot. This is what my official tab book says…

If anyone else has mastered this solo, I’d really like to know what you play. And my biggest question is: When you’re learning a solo, what source to you go off of for being “most accurate”, and do you ever put your own “spin” on it if you can’t figure it out? Is it right to do that or should you really try to nail the accurate version for better ear training? I feel like I have given up on some tab sources, including books and Youtube videos, because so many times I find it to lead me into the wrong direction. Thoughts? Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I’m so sorry about trying to upload this. The format keeps getting really weird and the image won’t work. I’m sorry if this gets screwy again. This is what the tab book says (I hope! )
———-12————–12—————12—-16—-16—-12—————–12——15——15—–12——————12—14—12——
—–13—————13————–13———————————–13—————————————–13——————12-
-14—————14————-14———————————–14—————————————–14————————–
———————————————————————————————————————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————————
But this is what I HEAR….
———-12—17—17—-12—————–12—–16—-16—-12————12—-15—-15—-12—————–12——14——14—–12-
—–13———————————13———————————13———————————–13—————————
-14——————————–14———————————–14———————————–14——————————
———————————————————————————————————————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————————

 

[idssdi]

Yeah the format is weird but all I know is That trying to look at syns fingers to figure what is going on. 8f you mean the part with am arpeggio I can tell you what I do.
I usually learn solos and the tend to forget what exactly I am supposed to do and Wing those parts i cant speciale remember

 

[Richard O'connor]

Here try this
https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/avenged-sevenfold-hail-to-the-king-tab-s383663t1
I think your talking about the sweeping part?
If you look on my page I uploaded a cover of this so maybe you can eat h my hands and work it out from there as Well?

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Oh my Gosh how did you get that link to work?! I tried doing links constantly for the image, then me playing both ways, etc… Nothing would work, lol! Yes, I’m talking about the sweeping part. I’ll check out the link, thanks!

 

[Richard O'connor]

I just copied and pasted it lol
Can always message if you need a hand!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Richard, your tab basically says what I thought was being played. Except it sounded like he doubled up on some of the notes to me. Thank you so much! And Ids, thanks for your input!

 

[idssdi]

For tabs i would really advice you to get a program like tuxguitar(its free) it will allow you to open guitar pro and powertab files and usely those tabs are a bit better than the ones you casually find on ultimate guitar

 

[Richard O'connor]

You’re welcome
I’d practise is slow with a metronome first!

 

[Jake Young]

I could be wrong! But I’m pretty sure you’re right Jak, about him doubling up notes. Things will get screwy if I try to tab it. But he’s sweeping to the high e but not back down to the g like the tabs are showing. 14g-13b-12e-17e-17e-12e if that makes any sense.. Then 14g-13b-12e-16e-16e-12e. Of course those are sweeps. Same shape til the walk down hits the 14 on the high e. But he’s hitting the pinky note twice every time. Hopefully this helps and I didn’t confuse you to damn much haha

 

[Vagelis Karagiannis]

If you want to learn the right way (the closest one to how syn plays it) watch chris zoupa’s lesson on youtube .This guy is a beast and I would trust my life on his ears.

 

[Jake Young]

Vagelis, you’d be dead if you “trusted your life to his ears” hahah I love Chris’ videos and lessons! I was actually going to recommend that video in this thread.. But it’s not 100%. watch Chris play it then watch Syn. Chris comes extremely close though!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

You all are so awesome for your helpful responses! Jake thank you for confirming what I thought my ears were hearing. I’m not that adept with lead and so it really sucks being a huge Synyster fan but you can’t play ANY of those awesome solos. So I felt that because I do know SOME stuff, HTTK would be the best one to start with. It seems challenging but doable. And I just got so frustrated with so many things saying so many different things. And I can watch a hummingbird’s wings move more clearly than I can see Syn’s fingers move lol!! So watching live videos was out of the question, so I had to rely on my ears. Thank you all so much!! I really do appreciate it!

 

[Jake Young]

Honestly the Chris Zoupa that Vagelis up above mentioned is extremely awesome at breaking down songs and teaching! Especially Syn’s solos..they are pretty spot on although not 100% everytime..but they’ll definitely lead you in the right direction! Chris is an amazing player with an amazing ear! For sure!! A lot of times though the notes will be correct just in a different position than where Syn plays it. My guitar teacher years ago said “if you’re going to play other people’s songs, you might as well play it the way they are” and it’s always stuck with me. So I’m always comparing tabs and video lessons to what the artists are doing and using my ear to get as close as possible! I think you picked a good solo to start with! I’m also always recommending the “Seize The Day” solo to people starting to learn Syn’s work. Happy playing!!!

 

[Tory Capman]

Try going to YouTube and looking up Chris Zoupa, he does a video lesson with tabs included for this solo and the dude sounds pretty spot on to me!

 

[Vagelis Karagiannis]

Jake that would be correct.Sometimes you can actually see that he uses different finger placements that sometimes make the song easier or harder.I think that for the most part he is right about 96% of the time