Rush..."YYZ" effect?

[Soap]

In the middle of the song, when Alex plays those chords where/when those bass and drum fills are. Sounds like a sustain effect on those chords. They really have alot of sustain on them or something.

What effect(pedal or something) is he using to get those chords to sustain out in this particular section. I got the playing aspect down, just wanting to know whats the effect he's using. I can't recreate the long sustain effect, if in fact its a sustain effect, it may be something else.

Thanks

[AlexL]

Fast strumming and left-hand muting, if it's the part I'm thinking of.

- E.

[Soap]

Yeah, thats the part wheres he's being percussive with fast palm mutting and strumming. Thats the right section and the right chords, just not what I'm talking about though. I'm trying my best to explain it. So apologize for any misleading or confusion.
I know how to play those choppy percussive chords.

When he's playing those chords I'm picking up on a longer sustain that seems to allow the chords to ring out. It seems to me the effects are, volume (obviously), chorus, gain and ? Sustain maybe? Those chords are really ringing out, somethings there.

[texasfury]

Not being snotty, but he's just letting them sustain naturally, that's all there is to it. They really don't sustain more than a second or two. There's is one part where he arpeggiates the chord, and it might seem like it gets louder because the first two notes are picked individually, and the the next picking motion involves a 3 note chord. This is at 2:04.

Other than the chorus effect and distortion, no sustain effects are needed. Just plain old dynamics being used.

Let me know what time section of the song it is, so we can be sure.

[Strat God]

Alex was a big fan of a tight delay ( 80-100 milliseconds) coupled with chorus. I think he used echo-plex first, then went to Boss stuff. The sound you describe is more prevelent on "The Camera Eye" on the same recording- Moving Pictures.

[Chasbo]

It sounds to my ears like good technique and a slight bit of delay along with different chord forms. The sound is really bright which I always took to be him playing thru a strat, but he could be playing some triads higher on the neck for that sound. Beyond that, I am not catching any extra sustain on the chords themselves. His hallmark is his rythme playing in these situations. He can certainly smoke leads, but he loves using different chord inversions thru sections like that. Try using a couple different chord forms there to see if that's what you are hearing. He doesn't sound as if he is just playing simple root 5th or 6th barre chords there. It sounds broader than that.

chuck

[AlexL]

I believe he is playing "E" shape barre chords, utilizing all 6 strings around the 8th fret (C major).


- E.

[Chasbo]

I have always played it B maj, E shape (root on the 6th), followed by a C7th one fret up. Those are the right chords if I am not mistaken. What I was suggesting was something I have seen him do in the past. He will sometimes change the shape he uses to get a different sound. Like he will play triads of those 2 chord shapes rather than the same shape over and over. I have also played it B maj, A shape (root on the 5th) followed by C7th open. I saw him do that during the VT tour. Regardless of how you play it, I think it's important to fret the chords really well and let them ring.

chuck

[lerxstcat]

I have always played it B maj, E shape (root on the 6th), followed by a C7th one fret up. Those are the right chords if I am not mistaken. What I was suggesting was something I have seen him do in the past. He will sometimes change the shape he uses to get a different sound. Like he will play triads of those 2 chord shapes rather than the same shape over and over. I have also played it B maj, A shape (root on the 5th) followed by C7th open. I saw him do that during the VT tour. Regardless of how you play it, I think it's important to fret the chords really well and let them ring.

chuck

That's an important aspect of Alex's playing, that he uses different voicings of the same chords to mix it up. I think in studio he layers both in, then live alternates between them. And of course there are lots of timing variations in his playing as well, each bar is different in that song on the B/C7 comps. Alex is often deceptively simple; sounds very easy until you play along and find yourself out of time with the recorded parts.

[Chasbo]

That's an important aspect of Alex's playing, that he uses different voicings of the same chords to mix it up. I think in studio he layers both in, then live alternates between them. And of course there are lots of timing variations in his playing as well, each bar is different in that song on the B/C7 comps. Alex is often deceptively simple; sounds very easy until you play along and find yourself out of time with the recorded parts.

Thats my favorite part of his playing. The rythme section during the solo in Passage to Bangkok illustrates that very well, but he does the same thing in YYZ. I think if you listen closely , you will find that Vapor Trails is a phenomonal guitar album. Not a single keyboard on the album. It's all layered guitar parts.

chuck

[sl2lover]

Alex is the most underrated in my book!!

[jwoods986]

I agree, very underrated. But part of that can be attributed to letting the keyboards take over in the 80s. When I saw that G1 was going to spotlight 10 underrated guitarists as part of their 10 year anniversary, the first thing I thought was - Alex Lifeson. So far, they've done Billy Gibbons and Nile Rodgers.

[sl2lover]

I agree, very underrated. But part of that can be attributed to letting the keyboards take over in the 80s. When I saw that G1 was going to spotlight 10 underrated guitarists as part of their 10 year anniversary, the first thing I thought was - Alex Lifeson. So far, they've done Billy Gibbons and Nile Rodgers.

Fucking gay! Alex's stuff isn't the easiest to play and I love his vast use of the fretboard in a single song!

[Chasbo]

I agree, very underrated. But part of that can be attributed to letting the keyboards take over in the 80s. When I saw that G1 was going to spotlight 10 underrated guitarists as part of their 10 year anniversary, the first thing I thought was - Alex Lifeson. So far, they've done Billy Gibbons and Nile Rodgers.

If you listen to the last 3 albums, Counterparts, VT and Feedback you could hardly say that he let the keyboards take over. Though I will say that the stuff from Signal to Counterparts was very keyboard heavy. He does some awesome guitar work on those albums. According to Peart, the new album is going to blow all the older stuff away. Though he wouldn't elaborate beyond that, Alex has gone on record as saying that guitar will be at the front of the mix.

chuck

[RacerX]

the new album is going to blow all the older stuff away.

Gee, where have we heard that before?