Hey everyone! My name is Rick Graham. I'm a guitar instructor at InfiniteGuitar.com, and I'm happy to provide you with a very special installment here at UG. So grab your guitar, roll up your sleeves, and let's rock! In this lesson, we are going to be studying a solo by one of the finest emerging guitarists of our generation, Marco Sfogli. Marco is the guitarist for Dream Theater's vocalist, James Labrie. He played on Labrie's "Elements of Persuasion" album and also just released his own solo album called, "There's Hope". Marco was kind enough to endorse this lesson, and even gave me the solo's backing track directly from his album! We are going to be taking a look at his solo in a track entitled "Andromeda". Before we dive into it, click here to watch Marco's performance of the solo on Youtube. I'm going to be dividing the solo into sections for this lesson. Take the solo one note at a time, and be very patient as you learn it. You aren't in a rush, so take your time and keep in mind how you can incorporate these ideas into your own playing. Section 1 The first 3 bars shouldn't present too many technical challenges. However, when we get to bar 4, things start to heat up! With the first arpeggio pattern, I find it best to focus on the repeating shapes occuring on the 4th and 3rd strings and the 2nd and 1st strings. In the 5th bar, be sure to be as accurate as possible with the position shift and keep your practice tempo nice and slow. Bar 6 requires some awkward stretches with the left hand, and I find it good to practice this part on its own, concentrating on accurate positioning of the index finger. Tread carefully in bar 8 as you'll find that the opening note of the bar is not the root of the arpeggio as before. For bars 10 and 11, you'll have to draw upon your alternate picking skills to make the best of this passage. Be mindful of the triplets that occur. Section 2 You'll need to spend most of your time on bars 14 to 15 here. Remember that throughout this legato passage, the lightest touch will yield the best results. Use a pickstroke(up or down) when playing the first note on every string and focus on the fluidity of the phrase. Also, keep the triplets as tight as you can in bar 18 as you will be joined by the harmony at this point in the backing track. Section 3 Make sure you're mindful of the change of meter here from 6/8 to 5/8. It may feel unusual at first, so I would suggest watching the video to digest how these sections work together. For this kind of meter you really need to "feel" where the beats occur. Once you have that instilled into your mind you will not have to think about it; just feel it. Also, be sure to notice the drum pattern occurring simultaneously with the ascending pentatonic sequence in bar 26. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be aware of the rhythm section. Section 4 Now it's time to tackle the most difficult part of the solo. Although it's vital for you to understand what is happening here on a note-per-note level, it is much more important that you concentrate on the phrase and its crescendo from a dynamic, emotional point of view. The first step is to subdivide each quarter note beat so that you can ascertain the rhythmic groupings contained within each beat. Try to practice just one beat at a time, then two beats, then three and so on. Then you can move onto learning it in bar long sections until you have the whole passage. Section 5 Bars 31 and 32 display Marco's wonderful bluesy style phrasing. To achieve this effect to the fullest, you will need to concentrate on achieving perfect intonation with a subtle, yet still relatively wide, vibrato. I always find the best approach is to sing these type of lines to help improve your phrasing. Bar 34 requires some tricky left hand stretches. Focus on making sure the index finger is accurately positioned on each string change. Congrats! I hope you've enjoyed learning this lesson as much as I have preparing it, and I hope you'll explore more of Marco's great work. I'd like to say a big thank you to Marco for permitting my transcription of his work and for the backing track he so kindly provided. You rock Marco! Download the backing track at this location. Marco Sfogli's website: MarcoSfogli.com.