Why I Suck.. Series 5, Episode 3 - Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme)!

 It's been so long since the 1990s that they've almost descended into legend. We look back fondly on Nirvana, Britpop... peace... but let me tell you child, I was there when the deep magic was being written, and I can tell you it was not all plain sailing. Back then, many were the doubters and detractors who mourned the apparent death of high level, super-technical guitar playing, who loathed what they saw as the ham fisted idiocy of the Cobains and the Gallaghers – but the die was cast, and the eye-watering, face-melting solos that had defined the 1980s would not be heard again until The Darkness and Dragonforce ushered in a new era of shred and hairspray in the 00's.

Except that nobody told a certain Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt. No less than Brian May described his epic solo on 1990's “Get The Funk Out” as worthy of it's own medal, and he's absolutely right. Nuno Bettencourt kept the shred flame alive throughout the 90s almost (but lets's be honest, not quite) single handedly through his frankly apocalyptic solos on Extreme's albums, and it's a treat to see that he now his Rihanna as his lead singer. So, as is customary for both my regular readers, let's look at a little potted history before we take a dive into some tasty Mediterranean sun-dried shred licks..

Born September 20 1966 in Terceira, in the Azores Islands as the youngest of ten (!) children, in 1971 (aged 4) his family made the move to Boston and young Nuno began experimenting with a variety of musical instruments, eventually settling on guitar in his early teens. A series of local bands led him to Extreme in 1985 and by 1989 they were on the radar of several labels – the songs that would make up their breakthrough album “Pornograffiti” would be heavily demo'd during this time, meaning that the band had a rock solid basis from which to get their recordings together. They would release their debut album “Extreme” in 1989 but it was in 1990 that “Pornigraffiti” would make it to major release and that's where this months licks are drawn from. So, to business!

Let's start with everyone's favourite Nuno widdle pattern - the string skipped tapped arpeggios from "Get The Funk Out": 

 Clearly, Nuno is channelling his inner Paul Gilbert here - root on the D string, 3rd and 5th on the G, skipping up to the E for another root and 3rd - but he's enhanced with an added hammered note - the 2nd hammered from the root on the D - and then poured a layer of tapping on top, as the right hand taps the 5th on the D, the root on the G and the 5th again on the high E, creating a slick add9 sound. In "Get The Funk Out" he uses this pattern to follow the underlying chord sequence of Bb, C , Eb & F, doubling up on the speed over the Eb & F. 

So I'll be warming up thoroughly before attempting the demo video for this one....

Next, we have a quirky and interesting repeating pattern that kicks off the solo to "Money (In God We Trust)":

This is an Eb7 arpeggio (R 3 5 b7 - Eb G Bb Db) played with a relatively low gain tone using sixteenths, but the interesting thing here is the length of the phrase - 3 beats. This means that the arpeggio cycles round in what is known as a "hemiola" effect, each time starting on a different beat. If you look at the notation you'll notice that it starts on beat 1, then beat 4, then 3, then 2 before finally coming round to start again on beat 1 on the fourth bar. This makes the pattern alot more tricky sounding than it actually is, and I think reflects Nuno's undoubted skill with a groove - although we're focusing on lead licks here, it is important to remember that you can't really be an effective lead guitarist without the feel for groove and timing that underpins a good rhythm guitarist.

The next lick, taken from "L'il Jack Horny", features an interesting mix of a D minor pentatonic outline but with both the b5 (Ab - 13th fret G) and b6 (Bb - 11th fret B) making an appearance, creating an air of tension and dissonance before Nuno concludes the phrase with the b7 (C). However, this is all superimposed over a backing in A, meaning that the Ab and Bb in fact work as 7 and b2 respectively, effectively bracketing the root note before ending on the C which is acting as a b3 - a very nifty piece of superimposition that gives a kind of Harmonic Minor/ Phrygian Dominant vibe.

Finally, we come to this awesome lick from "Decadence Dance" in A, using the A "major blues" scale - this is the "3 frets back" rule we often employ with the minor pentatonic, except that here Nuno is using it with the blues scale, meaning that he now has the b3 (C) and major 3rd (C#) to play with.. which he does, repeatedly! Notice the use of tone and semitone bands to take the B up to C# and C, as well as hammering between the two in the second bar - and I should mention , the Three Magic Notes that starts it off - even Nuno uses them!

OK, so cards on the table, I haven't come out of this as a huge Extreme fan, there's just something about what they do that doesn't gel with me - but that's a personal opinion, and it certainly does not take away from Nuno Bettencourt being a truly AWESOME guitar player, even if he might not be the household name that Hendrix, Slash or Eddie Van Halen are. I've still learnt a ton of cool licks and ideas, and each of his solos is a treasure trove of great ideas to pilfer!

Next up, the late lamented Irish blues firebrand, Gary Moore... there will be screaming pentatonics, epic string bends and, lots LOTS LOTS of vibrato!