The Best Guitarist You've Never Heard Of? Neil Zaza Pt.2

 You know what, I don't think there's anyone out there who can make a root note sound so damn satsfying as Neil Zaza can. With a discography packed with soaring melodies and jaw-dropping technical ability, it's always a treat transcribing his playing - as such, I decided to ameliorate the inevitable January blues by making January Neil Zaza Month. and much as with Steel Panther ace Satchel last year, would you believe I actually found myself wishing for more January...

Now regular readers of the blog - assuming there are any (hi Ian ;-) ) - may be aware that this is not the 'Za's first appearance, as I first covered him back in 2021. So I will direct curious readers there for the potted history, and let's dive straight in and look at the licks!

Our first example comes from the mega-hit "I'm Alright" and in technical terms is "the tricky bit" - the one part of the song where Neil takes off the restraints to put pedal to metal - we're in E major here, starting off with a rhythmically displaced major pentatonic lick before a blistering flurry of 3 note per string legato ideas, and finishing off with a trademark aching semitone bend from G# (maj 3rd) to A (4th). This is a terrific example of the "tension and release" mechanic which sits at the heart of so many great solos.

The next two example are taken from the live recording of "Melodica" - again in E- and in this first lick Neil properly has his shred hat on, sweeping through an E shape arpeggio of the E (I), C shaped B (V) Em shaped C#m (vi) and then C shaped A, ending with a rising 3rds idea along the E string - the wider interval of the 3rd as opposed to the tones and semitones of a scale are a great ear catching melodic idea.

You can't talk about Neil Zaza's playing without mentioning his signature open voice arpeggio technique - well, I can't, anyway! Here we see him outlining the chord sequence using a R 5 3 pattern on the E, 3 R 5 pattern on the B, and then R 5 3 patterns on the other chords, also bringing in the 4th as a passing colour tone. This is the kind of idea that sounds great either as a melodic hook or as a clean chord part, particular using fingerstyle or hybrid picking.

We'll finish off with an excerpt from "Crazy Love" in A major - here we see the "tension and release" at work - Neil sets things up beautifully with a bend from the B (2nd) to C# (major 3rd) before moving down the scale using a combination of slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs before descending an A major arpeggio and ending on the second, keeping the listener engaged for the next phrase.

If you're not familiar with Neil Zaza playing, do yourself a favour and go check him out, he seems to be the biggest secret in guitar playing - for my money absolutely up there with the Vais, Satrianis & Eric Johnsons of the world and his sense of melody is just glorious. 

Back next month for the granddaddy of Rock & Roll, Chuck Berry himself!