Fates Warning - The Ivory Gate of Dreams (Guitar Cover)

This was recorded over two non-contiguous days, Christmas Eve for the bulk of it and on the 27th just to finish it up. You'll notice the wardrobe change.

A brief note about the guitar tones. I really didn't want to use the tones that I was using because I have much more modern sensibilities. I need more roundness and beef in a signal for my own satisfaction. The guitar tone I used for Jim Matheos is closer to my liking than the one for Frank. All I was trying to do is be as correct to the album as I could between the two. If they were to redo this, if they left out the ice pick edgy scooped tones, it would sound better and we would all be better off.

Performance notes? Of course. I'll start with Frank. Frank's lead playing is as alien to me as Frank Zappa would have been to Beethoven. His entire approach and choice of tones are completely out of my vocabulary. Thus, I find learning his parts just as challenging in its own way as when I learned a Paganini piece for my 20th anniversary. Where Frank is an alien space baby, Jim's playing is much more up by alley. It's much easier to pick up and emulate, but that doesn't mean it isn't challenging in its own right because you have to get his inflections, which are numerous. Both also have distinct vibratos, which I tried to emulate, but I still wound up vibrattoing mostly like myself. Please forgive me. Oh, and the intro and outro guitars are just me, replacing the original ones in their entirety.

I cannot express how cathartic this was to learn. It is a type of Mount Everest in scope for the sheer Marathon of music that this represents. The fact that they used to play this live is a testimony to how good these folks were, and are. For the recording, I played Frank's parts first, which are more difficult in many ways. All the electrics for this were played straight through as if I were playing it live. I ran out of time with Jim's parts and I also decided I wanted to play their Harmony lead with rhythms in the background. That had to be done the next available day which was the day before this was uploaded. At any rate, this is also the last of the myriad of tunes from my youth that I had decided to finally put my fingers to and learn. If I have wanted to learn it, I have or I know that I can. So this is kind of a epic send-off to my covers. Oh I'll still do one on Halloween and probably for Christmas or New Year, but I think it's time I go ahead and hang up the hat. Of course that doesn't mean I'm giving up the channel, I'll just be playing more my own things and playing the guitar coach now and again. Doing this will probably allow me to be more active on the channel anyway. Being serious about covers takes work! Even if I don't take myself too seriously which is why I keep the mistakes in. And oh yes, there were a few.

I'll catch you all in the next go round...