Iron Maiden's BEST Guitar Harmonies - Part 2

[@RVPMatt123]

So glad you put Fates Warning in here, that's possibly the one Maiden harmony that's stuck in my head every day!

[@marillionman8811]

Great song it's just a pity the album gets scolded by the critics but it's one of my favourites.

[@Aurainmaker]

Number 4 and 5 are some of my favourite moments in the entire catalogue. Number 4 is criminally underplayed live!

[@XAMS]

The Clairvoyant definitely has one of my favorite harmonies

[@Nghilifa]

The Fates Warning harmony always makes me happy. It's one of those harmonies that you can't resist humming along to. It's a great and totally underrated song as well.

[@ioannisdenton]

The duelists is fricking amazing!!!

[@mauricioalvarado2183]

The Duellists is one of the greatest Maiden songs ever, musically it has everything!!

[@ognjenmilenkovic3050]

ah purgatory sounds so good

[@Pewtooyou]

Awesome Awesome Awesome job man..."Up the Irons"

[@DougieJones253]

I can put all of these tracks in my top 10 Maiden songs list. For sure my favorites for each of the album they're in (maybe on Somewhere in Time it's a tie with "The Lonliness...").

[@Wishchrono]

Ahh nice, some love for 'the duellists'. The harmonies, triplets, and how the bass and drums play together at the end of the long instrumental section is such great composition.

[@ir0nm4id3n]

purgatory made my day

[@ricardo_leoni]

another amazing video! so nice to have the opportunity to hear the harmonies separate. thanks Nico! your channel gets better every day! greetings from Brazil

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

I really appreciate that and I'm glad to see it's interesting to watch. Muito obrigado!! 🙏🤘

[@dacktransfer]

Awesome harmony on The Duellist... Thanks, Nicko...

[@christhiancarvajal4027]

Excelente!! Fates Warnig y The Duellists me encantan.

[@Signifer8]

Again, just those great parts you have chosen! We truly hear our Maiden the same way. I really enjoy how you are able to describe with words about these leads, and everything you say, sounds like it's straight from my own experience with these Maiden parts. They take me to to the eighties and to the childhood and contain even some existential soundscapes for me, something bigger than just music. Your sound is just what its should be :) Thanks again and God bless!

[@zedleppelin665]

Great video, you reminded me of some Maiden songs I haven't heard in a while! I've always loved the harmony from "The Longest Day" (around 5:30), and how Dave perfectly starts his solo by repeating the motif of the harmony. Keep up the good work!

[@jeremytassin7978]

A great reminder that guitar harmonies are the best thing in music!! My favorite is kind of an obvious one but it would be the harmony after the solos in Rome Of The Ancient Mariner. As a very honorable mention, the harmonies at the end of the solos in the song Dance Of Death are hauntingly beautiful too I think.

[@laurentfemenias9410]

Wow! Once more! 🤩 When you listen to these harmonies, you KNOW it's Maiden. It's part of their DNA. But it's even more interesting when you link them like you did here, highlighting their diversity. Fantastic job, as usual! 🤘

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

I appreciate that very much man. Thank you!

[@michaeldean7220]

Excellent as ever. Of those that you chose my fave was Purgatory.

[@MrMvidz]

The transition from the harmonies of The Duellists to the solos are epic!

[@tillyvick14]

Thank you for this Nico! This is probably my favorite series of all your productions. Love seeing Caught Somewhere In Time in there!

[@willman100]

That was great!!!

[@paulgoodwin3642]

I love thin lizzy for their melodies and harmonies so iron maiden was the logical next step. Plus both bands have that great story telling quality.

[@ChristopherJWalton]

As always, another great video. Can't beat Maiden harmonies!

[@watvat8]

I remember being a beginner and recording the rhythm and harmonies together in the Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Got a good lesson on intonation and tuning that day

[@gregscrase7018]

Great choice with The Duellists, was listening to it the other day and love how clear you can hear the individual guitars during the harmony section

[@marcuseriksson5592]

I see Daves smile when l listen. Maiden and Abba are the masters of harmonies 🤘❤️

[@emilyinoregon6967]

I never even noticed that about Only the Good Die Young. Great video, thanks!

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Happy to see you enjoyed it! 😃

[@vinnydizzy]

Your videos are always so great, so enlighting. It sheds a more in depth vision and perception of songs I know an deeply love all my love. You truly have a great view on the music from a technical perspective, but also from a fan perspective. Thanks so much!

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Ah thanks man! Yeah I try to make these videos from the pov of me as a fan first and foremost. I like to talk about why I like something and then expand on why I think it's enjoyable from a musical point of view. Cheers!!

[@JonDanMart]

Nico, thanks! Killer video. You picked some tasty gems.

[@matthewclark7952]

When I saw the title of this video I was going to suggest Fates Warning as that has a fantastic harmony in it but I see you already have this covered lol. Excellent video, I always enjoy your content! Thanks.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Thanks so much! I know it's nice that your most unlikely favourites are shared by others 😊

[@NunoGuitarsSilva]

Top selection and amazing performance as usual!!! 🤘🤘

[@rjm_17]

YEAH IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

[@suetruett3812]

great video..I love these songs and the harmonies are so cool and cool to play. Great job Nico...

[@kiwisamurai69]

Another great video as always. Now how do I get one of those t-shirts?

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Coming very soon!! 😃

[@thomstunes6485]

Duellists is such a great song for lead guitar.... underrated

[@naamari7818]

I am guitarist and learned guitar just listening maiden. Your opinioins is sama as mine. Al of this stuff on this video, makes me wanna cry. Because someone thinking same as me. Thanks.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Cheers brother!! 🤜🤛

[@tombabington7022]

Great stuff! If you're planning on a part 3, I think childhood's end (the melody after the solo) is one of their best ever melodies (and I think it's harmonised the 2nd time around). Loneliness of the long distance runner also has some great harmonies.

[@marillionman8811]

Great video as usual but for me all maiden harmonies are the best.👍

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

I will refer you back to the ending of this video 😄😄

[@brunorosa306]

Up the Irons

[@dimdimis2936]

I have to say it again! You are in my mind! Especially Caught Somewhere is an absolute gem! Actually I'm hearing it over and over the last one month, together with Purgatory and a couple more!!! Gongrats man!

[@CC-qb9sm]

Ace video Nico! I’m a big fan of the “unshakable melancholy” as well 🤘

[@osamaqtaitat]

What is this?

[@battlemageblitz82]

Another great video, my friend! The Purgatory one always stood out to me not only because of the epic harmonies, but the rhythm section of Burr and Harris behind it ❤ Btw, would 2 A.M. qualify as a true harmony? Don't know if theyre using octave/unison harmonies (not a guitar nut 😅), but it just matches the tone and mood they were going for on that bleak album.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Thanks man! I believe the melody on 2 Am is a unison if I remember correctly.

[@GeoffSaari]

Loving the shirt!

[@michaeldean7220]

But in non Maiden fanatic company open to misinterpretations! :)

[@misteradrian87]

Great Nicko as ever! Next song will be the duellists complete... I wanna be part of it! 🤘🤘😉 There's 4 guitars to play and harmonize in this song!

[@yanikem6655]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤!!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!! Brilliant as always, Nico!! I was thinking - how about you do a video where you ADD in harmony 3rds into the unison lines played in the Maiden stuff from FOTD onwards? It would be great to hear where Dave and Janick only did unison lines, for example in Afraid To Shoot Strangers, The sign Of the Cross, Futureal etc!!

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

I did something like that for Senjutsu melodies actually. I definitely plan on making another one for other stuff. I posted one of FOTD on my Instagram not too long ago 🙂

[@yanikem6655]

@@LicksOfTheBeast just watched it, it’s fantastic. I wish Maiden had kept harmonies instead of the unison lines throughout FOTD and TXF. Sounded so weak (seriously, what’s the point of two guitarists playing the same melody?) and you have re-Maidened it!!

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

@@yanikem6655 Some of that is somewhat subjective, of course, but basically not all melodies work as well with harmonies. Sometimes unisons or octaves do work better. If you look through the comments on that video, you'll see quite a few saying they prefer it without the harmony because it takes away from the dark vibe. I LOVE harmonies, but sometimes they just make things feel too closed or small, and it's not always what the song needs 🙂

[@yanikem6655]

@@LicksOfTheBeast totally subjective and yes, sometimes ‘less is more’. Some of the darker stuff would have sounded even darker with rhythm guitars in the background with the melodies on top but obviously just my opinion!

[@alexandermanzanares3879]

Last 2 pics are 🔥

[@alalaurinaho]

Love these vids🤩

[@cengizucar1]

The second harmony of Purgatory is one of my favorites too.

[@metalinsights9664]

"Fates Warning" is such an underrated song. I would love to hear it live. Every part of that song is a masterpiece.

[@FabioMbo]

Awesome video, Nico! You should make a video analysing the songs of the Seventh son album, just like you did with Powerslave and Piece of mind

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Those will come too 😉

[@gerryiannuzzi815]

You make it look so easy

[@martymartin2894]

Before i watch this i mentioned on last video one my very favourite is on marinar just after the solo think u acknowledged the one i mentioned in the comments section on last video. Hope u add it to a future video.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Oh there will definitely be more 😃

[@viniciusleaoa]

Nice! Part 3 please!!

[@rafaelserra107]

Run Silent Run Deep!!

[@CharliRUSSIA]

You play fucking awesome!

[@miroslavnovosedlik3474]

The Longest Day 🤘🏻

[@Sammael757]

One of the defining characteristics of Maiden for me is the amount and quality of guitar harmonies, which I absolutely love. I'm sure there is another band or two out there somewhere that plays as many of them, and does them similarly well, but I personally don't know/can't think of them (feel free to share though - always down for new good music 😁).

[@mylovesongs2429]

sometimes, Testament guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick can play harmonies in songs. Check out Alex's solo in Practice What You Preach. Towards the end of that brilliant solo, Eric joins in and they so a pentatonic scale up the fretboard, and then Alex lays on a high chord, and then goes back down the fretboard. It sounds awesome!

[@Sammael757]

@mylovesongs2429 I love me some Testament, though there was a stretch of a few albums while Alex was away (I think they had James Murphry for some of that time?) that I didn't care as much for. Probably the most use of harmonies by another band other than Maiden that I can think of would be either certain King Diamond albums (particularly the ones with Pete Black or Michael Denner as the 2nd leads to LaRoque), or Bullet For My Valentine. Different styles, to be sure, but a high quantity of harmonies in the music. Maiden, to me at least, just has such a unique way of incorporating them that almost no one else captures. In very small snippets, I guess Metallica has used some harmonies in similar ways/with similar feel, but it's fairly rare even across their entire catalog.

[@paulgoodwin3642]

Thin Lizzy were the next best thing to iron maiden for me when it comes to harmonies. Also wishbone ash did them beautifully. Maiden would have been a different band without them.

[@juanrogelrodriguez8285]

Excelente,gran video!!

[@sebastianreaper]

purgatory its my fav!

[@Hadogei123456789]

The riffs off those first couple albums are underrated!

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Perhaps I wouldn't say underrated, but they do tend to get overshadowed by the riffs from their subsequent albums. Either way, there are some killer riffs in those two first records! 😃

[@maximwinner5326]

Hey Niko! Have you heard about a Russian band called Aria? People call them Russian Iron Maiden, check them out, you'll find a lot of riffs and harmonies that are similar to Maiden. Especially their 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995 albums. Cheers!

[@mathias6423]

Yeah that second harmony from Purgatory 👌

[@maiden4greece572]

P E R F E C T I O N ...

[@DannyKGuitar]

My absolute favorite is the one right after the solo to Revelations. Actually, Revelations is my favorite Maiden song in general, so I may be biased.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

That's one of my favourite songs and guitar harmonies too. Especially that Dave only comes in with the harmony on the second half...makes it stand out so much more!

[@DannyKGuitar]

@@LicksOfTheBeast I know right? The rhythm guitar backing out to a second harmony line makes it stand out so much. And it's such a fun lick to play too. The entire song is full of fun licks on just about every instrument. Steve Harris' bassline under the solo. That could have been a main riff in and of itself.

[@jeffersononetwo]

Just fantastic work, brother! You are such a great performer and instructor of guitar and Maiden. I have been wondering, for these sweet bends and vibrato, what gauge of string do you use? I used to use 9s but for the past year I'm playing 10s. I find 9s sound just about the same to my ears but may be better for bending. What are your thoughts?

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Thanks so much, man! That is really nice of you to say 🙏 I use 9-46 and 9-42 on my superstrats, 10-46 on the Janick guitar (to try to copy his attack a bit more) and 10-46 on the Gibsons. Detsroyer also gets 9-42 even though it's a Gibson scale. It's really a question of personal preference though because everyone has different hands and a different touch. For example, some players grab the strings a bit harder so they prefer a bit heavier gauge for better intonation. Me, I tend to prefer a bit lighter because I don't like the stiffness of heavier strings.

[@jeffersononetwo]

@@LicksOfTheBeast Very informative bro - many thanks for your reply! Up The Irons!

[@MatteoAn93]

🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@svarun5215]

Nico, maybe for the next part you can make a video about 3 part harmonies like in Monstegur, Blood brothers (live) ect.

[@Kyle-gw6qp]

Only the Good Die Young is such a brilliant song.

[@metalinsights9664]

The secret to Adrian's harmony on "Only the Good Die Young" is to palm-mute the two consecutive E notes and play them with downstrokes, so that they sound nice and chunky. As for Dave's part, I suspect that he plays it further up on the neck using the A (10th and 12th frets) and D strings (9th, 10th, and 12th frets), since his part sounds too dark and too mid-range focused to be played on the D string and the bright, metallic sounding G string.

[@tenkarlos]

Nico - it’s time for part 3 :)

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

In '23 for sure! 😃

[@tenkarlos]

@@LicksOfTheBeast Hi Nico. Just letting you know that we didn’t forget about it and there’s definately a need for part 3 of „best harmony series”. :) However - I’d like to send you an idea for another content. Quite obvieus but how about best melodies played unison or in octaves? :). Maidens do it more rarely then harmonies but there are a lot still, especially in 90’s (X Factor has a lot!) and later. Fourths and fifths doesn’t count ofcourse cos they are still considered harmonies. And no one guitar melodies - at least two guitars have to play the melody (unison or octaves) while the other guitar/s are playing cords/back up riffs. Thank you for your great work on the channel! Best regards!

[@metalinsights9664]

In addition to my hypothesis that Dave plays his part further up the neck on the A and D strings, I also always felt that the first three notes in the harmony just don't feel right when they're played in the same position. I think the feel and flow improve when all three notes are played on the same string and by using the same finger (e.g., index finger and 5th, 7th, and 9th frets on the D string in Dave's part).. This fills the space between the notes, while accentuating each beat on the count-in, whereas if the notes are played in the same position, they sound too staccato and the flow thing just doesn't feel right.

[@Chocapic-wh8ji]

Make a Tutorial for the ides of march

[@johndickinson8848]

Would be helpful to add link to first video.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

You know what else is helpful? Watching until the end 😂 I linked it in the end screen.

[@johndickinson8848]

@@LicksOfTheBeast Also helpful: Not being a sensitive prig. Was attempting to be helpful, but I guess they don’t make metal heads as tough as they used to.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

@@johndickinson8848 Dude, I was being playful... Hence the laughing face. I consider you all friends here so my reply was just a "nudge nudge" kinda thing.

[@herbal_bg]

The Purgatory is a amazing music

[@BloodIITheChosen]

Maybe You can also look into some of Bruce and Adrian solo stuff. A lot of good songs out there.

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

Oh yeah there is some phenomenal stuff on those albums! I've done a few things but they tend to get very little engagement. Until I can make more than one video per week, I can only do that stuff occasionally.

[@bbadam19]

Purgatory sounds the best imo

[@fredericadda]

I'd love to hear the harmonies separately

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

That could be interesting too!

[@BeardSous]

Any chance you can share your preset for Archetype Petrucci friend?

[@LicksOfTheBeast]

I'm still experimenting with it but in this video it was mostly the Barstool Warrior preset with a few tweaks: turned down the gain a bit, added overdrive but with the drive turned down to around 2, added a bit of reverb and sometimes chorus. That's about it!

[@BeardSous]

@@LicksOfTheBeast Thank you my man!

[@marcianojuniormaraschin5080]

[@Kamillisto]

Bro, please do less reverb, guitars are too muddy sometimes

[@ardaturhan5825]

I always pass the parts you talk

[@ardaturhan5825]

Nicko your guitar playing is actually great but form my point of view you should not talk at your videos. Just play and don’t talk is my advice. Sincerly arda

[@ioannisdenton]

then what is the point? just listen to the original songs

[@stamossaros7641]

Nicko? Did i told you that i like your Ibanez Destroyer DT300FR and i want it? You are so lucky!