TOM SCHOLZ's 17 Greatest Guitar Techniques!

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Gotta add that the leads on Long Time were played by Barry Goudreau. I'd change the video's name to "Boston's Greatest Techniques" but since over 90% of the techs are Tom I think I'll just leave it as is. Thanks to everyone who informed me.

[@TheArtofGuitar]

That's literally what I said in the pinned comment that you commented on. hehe. @@tonyolivieri3345

[@tonyolivieri3345]

@@TheArtofGuitar LOL! Lazy me didn't read it..............apologies!

[@in2livinit]

Thanks for the hat tip to Barry, who's been credited with writing the leads to FP/LT. Tom is Def a studio master and innovator. But Barry is no slouch on the Axe. (Ref Orion the Hunter & RTZ) It's hard to know without actually witnessing it, how much Barry potentially influenced Tom during all the pre-Boston years of Mother's Milk. When Barry plays Boston, eyes closed, it's hard to tell both parts & playing apart. Great Video !!! 👍

[@midiman5045]

@@TheArtofGuitarSorry I didn't see that. No offense . I must have had to many drinks.

[@skullduggery3377]

Oh, you mean 'That other guy'?... The Don Felder to Joe Walsh?

[@douglasmijangos3327]

The Solo on Hitch a Ride is in my top 3 best guitar solos of all time 🎸🔥❤

[@KingXanadu]

Agree!

[@peterwinters8587]

The solo on A Man I'll Never Be is in my top 1

[@dphachey]

For sure! Hitch a Ride may be my all time favorite tune. Puts me right back to the late 70s. The ending of that song is epic and brings chills up my spine.

[@williammartinez1751]

The solo always makes my eyes sweat and if you listen closely to the end of it, you can hear an audience yell out "Woooooooooo!!!!!". Pardon me while I play the song, now.

[@BluesDelux12AX7]

⁠@@williammartinez1751 Yeah, I’ve heard that. I think it’s Brad. My favorite singer.

[@SO-ym3zs]

Awesome! Tom Scholz is a true musical Renaissance man: inventor, producer, engineer, writer, guitarist/bassist/keyboardist. Boston's debut album is one of, if not the, greatest rock albums. (It's also the only one I know of where literally every single track ended up in regular rotation on rock radio, not just the official singles.)

[@minkorrh]

He was Boston.

[@dominiquez5643]

This the exact, perfect right on the spot way of explaining Tom Scholtz to whoever doesn't know him!!!! Love it !!!

[@raydelrosario2366]

He played most of the drums too

[@Greggster1]

Spot on!

[@Kouros-t6d]

Third Stage is at the same level of the 1st album

[@robindavis726]

Wow. Concise. No fluff. Thank you for your work and time in researching these and presenting them. Absolutely fantastic!

[@gergemall]

Wonderful video. Love the tabs and the foundations of the lead riff.

[@metalkid8106]

1:52 Self-Harmonizing 2:31 Rhythmic Vibrato 3:17 Guitar Layers 5:26 Hyperspace effects 6:34 percussive mute strums 7:22 Melodic Line Solos 8:32 Single-Finger Barres 9:37 Scholz Scrapes 10:46 One-Man Dueling Duo 11:28 End of Solo Climb 12:16 Pre Bend Variations 13:41 Motifs 15:29 The Scholz Flutter 16:27 Dirty Arpeggios 17:22 Slip of the 5th 18:11 Bass Walk Rhythms 19:18 stretch 6th

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Tanks!

[@metalkid8106]

@@TheArtofGuitaryour welcome

[@john564holloway]

Thank you, metalkid8106!

[@jasonjohnson4170]

​@TheArtofGuitar you need more helpers like this

[@phoenixmediaforge]

When I mixed More Than A Feeling (on my channel) I featured the guitar effects at the end of the sing. It was on the record, but they didn’t showcase it.

[@Kouros-t6d]

Tom Scholz in an absolute GENIUS... he can play several instruments and he is a MONSTER on both guitar and keyboards!!! I do like especially Third Stage ..it sound majestic ! I'd love to see new young bands in the vein of Journey ..Toto...Boston...Foreigner...Van Halen...the great REAL timeless American Rock!

[@johnvcougar]

Several instruments indeed: did you know that all these albums are ALL HIM? drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, compositions, all him. The only thing he needed Brad for was that vocal.

[@tedgerard333]

Tom Scholz is a genius. I've been down the youtube rabbit hole looking for all his videos.

[@dwightvoeks9970]

Me too 😂

[@gryphon37]

Me three 🫠

[@MascarasMil]

I’m a 15 year old when Boston came out. I was blown away. Mesmerized. One of the things that was most fascinating was that Tom was a MIT graduate and built these devices to fit his needs. That’s just incredibly insane. Watching you unravel the sound is beyond amazing. Thank you!!!

[@daveshepherd7582]

I got hooked on Boston and the huge guitar sounds years ago and I’m still digging them today. Thanks for showcasing them!

[@LordLarryWho]

Barry Goodreau said in an interview once that the key to the Rockman sound before the Rockman was a wah pedal locked in a permanent position, but it was paralleled with the guitar's dry signal rather than exclusively in series. The rest was just basic tools like a compressor/expander and a good old Marshall. He continued to use this on his first solo album and Orion The Hunter, he never used a Rockman, even though it may have sounded like it.

[@harrybrown7506]

Thank you for mentioning Barry Goodreau, pretty amazing himself

[@jeffthorup9503]

Love the video! Tom is one of my favorites. Keep in mind that all the solos in Long Time were actually done by Barry Goudreau along with the solo in Let Me Take You Home Tonight and Used To Bad News. Barry also did the intro solo for Don't Look Back. He contributed some great stuff.

[@jfo3000]

The long sustained notes...sometimes the sign that Barry is playing. I've read that Barry taught Tom how to play guitar, you don't stumble across that too often. Maybe Tom keeps that hidden because of the bad blood that developed... It seems Tom played organ only, started jamming and forming a band with Barry, and Barry showed him lots of guitar. And Tom was playing great very quickly, super intelligent guy, of course. Other projects with Barry, like Orion The Hunter sound much like Scholz, so maybe it's largely Barry's style, possibly tone as well. The half-wah tone may have come from Schenker or Ronson, with Ronson being the originator, I'm pretty certain.

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Good to know. I always thought the first album was Tom geeking out in his basement. Great to learn that he allowed others to play main parts on this classic album, thanks.

[@Lance37a]

@@TheArtofGuitar I believe the whole band only played on 1 song on the debut album, and that's Let Me take you home tonight

[@georgeprice4212]

@@Lance37acorrect. That song was reportedly cut at Capitol Studios, while Tom furiously and meticulously recut the demos in his basement studio - albeit between floods, freak snow storms and power outages!

[@Lance37a]

@@georgeprice4212 which is kind of weird because the band could play. I guess he wanted to control everything.

[@zaturnneo]

Another great video, sir! I grew up hearing my mom blasting Boston, Foreigner, and Journey every Saturday while she cleaned. Always loved how precise and tight their music is. Then I learned how picky they were in the studio, so it made sense. 🙂

[@FingersOnAFretboard]

Despite never having to seek these band's music out, it was always 'just there', it became a musical influence in the rock guitar DNA. One day you ask yourself "Why do I know the lyrics to these REO Speedwagon ,Journey, & Bon-Jovi songs??? & sing along to the solos" Oh, thanks Big-Sister, Mom, etc.

[@dwightvoeks9970]

What a great mom. I still do that 😂

[@DougGrinbergs]

1:39 wall of Rockman 2:03 harmonizing = better🤘 4:07 12-string 🎸 sounds so sweet😊 6:33 scratchy, percussive mute strums - way before Nirvana 9:35 trademark pick scrapes 10:38 bend /pick scrape combo

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Thank you!

[@greggcorbett9344]

That was a great video - how about doing one on Michael Schenker's techniques?

[@jfo3000]

This!!!!!!

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

Got my vote.

[@TheToneofRock]

Mine too...😉

[@thomasjohnson7735]

Excellent deep dig. Boston like Kansas were bands that weren't covered well back in the 70's or hardly at all. The muscle of their music was way out ahead. Tom's 😊tone was sought out by Def Leppard or even EVH. Huge influence. Your video is 11 minutes of encyclopedia for future pickers to take guitar in the next era. Us old guys appreciate your discipline and skill. Well done.

[@takat1113]

Good choice of guitarist for this video. Love the layers in a Boston track.

[@davetheguitarplayer]

The extra details in his pick scrapes you pointed out are SO cool! Even being the HUGE T.S. fan I am, I TOTALLY missed them! Thank you for sharing - killer video!!

[@jeffokriya3389]

Yes Scholz is one of the 70s best Rock guitar players very neat style and his devices were genius . . I have some pedals . . I´m a bit surprised because you are pretty young and have an appreciation for this music . . you can´t go wrong. . keep on rocking. Very nice video.

[@jonahguitarguy]

Tom's the guy that inspired me to pick up a guitar. I'd never heard that pick scraping before. He's a monster player and deserves a spot up there with Clapton, Page and Jimi.

[@bryandean5563]

This is weird, I hadn't heard Boston in a while so I turned it on on the way to work this morning. I get to work and you post this video. You must've known I needed this. Love Tom and Boston.

[@gilbertnorum4366]

Great explanation of Tom´s guitar playing

[@JTB--]

Great Video. Tom Scholz's may be one of the most overlooked Guitarists and Musicians ever. Even invented his own pedals. Guy is a genius

[@robertearl963]

Excellent job Tom is a genius many times over. Incredible songwriter, guitarist and recordibg engineer. He'has been one of my music idols for many years along with Brad Delp. They made an incredible team... RIP Brad

[@stephend3961]

Love Boston, listened to them a lot in the late 70s and through the 80s, when I was in my 20s -- really miss those years. Anyway, it always amazes me how artists can put music together, and I listen a lot to music anymore just to try and pick out the different musical components. Thanks for the memories.

[@hughjanus5518]

Thank you for this. My long since passed father always told me about how Great Tom was and now as a guitar player myself you have inspired me to learn the entirety of their debut album.

[@marcelbelanger4424]

Wow, thank you for this! It's truly one of the best guitar videos I've seen in years of watching. I've loved Boston since they came out when I was a kid, and I got chills when you layered all the parts at 4:19.

[@jeffyoung8726]

Mike, you definitely need to do more of these kinds of videos. They're AWESOME!

[@johngutierrez591]

Some of the best leads in all of guitar, sweet video!

[@rockhead69]

Fantastic, dude... you're a hell of a guitar teacher !

[@SuperdangerStudios]

Tom is one of my favorite guitarists and heroes. Thank you for this video.

[@kaynesantor8136]

Boston really is GOATED, in my book. The instrumentals are ridiculously tight and, lack of a better word, perfect, in every way. Execution and writing wise. Also, if you ever get the chance, check out the isolated vocal tracks. Mind, and ear blowing performances. And that's all natty, no pro tools, no bullshit. Just brilliance. Nice work, Mike.

[@joebarrera9741]

Thank you ..i love your playing and insight on Tom Sholtz

[@OddTimeMan]

Scholz

[@jasonwest3283]

Every video you do is done extremely well! Thanks for putting in the time.

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

One of my other favorite music channels is Rick Beato. He does this series "what makes this song great?" and he breaks down iconic songs to their cores. He's done two Boston songs and really digs into not only the guitars, but the bass played by Tom and the keyboards. If you haven't seen them, I HIGHLY recommend them. But the one thing Tom does is pushes the mid frequencies way up. The graphic eq is the opposite of scooped, it's the Anti-Metallica curve. That pushes it so far forward into the mix and makes it jump out at you. Very aggressive tone. Heavily distorted and his playing is so tight. My local rock station is WFBQ Q-95 in Indy. Same as yours, nothing but Boston, Aerosmith, Forigner, Journey, Eagles, etc. It was so ingrained into how my music taste developed.

[@justinhorn2395]

The Beato Boston Breakdown is one of Beatos best, that speaks volumes.

[@antonioortiz4544]

And he also added a vocal line to the guitars echoing what the lead guitar was doing at 3:36! So awesome!

[@catsofsherman1316]

That was a great episode. I'm a huge Boston fan. I think some of those things seeped into my playing through osmosis without my conscious work on it. It was the artist technique videos that introduced me to your channel in the first place. Glad to see you return to it, especially with an old favorite of mine. Cheers.

[@Halenrocks5150]

I love your Greatest Techniques series! So fun, informative, and they make me realize the subtle guitar specialties that makes these artists unique! Tom Sholtz and Boston rule!

[@OddTimeMan]

Scholz

[@kevink2731]

Just a quick thank you. You're becoming on of my favorite channels now. I really enjoyed this.

[@jeffgilbert147]

Well done. Clear and concise. I really liked this.

[@Zerofluffsgiven]

Geez, no wonder they're so hard to replicate for the average cover band. Now I appreciate them even more! ❤️🤘🏼

[@wkelly-hn4kb]

Great video here. I watched a Tom video a month ago and I'm still hearing those tunes in my head ..even in sleep ..

[@bertonorr8393]

I love your descriptions and analysis of things. The ability to accurately intuit then translate and express. This is why you're about the only guitar guy I pay attention to.

[@HannahCope88]

🤘🏻🔥🤘🏻 Yess!! I've been looking forward to this. I have always loved the sound of Boston. That harmonizing is just quintessential Boston to me. I love that solo on More Than a Feeling, makes me feel pretty happy when I hear it. I think that one has to go on my Happiness Playlist. Definitely a unique sound for sure :-) That Les Paul just looks and sounds killer. I can't wait til the day I get to own one 😊

[@zeus014]

A large part of that Boston sound was in the way their vocals and guitar work were so inter-twined. We often could not tell exactly where Brad's vocals ended and the guitar mind-fuckery began. Pure genius...

[@geraldhartley]

It's probably already been said, but at 2:53 that intro solo for Long Time is all Barry Goodreau. You should properly give him credit! He's a master and taught Tom a lot of tricks.

[@joshuafreedman7703]

Grossly incorrect.

[@suzannecoholic1467]

Great expose on Tom Scholz's techniques!

[@VaGdude]

Man that Les Paul is my favorite …what an eye candy and amazing sound and quality

[@TheArtofGuitar]

I fall in love all over again whenever I play it. Still can't believe it's in my life.

[@abtechgen2943]

@TheArtofGuitar can you leave a link for it, so I can windowshop online for that piece of beauty lol

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Link to what? I’m not selling this thing. ;)

[@VaGdude]

@@abtechgen2943 just Google it bro there are dozens of shops online

[@jono5900]

@@TheArtofGuitarI think he meant what model Les Paul is it specifically..

[@richardtaylor8189]

Very nice job! You captured a lot in this video.

[@lbarj]

Many great tricks to add to the bag. Thanks -Cheers

[@Gilyslas]

Outstanding video. Thanks for sharing Tom's techniques. Gave me lots of cool production ideas. You are Awesome!!

[@TSGEnt]

Thanks for the Boston episode. Truthfully, my all time top favorite band is... Boston. And yes Somethig about you. Great Song! -Gotta gotta have you! Brad delp's vocal intro. Beautiful. and arguable the best rock scream in rock music history happens at about 3:16. Sorry. I had to pause your video to go listen. I went back to 1976 for a moment. It was nice. Thank you Mike. Thank you Donald (Tom) .

[@doctordetroit4339]

I thank God daily for allowing me to be alive in the 70s and 80s and hearing Boston, among many others. I listen to Boston every day. Tom is a true genius, and his Rockman created more studio music sounds (e.g. Def Leppard) than most realize.

[@Antman-cy8ch]

Barry Goudreau is a big part of the playing and sound of the first two albums also.

[@tommccann9269]

Not big part, but monster lead on Long Time, slide on Let Me Take You Home, and intro/outro on Don’t Look Back. That’s pretty much it. The rest is all Scholz, including bass guitar.

[@joshuafreedman7703]

Barry is a fantatic player, yes; Tom is the only one who played ALL guitar and bass parts on the first record.

[@failingdisciple938]

Great breakdown! I heard Scholz does that flutter on his solos while descending because he’s a fan of classical music.

[@bendurrence]

Ill always remember Boston as my first album, my dad still had his old cassettes and luckily for me he was willing to share

[@DannyWilley]

I love that band and was my favorite back in the day and today!! Great video!

[@analytics805]

Great material… See that you really appreciate and understand music and guitar solos. Had the joy of playing guitar on many of these songs in a 1977 cover band…in Humboldt county, CA.. Wild times…

[@SandcastlingGuy]

This was a lot of fun to watch. Great job on the solo harmonies. You really showcased how Tom pushes those notes to a whole new level. And another thing, been listening to Boston since the debut album and never picked up on the addition of adding a "quick 5th" into a solo. As soon as you played it I had one of those, "Oh man! THAT's what I was missing" moments. Isn't it fantastic how music can surprise even after close to 50 years?

[@clayw6850]

Boston fan here!! And I must say that you are both a great artist and teacher yourself..tyvm

[@sauletto1]

Excellent video, Mike !

[@ExpatZ266]

Nice! I grew up with Boston. Tom always had a super unique tone, so huge, wall of sound stuff.

[@keithmartin1067]

Excellent seminar - thank you. Rock on!

[@rickcarper6472]

Agree on Hitch a Ride solo, one of the most memorable utterly classic unforgettable grooves and Barry Goudreau's work on Foreplay/Longtime still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up after almost 50 years. Boston debut, I've always thought absolutely one of the greatest debut rock albums ever, not a weak song

[@edsnotgod]

Tom made his guitar sing " rah rah oompah pah" over and over on "more than a feeling"... over and over and over...

[@curtisbeasley3443]

Dude that LP is absolutely beautiful.

[@jcstevegigs]

Awesome stuff! Your production quality is fantastic

[@robshrock-shirakbari1862]

The most I've enjoyed a YT video in months. I'm a huge Boston fan; they were my favorite band growing up and my first concert (Sammy Hagar opened). Great video... many thanks.

[@jessecovey1778]

Thanks!

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Wow. Thanks.

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

Great video. The rack mount effects are THE best means to get that sound. A guy who engineered his own sound. And was amazing at writing melodies with that rippin' guitar sound.

[@jfo3000]

He pick scrapes down the unwound strings too, like Ronson did (last Spiders From Mars concert) several examples. Lifeson does it too, check out live LA Villa solos from the 1970s. Also, the "flutter" is called a mordent, it's used often in classical music. Gave Boston a classical sound right out of the box. Just trying to help out, great video BTW.

[@gsmeeuwsen]

GREAT video, Mike! Tom is one of the most underrated guitarists AND bassists!

[@joeysawdust]

Great vid! Happy that you mentioned Something About You - one of my favs too! Boston's been my favorite band since 1976 and I think one of the many reasons why is that you can blast the music and the guitars don't go right through you (i.e. are painfull) like some bands. Thanks!

[@logix9881]

Amazing video as always, do you think you could do more of these, I love these!? (Maybe Devin Townsend, The guitar players from Mastodon, or even Eric Johnson?)

[@dennisdewinter1997]

What a great video. Thanks so much.

[@ryanpeterson1418]

Such an underrated guitarist and engineer. Great video!

[@Kathee0320]

This is awesome! You have a gift! Thanks for your hard work!

[@john564holloway]

Great lesson, Mike! I know any Boston fan who plays guitar will keep this lesson handy!

[@craig3540]

Absolutely! It is an awesome solo. Good call!

[@JHoliday330]

Thank you for this video! It'll be a huge 'refresher course' help as I've been getting back into practice post-surgery with a steel plate in one shoulder. I was just starting to advance from Rhythm to Lead as a guitarist in '86 when the Third Stage album was brand new. The 'Dirty Arpeggio' technique just naturally found its way into my emerging style of lead playing without me or my guitar teachers (in two different towns, one during semesters and the other during breaks) ever really analyzing it and breaking down the exact source(s) of what was becoming my style at the time.

[@edwardippoliti626]

Thank you for the lesson ,and video!!

[@jbn1237]

Once Bitten Twice Shy was written by Ian Hunter and was first performed by Mott The Hoople when Ian was in that band before going solo and performing his own version of the song. Great White covered the song many, many years later.

[@Datimdavis2900]

I remember buying the first album when it was released and seeing them live about a year later in Greensboro NC. Tom has always been a big influence in my playing.

[@peterkaputsos4125]

Thanks - nice work. Big Boston fan. I often wonder how Tom became so proficient at guitar since he only picked one up in college. I’ve never heard him explain it in any of his interviews. He went from beginner to doing demos and performing in a matter of years. Some of his bass lines are killer as well. He claims that he played all the parts except drums and vocals on the first album based on interviews and articles.

[@music2heart4u]

Honestly one of the most tasteful guitar channels well done !

[@anthonyw5261]

Even the demos from the first release sound insanely awesome. Great video

[@jesseserna8424]

Boston is my all time favorite band after 40 years I still listen to Boston weekly 🙌🏼🎸

[@kitko33]

OMG, one of my guitar heros. What a guitar player, what a producer, and what an engineer and inventor. Tom Scholz invented guitar modelling. And also an inredible organ player - sometimes playing both an organ and a guitar at the same time.

[@jrenaud22]

That was such a great video! I grew up on Boston and as a kid in the 70s, many many years before I started playing guitar, I always thought I'd love to play like Tom Scholz because he has a one-of-a-kind sound. When I started trying to learn some of his riffs, I was bummed to find out most of them were multi tracked guitar parts. We're Ready is one of the songs I can max out the volume when I'm alone in my Jeep and it doesn't distort the speakers or hurt my ears.

[@Pac_man667]

Boston was a huge influence on me getting started on guitar. I chuckled as I have definitely used several of these techniques in my playing and solos. I didn’t realize how much I had picked up and interpreted in my own playing.

[@JoeChecketts-bi6xs]

Nice video, Mike. Your sound and production was great as usual. Thanks for bringing back the Artist Series.

[@magic2506]

Always enjoy Mike's videos. On point every time.

[@bferris19]

Excellent work man - Scholtz is a god.

[@OddTimeMan]

Scholz

[@edskiedski6256]

I've always loved Boston and Toms playing, especially his solos, nice video. You mentioned Smells Like Teen Spirit, its well known that Kurt Cobain was a big fan of The Poppy Family and liked Terry Jacks guitar playing style, listen to their song Where Evil Grows, at about the 1:35 mark you can hear the part that sounds very similar to the SLTS riff.

[@tony69rocks]

GREAT Job on this one! Really very helpful, and not just for Boston songs. Bravo!

[@keyscook]

Very well done, young man - Cheers from Seattle!

[@DCShaneTours]

Tom Scholz is one of the best rock and roll guitarists ever. I had tremendous respect for him and marveled at all his guitar techniques, I'm a guitar player also, your video has made him 10000% even more awesome in my eyes.

[@michaelaiello9525]

Definitely some of the all time greatest guitar solos of any band ever.! Ever!🤘🏽🔥🤘🏽

[@robertaugustine5350]

I had a Rockman when I was in college in the late 80s. Boy do I wish I still had that thing! Lots of guitar playing with headphones after coming home from the bar in the wee hours…

[@leehanson1416]

Great vid. Lots of '80s hits recorded with Rockman- particularly ZZTop and Def Leppard. I've owned a couple, great for recording studios scatch tracks. Also, you can sometimes get a decent Boston guitar tone by turning on both pickups, turning down the tone on the neck pickup, and running it through a compressor into a Marshall.

[@musicmanj1642]

Waking up to find a new Art of Guitar video is the best! thanks mike, from one guitar teacher to another

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

If you listen to Grand Funk’s early albums you will hear Mark Farner perfecting the “chucka-chucka” percussion on his guitar! Like “Into the Sun” for example