18-year-old virtuoso Damiano Christian just released his brand new EP "Built in Good Value" and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the cover of the Beatles classic "She Loves You". Here is the story:
I guess the inspiration and influence to actually do this song came from the drive of wanting to actually get my first real break into the mainstream rock scene. I love doing covers and the only band I could think of that made their big break off a cover was Van Halen with "you really got me" by the kinks. They basically took that song, spiced it up, changed the structure a bit and Eddie added a shredding guitar solo into it which you wouldn't hear from bands out of the 60s like the kinks or the Beatles.
So for starters I took the main riff George Harrison plays before the verses , messed around with it for a bit and figured that's how I'd start the song , with a huge bang or kick in the gut. The vocals I kept like the original , you can't mess with or change John and Paul's vocals they're already good and doing that would be sacrilegious. So I sang both the melodies and harmonies , each having their own separate track in the recording process.
With the main verse chord progression I added some little nuance transitions between some of the chords. That inspiration came from listening to a lot of Quiet Riot when Randy Rhoads was in the band, I have my sister doing a bit of that as well on bass.
When it came to the solo I got a bit stuck the first time around because I learned you can't just play in G minor pentatonic due to the way the chord progression is. So the second time around when I re-did the solo with producer David Ivory I figured why not play the vocal melody as the solo with a few embellishments on it and some fast picking licks at the end of it to finish it off. Off the whole EP we just released yesterday "Built in Good Value" I feel that's one of the best solos I ever recorded.
A little Easter egg you'll hear at the end of the song is my little homage to Randy Rhoads where I play one of his most famous live licks you'd hear him do a lot on concert bootlegs at the end of songs and I finish it off with his kill switch effect he always did like in the live version of Crazy Train.
So again thank you for this wonderful opportunity and don't forget to go check out our new EP "Built in Good Value" on iTunes, google play, Spotify and Amazon, available for release now!
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the EP right here!
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