“Cast this shadow long that I may hide my face And in this cloak of darkness the world I will embrace
In all that I endure, of one thing I am sure
Knowledge and reason change like the season
A jester's promenade”
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I haven’t uploaded anything “progressive” in a while and thought, with the holiday and all, it might be a good opportunity to post this rather long piece. I figured, you could watch a little before dinner, then come back and finish it up after dessert. One of the things that I am thankful for is this channel and the wonderful subscribers and viewers who take the time to watch (and leave nice comments on) the videos. I’m also thankful for amazing music that inspires me to learn it, whether I’ve heard that music before or whether it is a new discovery, such as this song.
“The Pinnacle” by Kansas is off of their third album, “Masque” which came out in 1975 and features, one of my favorite bass players, Dave Hope on bass. This was the album just before Kansas broke out big with “Leftoverture”. I’m not sure how long this song lasted in their live set, but I get chills to think of a piece of music such as this being played in front of a sold out arena. Can you imagine?
If you don’t have the patience to sit through the entire song, here are a few points of interest. Please note that I did not refer to them as “highlights”. -
1:31 - I found this part deceptively trick to play and it required a lot of concentration on my part…for whatever reason.
2:49 - The sad realization that I do not have a cup of coffee by my side. This was just supposed to be a trial run to make sure my levels were decent, after which I would have gone downstairs and made myself a cup but, since I was doing pretty well with it, I decided to carry on (absolutely no pun intended, but I’ll leave it here anyway).
3:06 - I always appreciated Dave Hope’s fearlessness when it came to playing bass on his own, with no rhythmic support. He does it quite a bit and is always incredibly solid and melodic.
4:31 - Always a treat when Robbie Steinhardt steps in with his vocals which add a nice contrast, and enhancement, to Steve Walsh’s.
5:42 - This part makes me think of background music in a cartoon, think Scooby-Doo.
6:04 - Sounds like I came in a hair late, but at 6 minutes into a 9 minute piece, I was willing to forgive it. I do something similar later in the song, but the same rule applies.
6:34 - Rarely do I have the opportunity to play up that high.
7:46 - Kansas always has the most bad-ass riffs under their guitar solos.
8:20 - 8:22 - For some reason, I love this riff.
8:21 and out - Chill inducing. Not sure what makes this simple scale, and its modulation, so powerful to me, but I find it moving. And that high sound you hear on top of the scale is Steve Walsh’s voice.
I’m playing the ’76 Guild B-301 which I haven’t taken out in a while but, after listening to this, I think I will be. Also, note the Zero-Mod Thumb-rest.
Tim is a good friend and a great guy.
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