Most Overrated Song

[00:00:03][music] This is Shred. And when I was 15, my mom threatened to take my amp away forever.

[00:00:12]Why? Because she got sick of me playing Sweet Child of Mine 420 times a day.

[00:00:16]Sounded more like Sour Child of Mine at the time to be honest. Now, just like my mom, sometimes people get fed up with this track. Honestly, it's everywhere. 3 billion streams on Spotify, 2 billion YouTube views. That's billion with a B, by the way. And here's the crazy thing.

[00:00:32]For years, Guns and Roses couldn't get their [ __ ] together. Such a waste of talent. But eventually, a few years ago, Slash and Axel finally buried the hatchet. Now they're back on the road.

[00:00:42]So today, we'll catch up with the band in Berlin. Now get ready because we're about to watch one of the most overplayed songs in history. [music] If you're interested in music theory, writing songs, guitar technique, check out my free theory [music] bible below.

[00:01:08]Hurry before I change my mind. This is going to be interesting. Uh here we go.

[00:01:12]A video uploaded by Ice Smoothie. And uh we're going to check it out. Guns and Roses Sweet Child Mine in Berlin. You ready? Let's go.

[00:01:25]Darius man slash.

[00:01:30]This guy [music] just incredible musician. He still looks the same. Man, he's looking jacked actually, too.

[00:01:38][music] Maybe he's on those uh those slash roids.

[00:01:44]There's the whole crew. I mean, they got uh Right [music] Duff on uh bass.

[00:01:51]The second guitarist looks new.

[00:01:54]Is that Izzy? I don't even know. I can't [music] tell.

[00:01:58]>> Verse one. Here he is. Axel Rose.

[00:02:01][music] >> O. Yeah, it's just uh not what it used to be, right? A lot of people accuse him of sounding like Mickey Mouse now, [music] which [ __ ] it's pretty accurate, to be honest.

[00:02:19][music] Oh, I'm going to cry. Here we go. Listen to this, [music] dude. I love that as a pre chorus because he takes the lick, right, and then he changes it. In fact, we got to check that lick out, guys. This is one of the most iconic licks ever written in all of rock. Uh, so what you have is this string skipping uh sort of lick, right? A lot of you guys probably know this. Um, let's see. Wait a minute.

[00:02:50]That's not right. It's going to be like, uh, there we [music] go. And then, uh, we jump up to the high E string. You have these big sort of, uh, intervalic skips, which is it's, it makes you feel like a real man when you first learn this lick, right? That's why I was playing it 420 times a day.

[00:03:14]It's It's really a beautiful sound. Um, and this entire kind of song is built around like the D mixelyian [music] sound. So if we were to map out like the mixelyian chords, right? I know a lot of us may know that scale, but the [music] chords, man, those are the game changer.

[00:03:33]So you got D to C, right? Like this. And then we finish up with this G chord.

[00:03:41][music] And that is the mixelyian chord formula. So, now that we're going through this, we'll have a little better understanding of what we're dealing with. You ready? Let's get back into it.

[00:03:55][music] Yeah, he's really struggling to get up there. [music] You can only tune down so much, right?

[00:04:05]It's just like [music] it is what it is.

[00:04:08]Now, we have this interlude instead of getting right [music] back into the next verse. Like the melodies are so strong here. [music] Slash has this incredible sense of the line. [music] He's a brilliant composer.

[00:04:27]Oh, I should [music] be Axel is just Yeah. Wow. Not sounding great. Slash I feel like sounds even better though than he [music] did cuz half the time back in the day, man, he was just like drunk out of his mind on stage, right? [music] I think he's locked in now.

[00:04:47]In fact, I think Slash had like [music] some kind of um heart transplant or implant keep his his heart going a valve [music] when he was really young, like probably 35, cuz he was just drinking handles of vodka every [music] day.

[00:05:03]It's great, you know, that he's still around. Okay, here we go. Another interlude. He's got his axe tilted up like a [music] cello.

[00:05:13]jamming with Duff, [music] dude. Yeah, I know we focus on trying to hit, you know, 666 [music] beats on the metronome, but man, we just like that's not usable [music] most of the time in songs. What we're hearing now is just these slow, gorgeous melodies [music] and we're building to something, right?

[00:05:39]Something's about to happen. [music] [music] We're getting to that. Oh my god. Yeah, it's just barely.

[00:05:53]I would suggest, Axel, that you castrate yourself. That's going to give you at least another, you know, [music] half an octave. Okay, here we go.

[00:06:02]This could be this [music] could be the greatest solo in all of rock history.

[00:06:08]And everything changes at this point, you know, like now we have this chord progression that's feels exotic, but every line, his phrasing, right, is is musical. [music] He's not just like hashing out fast licks. He really has [music] an idea about what he wants to say here. He's making a statement, an artistic statement. The W pedal comes on.

[00:06:35]>> [music] >> Let that be a lesson to Kirk Hammond, right? Uh you don't have to play wall all the time. Just half the time is good. [music] And duck jumping around. [ __ ] son.

[00:06:48][music] [music] Dude, it's it's incredible what he's doing [music] cuz that is pretty high velocity there, right? He's playing a lot of notes, but you still get this sense that there's like a melody going by. Where we going to go? I want to go to Slash's house and learn uh some licks. [music] That's where I'm going.

[00:07:20]>> [music] [laughter] >> Oh, there's his dance, man. [music] [ __ ] I remember that one.

[00:07:29]He had the stomp. [music] He's not quite on like uh Michael Jackson's level, right? Doesn't have a moonwalk or anything, but he's got the the slither [laughter] slashes back in with just these incredible licks. [music] You notice how he he's kind of like in his practice position when he [music] puts it up on his leg. He can get better access to the neck, but also looks cool.

[00:07:57]So, it's functional. Plus, it's aesthetic.

[00:08:00][music] Oh man, Axel just sounds like he's in pain the whole time. It's rough. Now, one thing's for sure. Sweet child of mine is overplayed as when you hear something that much, you start tuning it out. It becomes background noise. But honestly, this video just being able to slow down and really listen kind of rediscovered just how great this track is. Catchy hooks, soaring melodies, exotic scales, dynamic shifts. I rarely hear songs on this level anymore. And yeah, Axel Rose sounds like Mickey Mouse, [laughter] but what are you going to do? I think the nostalgia factor is more important. You know, people are coming out and buying tickets because they're reliving their past, and that's really the power of the music. Now, I'm curious. What's your favorite Guns & Roses