Available for Commercial Licensing
About This Song
I named this song “Take Flight” because the melody reminds me of a young bird standing on the edge of a cliff — hesitant at first, then leaping off and experiencing the pure thrill of flying for the first time.
It starts soft and shy, then slowly builds courage through the chorus, until the solo finally takes off with energy and freedom. That’s exactly the feeling I wanted to express.
As a guitarist, it also captures that exhilarating moment when you stop overthinking and just let your fingers fly.
I didn’t realize that Joe Satriani also has a song called “Take Flight” until after I had already published mine and registered it with BMI. Interestingly, my version uses a similar song structure to some of his early melodic tracks — especially “Ten Words.” While I’m not comparing my playing to his, I definitely grew up listening to a lot of his music, so there’s a subtle nod to that influence in my style.
Gear Used in This Song
Guitar: I used my Shijie TM6 (purchased in 2020). It’s not currently in production, but it looks very similar to the Jackson Virtuoso. It has stainless steel frets, a one-piece maple neck, and an ash body. I can’t say enough good things about this guitar — you’ll hear it on more songs going forward.
Backing Track: I created the backing track using Band-in-a-Box by PG Music. It’s an excellent tool for quickly generating realistic backing tracks that I can play along with. Learn more about Band-in-a-Box.
Lead Guitar Recording: I recorded the lead guitar track live in Gig Performer 5 using their Streaming Audio Player for real-time effects switching. The entire lead performance is one straight take from start to finish.
I made a video about the Gig Performer setup here: Gig Performer 5 Demo (Effects Switching in Real Time for Live Guitar Performance)
I mixed everything in LUNA using Softube’s Console 1 Mixing System with a mix of Universal Audio and Softube plugins. The lead guitar track is Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro on the ‘rocker grit’ and ’80’s lead’ presets. I also used a few UAD plugins on the backing track instrument stems. The master track was polished with Universal Audio’s A-Type Multiband Dynamic Enhancer and Softube’s Equalizers and Weiss DS5 mastering plugins — which made the song come alive like someone lifted a blanket off the speaker.
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Thank you so much for listening and supporting independent instrumental guitar music! 🎸