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About This Song
I named this song “Take Flight” because the guitar melody feels like a young bird standing on the edge of a cliff — hesitant at first, then jumping off and discovering the thrill of flying.
The song starts soft and a little shy. Then the chorus builds courage with each refrain, and by the solo it truly takes off with energy. That’s the feeling I wanted to capture.
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! 🎸