Dream Theater - The Spirit Carries On - Guitar Solo Tab

Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory

1999 6:38

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About The Spirit Carries On

Few ballads in Progressive Rock ask this much of a guitarist. "The Spirit Carries On" sits at 84 BPM in A minor, and its moderate tempo can fool you into underestimating how much control your picking hand needs to sustain the song's wide, singing note choices cleanly in E Standard tuning. The central guitar work centres on lyrical, held lines that require a relaxed but deliberate touch, and the tone needs warmth without muddiness. John Petrucci of Dream Theater shapes phrases that breathe rather than rush, so any tension in your fretting hand will show immediately. The outro solo is the real test: long bends, vibrato that has to feel vocal, and position shifts that need to be seamless. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop that section slowed down and focus on matching the pitch of each bend before worrying about speed. Getting the emotional weight of those sustained notes right is the whole point of learning this one.

• The outro solo relies heavily on slow, wide vibrato and full-step bends, so practise landing each bend precisely in tune before playing up to speed.
• E Standard tuning and the key of A minor let you use open-string resonance to add sustain to held chord voicings throughout the song.
• At 84 BPM the pulse is relaxed, but that space demands clean legato phrasing and consistent pick attack, leaving little room to hide sloppy technique.