> Sunset Learns a Guitar Solo > by MoJoK20X > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever since the word 'Rainbooms' became the talk of Canterlot High, there's always the thrill of pushing the music to its limits, as well as raising the magic of friendship to its fullest. Rainbow Dash had that idea. In fact, she wanted the band to expand the former anywhere outside the school, if not the world. But, even she knows that her uncontrollable ego can launch her too high if not handled. It was always about the latter, as well as giving anyone a chance to show off with her.of course, Rainbow felt that it was time for the band to reach the next level. "Hey, Sunset!" Rainbow called as she approached Sunset examining her locker. She was once a leader of everything in her days until everything changed. She has been recognized in the past few years as either the queen of the school or the reformed heroine of all things magical, judging from experience. Ether way, she was treated as equal, and she was glad to earn respect from her friends. "Hi Rainbow Dash." Sunset smiled and waved to her friend. Rainbow detected her lack of confidence. "Look, Sunset. I know it's pretty straightforward, but as far as my carrying the band around my shoulders is concerned, I just don't wanna live the fact that my pride gotten in the way of our band, which is why we need you to step up a bit." I can see that, Rainbow Dash," said Sunset. "But, I didn't want to take that as an advantage to-" Your past and being a she-demon, blah blah blah," Her friend interrupted. "I get it. Again, no offense, but I'm surprised you still hold that memory in your head. But, that's about twenty miles beside the point. The point is that maybe, just maybe, you could forget about your past and think about not just me, but your friends." Somehow, Rainbow Dash had to convince Sunset to be a lead of something, since she and a certain purple friend are both top-tier students. Not to mention the fact that she understood magic better throughout the years. In this case, someone has to show the ex-she-demon her worth in redemption. Rainbow Dash intends to do just that. "Look, as annoying as it sounds, you should let the past go and think about the future. It's like you start earning some credit. No pressure." Rainbow exclaimed. "I know, I know," Sunset argued. "It's just that I don't want to show off too much, even if my playing music powers me up." It's not about showing off," Rainbow retorted. "And even if it is, you can never forget about the one thing anyone can have, and that's being the element of friendship - an unknown element of friendship that fights for forgiveness of others as well as respect." The words swept away Sunset's nervousness for respect. It made her proud to be an element of forgiveness, no matter how hard she tries. Rainbow Dash proposed a question. "Ever thought of making a solo?" Sunset repeated, "A solo? Umm... I never thought of it that way." Rainbow Dash pulled out a DVD with the words, 'Guitar Solos Tutorial for Beginners', and handed it to her. "Take this. It should help you right out. I bought it at Vinyl's music store. Once Sunset grabs the disc and examines it, she was bound to wonder if it is something weird going on. She attempted to ask her friend about this, but it was too late. Dash zoomed out of sight and the bell rang as Sunset packs her bag and walks herself to class, with her friend's words still in her head. Moments later at Pinkie Pie's garage, Sunset pulled out the DVD disc and inserted it into the DVD player before strapping on her guitar and tuning its strings. After the TV screen displayed static, it shows an empty studio. A bewildered Sunset wondered what was wrong with the disc until she saw some words appear on the TV screen. "If you're watching this and wondering why it's glitching like that, it's probably the frequency surrounding the TV. Here. Try strumming a note. Anything." Sunset raised an eyebrow in question before the voice persuaded her to think it is serious. Obviously, it isn't from her perspective. Then, the words, 'Look, what would a prank have to do with a guitars and frequencies and such? Huh?' appear on the TV. Of course, she had no idea what she was implying. Then again, the voice had a valid point. If music had nothing to do with pranks, what does? Sunset shrugged her shoulders and strummed a random note as she was told. Suddenly, the room shook violently, leaving the rhythm guitarist wobbling around. Before she can regain her balance, a storm of neon colors swirled around Sunset before carrying her weightlessly into the air. After seeing herself vanish, she screamed in fear. > Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The screams of Sunset Shimmer echoed throughout a dark place. Her body fully reappeared before feet touched the ground. After regaining her senses, she started looking around. She happened to be inside one of Vinyl Scratch's abandoned recording studios, which consists of modern studio equipment, instruments, headphone and chairs. Sunset then approaches to the glass and examined a Coltmaster audio mixer. But, there was not a single person is in sight. The ambience of empty sound was interrupted by a flicker of a guitar amplifier switched on, and not a stroke of feedback in sound. "Where am I?" Sunset asked in worry before looking back on the studio glass. She turns around before coming across two mint custom guitars lying on the side of the stand. Sunset picked up a guitar that was familiar to the one she first played after the battle of the bands. However, it consisted of a whammy bar on the low side, and a miniature side lever. She put the strap over her head and to her shoulder before adjusting the volume from 0 to 6. After grabbing a guitar pick from the top of its neck, she attempted to strum a few notes. Suddenly, she heard a few footsteps from outside. In walked a familiar face, or better yet, four familiar faces. Before Sunset attempts to put on the headphones as she was told, she saw Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash walking toward the the amplifiers, which slightly startled her. "Rainbow Dash...?" she exclaimed in thought with widened eyes. She couldn't believe her friends were behind this whole setup, but it's more than likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. If Rainbow Dash made that disc, how would it zap her and the others into the studio? She decides to investigate this matter, since she had trials and errors discovering magic outside the source. Rainbow turned before seeing her friend. "Hey Sunset!" "Howdy, Sunset." greeted Applejack. "Sunset, darling!" shouted Rarity. "What are you doing here?" Fluttershy wondered before approaching to Sunset with a hug. "I was about to ask the same thing." Sunset answered before hugging back. "Wait, where's Pinkie Pie?" "Hey guys!" Pinkie happily shouted. "You should totally check out the sounds in here. "I mean, I can imagine being a 90's band recording a one-hit wonder, even though we're just a school band, but not an official album band, unless somebody puts us on the radio." Rainbow Dash boasted, knowing that would be the day. "Ha! I wouldn't think so, Pinkie. But if we did end up in the radio, it would be so awesome!" Applejack retorted. "Rainbow, just what makes you think we're gonna be famous, let alone be on a radio?" Before Rainbow can respond, she and the four girls heard a tapping on the glass. They saw that it was the headphone-wearing music lover, who has absolute experience with the mixer. No one knew how she was involved in this, but despite the fact that she was a DJ for Canterlot High, her owning a whole studio was beyond them. "Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "How did Vinyl Scratch get here so fast? First her car turning into a DJ booth, now this?" "Not a clue, sugarcube." Applejack shrugged. "Oh wait! That reminds me." Rainbow Dash remembered. "I gotta teach you how to play a solo, Sunset, and since we're all here, Vinyl can record us." Fluttershy shuttered at the thought of being recorded anywhere, let alone a studio. "Record us? Ummm... I don't know if I'm up for this." Rarity lightly patted the pink-haired animal caretaker on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Now don't you worry, darling. We are all in this together, and there's no one else here but us and Vinyl. Think of it as a Girls' Night Out recording session." "Girls' Night Out?" Sunset repeated. "Yea." Rainbow blindly repeated before strapping on her lucky guitar. "Come on. I gotta show you how to do an awesome solo." Pinkie Pie approached to the drum set before setting up the screws and picking up the drumsticks, while Rarity straps on her keytar and pressing random keys. Fluttershy picks up her tambourine and wipes it from the dust while Applejack picks up her bass and plays a couple of notes. Sunset was eager to investigate this whole matter, but lets it slide as she picks up her guitar. They all put on their headphones while Vinyl adjusts the volumes of the instruments the girls are playing, making sure the sounds are all balanced. "Ok girls, Sunset is gonna be the one handling the lead while I play rhythm." the athlete instructed. She double-checked her friend's settings before consulting with her. "You've already adjusted the settings to your liking, so you won't need to worry about that now. Let's start out with something small first. Hold on." Sunset breathed for a few seconds before cuing Pinkie to play a 165beats-per-minute steady beat on hi-hat. She then signals Applejack and Rarity to play a few notes and follow the beat. The sound was slightly balanced before Rainbow speaks again. "Perfect. This should be an easy beat to practice through. You should be able to reference it in case. Now, let's begin with a few notes. Here's a basic riff I found that should help you get the gist of it. I'll play it a few times." After counting in time, she played a simple hard rock tune a few times along with the hi-hat beat. Sunset bobbed her head up and down to it before pressing one of her hands on the left of her headphones while holding her guitar neck. Once Rainbow stopped playing the simple riff, she spoke in confidence. "Got all that? Now all I want you to do is play a couple of simple notes while I play the same riff I showed you before. I'll also tell you to play another note, so listen for when I tell you. At the end of every 4, play a different note you can. I'll count you off." Sunset places her pick close to one of the strings and for the signal. Rainbow counted on beat before strumming the same riff. After playing 8 beats, she signaled Sunset to play a single note before changing into another each 4 beats. Pinkie then adds a bass kick to the hi-hat's beat. After 8 notes, Sunset felt like she was playing a hardcore tune until she cuts the music altogether. "That was good. It's a little tune warm-up I developed for note accuracy. You match perfect," Rainbow encouraged. "Now let's get to fun stuff." Sunset knew she was ready for it. She felt that the riff she recently played gave her a boost of confidence. In fact, she can felt like she can match Rainbow Dash's crazy guitar skills, if not dominate. "I can tell you have been practicing an awful lot lately," discovered Rainbow. "But I think you should broaden your horizons and play a little more freely. Can you do a lagato?" Sunset shrugged. "Hard, huh?" giggled Rainbow. "Trust me. Riffs can be solos sometimes. It's all about messing around with the strings a bit. Try grabbing a couple notes. In 8 or 16 beats a minute. That's one way of a solo." Sunset picked a couple of strings, letting out a clean sound each pluck. She started out at 8 beats a measure, then changed the pace before pausing. Rainbow was impressed. "Nice. I think you got the hang of it. But, there's more to solos than playing solids. You can bend the strings a little up or down when playing. That's called a vibrato. Another technique is called tapping. You play a high note, and tap a couple strings by it. Try vibrato first. Once Sunset took note of those techniques, she placed three of her fingers to a different string before playing a note and tapping the strings near it with her other two fingers. She then plays a phrase of notes before planting her pointer finger on an open strong and wobbling it up and down, causing the sound to change tone a few times. After releasing it, she plays a three-note chord. "What I tell ya! It's all about variety. Now let's get to business." Rainbow instructed before cuing Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy on a slow and sexy 96 beats-per-minute funk beat. "Try not to get too tempted. It's just practice. Before I test you, I set the switch to the Wah effect. This is one of the coolest effects your guitar has. For right now, let's keep it there for your test. I'll work with you on it, but this test is all about "wooing" the audience. Ready?" Once Rainbow counted on the beat, Sunset adjusted her headset straight before hearing her friends playing slow chords. She then hears her count her off before playing different notes. After working her fingers through the frets, she holds her pointer finger to a string and pushed it up and down. Both Fluttershy and Rarity moved their hips to the music as she continues finding chords and notes to play around with before ending her newfound solo with a long note. In the process, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow slowly faded their sounds to a stop. "Excellent." Rainbow congratulated. "You just made yourself a real solo. Remember, it's all about discovering new notes at the right moment and giving the song the 'extra' edge. Sometime, the crowds love when it blends just right with the song you play, but also when it's filled with variety. Now that you made a solo in a soft level, let's get to the real deal. We're gonna see if you a make a solo for something... a little hardcore." Sunset watches Rainbow's special rock riff playing at 175 beats per minute, followed by Pinkie's drums and Applejack's bass playing a fill on the same tempo. She bobs her head up and down, readying herself to play before setting her effect to . After the rhythm's four-count, every band element plays the punk rock riff while she goes into her stance. Once she found a few notes to play around with, she slides her pick across the fret before playing along with the riff. After playing it four times, she begins strumming single-string notes along with the beat. She then tries her luck playing high notes and tapping on the medium fret. The solo she played matched perfectly with the hardcore rhythm, giving her an aggressive edge. It even made Vinyl Scratch raise her arm in a rock-star sign and moved her head up and down. "Awesome!" shouted the voice excitedly. "All that finger work really did pay off, huh? Before Sunset can respond, she felt her cell phone vibrate. When she picked it up, she saw that she received a text message from Vinyl that reads, 'Time to go, rock stars. Studio closes at midnight.' "Well, I guess it's time we stop this little session of ours." Sunset smirked, despite the end of a fun studio session with all of her friends. But don't get discouraged, though." Rainbow nudged her friend. "It's all about practicing your solos, among other things." "And-" popped Pinkie. "-hoping that we don't sell out after making a hit record." The girls laughed as they walked home. Sunset felt so much joy in practicing a solo, despite the fact she preferred playing rhythm. However, she felt that playing lead -probably alongside Rainbow Dash- should boost her confidence. In fact, she wishes to show off said confidence to her friends in a guitar battle someday.