Christopher Cross, "I Really Don't Know Anymore" (Guitar Solo Cover)
The Guitar Solo Session series features interpretations of some of my favorite guitar solos. In many cases, I try to stay true to the original solo, while also incorporating some different licks, nuances and inflections. My overall goal is to be in the musical ballpark.
About the song and the solo:
A deep album track, "I Really Don't Know Anymore" is the second song on Christopher Cross' 1979 debut album. Penned by Cross (born Christopher Geppert), the tune features background vocals by Michael McDonald, in addition to Lenny Castro (percussion), Rob Meurer (keyboards), producer Michael Omartian (piano), Andy Salmon (bass), and Tommy Taylor (drums). Cross' debut album was an unprecedented smash, reaching No. 6 on the Billboard album chart, selling more than 5 million copies and winning the Grammy for Album Of The Year. Cross also won Grammys for Best New Artist and Record and Song Of The Year for his No. 1 hit "Sailing," making him the first — and only artist to date — to sweep all General Four Grammy categories in the same year.
Special guest Larry Carlton, who was a solo artist at the time as well as a studio musician, plays a riveting guitar solo on the track. Totaling 16 bars, Carlton's lines consist primarily of C# Mixolydian and E Major. He seamless navigates the key center changes, mixing in bluesy approach notes, chromatics and tasteful arpeggios. I tried to learn this solo by ear, and it proved to be quite challenging.
For my lead guitar track, I played my Black Ibanez JEM 505 through a custom patch on my Eleven Rack designed to emulate a Bogner amp. I made the backing track by splicing together parts of the original song.
Christopher Cross' 1979 debut album is a spectacular AOR classic, ripe with stellar songwriting, impeccable musicianship and a veritable all-star guitar cast — in addition to Carlton, Cross, Jay Graydon and Eric Johnson play guitar solos on the album.
