The Music Theory Of Randy Rhoads
Randy Rhoads’ Neoclassical Genius
Beginnings, Life, and interest in classical guitar
Randy Rhoads grew up in California, and was raised in a very musical family. Both his parents were music teachers and musicians, and his two siblings also grew up being musicians. His mom, Delores, received a Bachelor's degree in music at UCLA, and was a professional piano player. She eventually opened up a music school in Northern Hollywood called “Musonia”.
Randy started up guitar lessons at age 7, which is pretty young, but having so much music in the family, it’s very normal and reasonable to start at this age. He enjoyed classic rock bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc; and learned a ton of music theory from classical guitar and piano lessons from the school and his mother. His first guitar teacher had to quickly drop Randy as his student because of how quickly Randy advanced. At first this might sound odd, but given how much his life was centered around music, there's no doubt this was a possibility.
In middle school, Randy met Kelly Garni, and they formed a few cover bands throughout their youth, and getting experience playing live shows at such a young age…and this is what really shapes maestros, because a lot of players don’t get that stage practice at such a young age. Bands like The Scorpions really influenced his lead playing, because a guitarist like Michael Schenker in the 70s was pretty damn insane. If you haven’t checked Schenker out, go do that now.
It was at the age of 16 where Rhoades was good enough to start teaching at his mothers school, and this was also the time where he formed the band Quiet Riot, and they did pretty well because they got a record deal in 1976, and record deals back then were much more important. The band ultimately split due to member conflicts…but this is where things get good for Randy.
In 79, Ozzy recently got fired from Black Sabbath, one of the biggest and first metal bands ever. He was attempting to make a comeback with making solo music, in which he recruited band members, and needed a guitarist.
Randy’s audition was quick, as he impressed Ozzy within 30 seconds, and got the job.
Alright so now that we’ve got this basic understanding of how Randy started, what makes him such a genius?
If we take a look at Ozzy’s first solo album “Blizzard of Ozz”, the first and biggest hit “Crazy Train” gave birth to one of the most iconic heavy metal riffs of all time… and this is where the genius really shows in how decades later, metal bands still take inspiration from this:
See the riff, being in f# minor, consists of a minor 6th. The minor 6th has been used in metal many many times, such as:
Avenged Sevenfold - Unholy confessions
Bullet For My Valentine - Tears Don’t Fall
Asking Alexandria - The Final Episode
Basically any metalcore song loves the minor 6th. Now of course, Randy didn’t “invent” this interval, but seeing how popular the riff is, and how that position on the guitar is used all the time in metal today, is pretty incredible.
You can even argue that the “Sweet Dreams” synth melody reflects the first half of the crazy train lick. If I transpose sweet dreams from c minor to f# minor, here’s how it sounds.
Pretty close huh?
In this riff, randy also makes use of the relative key of A major. Now… a relative key is where a minor and a major key have the same key signature, so they share the same notes in the scale. But since we’re starting on a F# vs an A, the tonality and overall feel is different. Since the riff consists of two measures, you can argue that in the second measure he plays around with A major, because of the last note being “E”, signaling a cadential like note at the end of the riff.
See, this relative keys thing has been used for centuries, and it would make sense that randy knows when to use this, because it’s a huge aspect of classical music. Just check out Beethoven's "Fur Elise” in which the main motif uses the key of A minor, and then goes to C major.
Now this is only the tip of the iceberg, as randy never wanted to keep things this simple.
In the intro of one their most famous songs “Mr. Crowley”, it features a dark organ piece, using mostly diatonic chords in d minor, aside from minor ii chord at the first cadence, as well as using a V chord in the home key.
Aside from this song also making use of the relative keys of d minor and F, there's a particular voice leading harmony that really shows Randy's genius, which happens in the bridge of the song.
He harmonizes with 3rds and fifths, which basically makes our ears hear the same melody, harmonized together.
Of course, the guitar solos in the song are the most iconic parts, and he's mostly using the natural minor scale in the first solo, and then the harmonic minor scale in the second solo. In the second solo, he does a nice job of emulating what a pianist would do if holding out chords in the left hand, and arpeggiating in the right hand.
His song “Revelation” is also a really neat example of his neoclassical genius. The intro, being on an acoustic guitar, makes good use of the flat 5, in which one could argue he was hinting at a secondary dominant chord, but more on that later.
The intro reminds me of a classical piece, Estudio in E minor by the great Francisco Tarrega.
There's more of Randy using this composer as inspiration in their next album, which we will talk about later, but in terms of Revelation:
This song could be argued to be in E locrian, or using an e minor scale with a flat 5, b flat. Thats why we constantly hear this recurring bVI chord, or the Bb major chord. Even sometimes hitting a g#, making it a bVI7 chord.
This can be referred to as chord borrowing, or taking chords that belong in other keys,and it’s often non functional, but it still sounds cool.
This verse honestly has a lot of weird spicy chords and chromaticism, like using an f minor triad, as well as a VII/V chord (A major), resembling a typical classical cadence.
Leading up to the solo is what you’d typically see in a symphonic setting, and the drums mimic those accents on the diminished and dominant chords that randy plays.
Now, in terms of the guitar solo, it’s as neoclassical as it gets. Trills are a very common classical expression, as the first part is an e harmonic minor trill sequence, and from there mostly sticking with that sort of scale.
It should be notes Ozzy’s vocals aren’t classical or choral, as you’d probably guess, but lyrically sometimes he does hit home of all of these biblical references that you’d normally read in a choral setting:
“Father, of all creation
I think we're all going wrong
The course they're taking
Seems to be breaking”
Another side note, Randy’s song “dee” just being a solo classical guitar piece is very Bach like. It has a similar feel to the Bouree in E minor, check it out.
And harmonically he uses things like the V7 chord and the V/ii chord which would be B7, and resolves to E minor. Randy really liked those secondary dominant chords, huh?
Anyways, most people would agree that Diary of a Madman is where Randy really shines, and I can agree to that.
Like for example, if we start looking at the opening track, Over The Mountain, randy used the key of g minor, but adds a flat 2 in the riff, giving it a more aggressive and metal feel. And the first solo lick is a nice little legato run in c minor.
Some of the more obscure tracks on this record have some of the cooler melodic and harmonic colors.
One of my favorite little licks off this record would be in the song “Believer”, because of his use of the flat 5. Key of Eb major, working in an A natural instead of a B flat.
In the song, “little dolls” in the interlude, he follows a nice sounding Ab major chord progression.
*I IV11 iv11
Now the last, but certainly not least song we need to appreciate and point out, is diary of a madman, the song itself.
The intro follows some spooky diminished and altered chords, in which it slowly makes its way to our home key of Ab minor.
That intro is very cool sounding, and David Schramm did an awesome job of analysing the chords randy used, like in the first measure, its an A7#4 chord.
*Now, Schramm’s article, which you must go read because it’s awesome and very informative, compares Randy's intro, to Leo Brouwer's 6th etude. The chords are very similar within the first 7 measures.
Now this is pretty damn close. I’ve brought this up to one of my classical guitar teachers, and apparently Brouwer was aware of this, but never took legal action due to randys passing. No idea if this is true, but could this be considered stealing, or just inspiration? It’s hard to say, but I look at it like this:
Randy using this cool chord progression and bending it around a bit for rock and metal musicians to be able to digest a bit easier, could be looked at as a good thing in terms of new chords, more theory for rock and metal, and some guitarists getting more interested in classical guitar. If more made this connection, they might seek out more of Brouwers music.
However, this could also be looked at as bluntly stolen music, but that’s up for you to decide. I don’t agree with this.
David Schramm’s article also showcases Francisco Tarrega’s “Recuerdos De La Alhambra” as a comparison to the main riff after the intro.
He compares it to the bass notes in Tarrega’s piece in the intro, in which both have a pretty similar feel.
This shouldn’t be as surprising considering Randy wanted to ditch the band and go study classical guitar, because he never wanted to limit himself to metal. But there have been rumors of Ozzy punching randy after hearing that, probably out of nerves of losing his bandmate and friend.
Regardless of this, after Randy’s passing of course his work has been studied for many years to come, and I think he’s a guitarist that is really overlooked.
