KISS - Rock and Roll All Nite

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Theatrical glam rockers KISS were under pressure to release their third record, Dressed to Kill, in 1975, so guitarist Paul Stanley dreamed up the seeds of their hit “Rock and Roll All Nite” in a hotel room while they were working on the record.

The track hit the airwaves as the first single, but it actually took several tries to stick. Later in 1975, KISS released Alive, which captured the excitement of their live shows, and this live incarnation of “Rock and Roll All Nite” finally became a hit for the band.

DIAL TONE

What They Use: Ace Frehley played mostly Les Paul Custom guitars in his KISS days, while Paul Stanley is known for playing an Ibanez Iceman. They both ran their guitars mostly through Marshall heads and cabs.

How to Get the Sound: Run a guitar equipped with humbuckers through a tube amp, and try cranking the midrange, leaving the bass flat, and add a touch of high end and reverb.

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THE TUNING
“Rock and Roll All Nite” is tuned down a half step from standard tuning (E♭-A♭-D♭-G♭-B♭-E♭), so make sure to crank your strings down to get the sound the band does on record. The transcription is written relative to standard tuning, so if you hand this over to your band, they’ll either have to tune down as well, or else transpose their parts down a half step. (Of course, you can always play the song tuned up to standard tuning, as long as you can sing the high notes… so that’s how those tightpants costumes come in handy.)

PARTIAL CHORD RIFFING
Throughout most of “Rock and Roll All Nite,” guitarists Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley carefully piece together partial chord shapes—instead of full-on barre chords—to create their nifty licks. Pay close attention to the notes and fretboard placement of the opening signature riff (Rhy. Fig. 1), since this riff is often misinterpreted by cover bands. Barre across strings 2–4 with your index finger at the seventh fret, and the double hammer-on to the G/D chord is a piece of cake. A common mistake here is to play only the top part of the hammer-on (at this position, or down at the nut), resulting in a Dsus4 chord—it may sound ok, but it’s not quite as cool as the real riff! When you hit the E5 chord a few measures later, play it in a similar fashion—by barring with your index finger across the third and fourth strings. This leaves your ring finger free to grab the embellishments on beats 2 (F#) and 4 (C#)—two more slick moves that guitarists often miss. Then check out how Frehley grabs that A5 chord up the neck, while Stanley pounds out a lower version down at the nut. You’ll find this interplay throughout the tune—especially on the E5 and A5 chords (Figs. 1A and 1B)—and it gives the song a brighter sound by spreading the chord tones out (instead of the thicker—and possibly muddy—tones you’d get from doubling full chords).
In the Pre-Chorus, Frehley and Stanley slide slowly down the fretboard for a swooping effect. This is notated by a slide accompanied by the “steady gliss” note between notation and tab. Continue sliding for the full note value—in this case, that means you’re sliding down for a complete beat and a half.

GUITAR SOLO
Frehley kicks off the solo with a repeated bending lick inspired by legendary blues rocker Chuck Berry. The seed of this sweet lick is shown in the first bar of Fig. 2. Notice how Frehley doubles its length by taking his time and stretching out the second bend (if he didn’t do this, the first three eighth notes would match the second three eighth notes exactly and our lick would only last one and a half beats). Armed with this three-beat sequence, Frehley then repeats the lick until it runs its course after three measures (with some slight variations possible due to the adrenaline rush of a live atmosphere.) This lick—and pretty much every other tasty lick in the Guitar Solo—is sculpted from the most popular shape of the minor pentatonic scale (Fig. 3). Frehley kicks things up a notch by moving this minorpentatonic shape up an octave for the second half of the solo (at the top of the next page), where it starts on the 17th fret. He even repeats part of his Chuck Berry lick, then navigates a few screaming bends before popping down for the signature riff at the end of the solo.

SOUL MAN IN PLATFORM SHOES
After the Guitar Solo, Frehley plays some earcatching licks in the following Pre-Chorus. Barre across the 13th fret with your index finger, using your middle finger to trill (a quick series of hammer-ons and pull-off ) on the 14th fret of the third string, then grab the notes on the 15th fret by barring with your ring finger. On the “and” of beat 4, slide this lick up two frets. Ace closes this flurry of notes with some sliding 6ths taken straight from the book of Steve Cropper. As a member of Booker T. and the MG’s (also known as the “house” band for Stax Records), Cropper influenced a generation of guitarists, and one of his signature moves was sliding 6th shapes around the fretboard (Fig. 4A). You’ll hear this sound “crop” up all over, like in the opening of “Soul Man” (both the original Sam and Dave version and the later Blues Brothers version). Note how Frehley’s take on this trick ends with a 3rd interval, instead of a 6th (Fig. 4B).

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Want more? Check out these cool links at guitaredge.com
• Get more KISS guitar tabs and download jam tracks to KISS songs at guitarinstructor.com
• Get KISS transcription books and a live KISS performance DVD at musicdispatch.com
• Download “Rock and Roll All Nite” from iTunes
• Visit the band online at kissonline.com
• Get cool KISS gear at oldglory.com