I Ran (So Far Away) Guitar Lesson – A Flock of Seagulls
In this I Ran (So Far Away) guitar lesson video, I will demonstrate how to play all of the guitar parts for this 80's smash hit by A Flock of Seagulls.
Obviously, the guitar tone, with it's very succinct delay driven tones is very important. Feel free to download the PDF below that gives a complete rundown of the effects and settings I am using in this video lesson.
I Ran (So Far Away) Tone Settings PDF Download
After you have the tone dialed in, you will find that from the very first guitar chord, the delays will dominate the sound. Make sure to immediately mute each chord to give the delays a very tight feel.
From there we will have a few chords that are allowed to ring as they build the tension into the verse.
For the verse I have opted to turn off the delay since it allows the palm muted verse notes to pop-put more.
I then kick the delay back in for the chorus and it's long sustaining notes. It is very simple to play, but sounds huge with the proper delay and reverb settings.
The next section we will cover is the main guitar solo. This solo is very melodic and perfectly matches the song and the delay settings that are carrying the melody.
After the solo you will be back to playing the main chords that opened the song but in a slightly different order. Make sure you catch that part of the lesson since it is a bit different from the beginning of the song.
I will also cover the outro solo which is once again very simple and repetitive, but has a huge sound because of the delays.
All-in-all, I Ran (So Far Away) is a pretty easy song to play that is a ton of fun once you get the proper tone dialed in. Enjoy!
Carl...
If these free lessons help you, please donate to keep new ones coming daily. Thanks!! 🙂
I Ran (So Far Away) Guitar Lesson - A Flock Of Seagulls
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Thanks, Carl for teaching us this song and thanks especially for providing the detailed settings for the sound.
Hey Carl! thank you so much for your lessons you are amazing and a great teacher! I was looking through your song list and i was wondering if there is a way to know the difficulty level of each song? being a beginner that would be very helpful. Thank You!
I used to have them categorized in style or ability level but that just confused people since what makes a player and beginner, intermediate or advanced player varies from the opinion of each player visiting the site.
So I thought, alphabetical would be best. 🙂
Hi Carl,
Would you have any interest in teaching Scar tissue by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers with the slide parts?
You are the man Carl! I just recently joined and have learned so much already, techniques, songs, on and on. Thank you for your time and commitment to helping others learn this stuff!!! I’ll try to donate regularly.
Jason
Thanks Jason!