No, actually, you can’t. MJF was actually a very good guitar player before the Parkinson’s kicked in. This video is funny but it’s inaccurate. I’ve seen MJF play. He’s legit.
you know why they call it free jazz? cause nobody's getting paid. i had a bad ass guitarist in this country band i was in and he could play all those finger pickin parts, van halen, or just about anything but he loved free jazz. i always made fun of him.
Michael Fox's mime was really compelling and inspiring to me, you could really feel like he was actually playing and living every note. what a good actor
probabaly because he wasn't acting. He can sing and play guitar for real so I expect he was doing exactly that for the scene but with a turned off mic and ampilifier
If they didn't have any photos of him, which I don't think they did, they would have no idea. By the time their son looked like "that guy we knew for a week 30 years ago," he would have slowly grown into that look so he would just look like the son they had been raising for the last 16 or 17 years.
Without pictures it would be easy to dismiss it as yeah he resembles some guy we knew but he’s our son. Most people would just assume their memories aren’t perfect and that maybe he has a few similar features. Plus it was 30 years ago for a week. Their memories of how he looked probably did a fade a little bit.
This is absolutely hilarious, probably only something another guitarist could appreciate. I always wondered how this would actually sound. Thanks a million for doing this. Speaking of other guitarists, every knowledgeable player knows he's playing a Gibson ES-345TD with a Bigsby and the varitone rotary switch. It wasn't introduced until 1959 and wouldn't have been available at the time Marty was supposed to be playing it.
That's a Schrödinger's Gibson! (Ok it doesn't _exactly_ match the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment but it's still kinda funny...to me...I guess. Hi everyone!)
YEP! As a young guitar player having got some inspiration from Back to the Future... I was sadly disappointed how there was no way to overdrive a mid 50's amp like that. A old dog guitarist who owned the classic 50's gear had to explain that they were engineering to specifically not to distort back then. Makes me giggle thinking of taking my baritone guitar and the modern metal gear I use today back to the 50's. Start playing Slayer... I doubt ears from the 50's would even connect it to what is supposed to sound evil... it would probably be so foreign it would sound like alien noises to them. But maybe Marty made a quick stop in the 60's to get some gear and planted it there later... you know like what Bill and Ted did. ^_^
@@badopcode If you aren't a writer, you could consider it. What an interesting comment from a young player with his finger on the pulse of more modern music and one foot in the door of the past. You covered all the bases and made your thoughts an interesting read for players of all ages. Your reference to the "old dog guitarist" shows respect for us old guys and the equipment that was popular back then while you're reference to "modern metal gear" and Slayer will catch the attention of younger musicians. Hang in there, my friend. Always make your thoughts public. They're really interesting. Guys my age (76) won't be around much longer and guys like you will be carrying the torch. Keep on rockin'.
1 thing for sure, Michael can play guitar and these tunes specifically. 2 possibilities: all his guitar strings were tuned half step down so the sounds came out in Bb while he's playing in B like he said - or, the audio was pitched down during the editing process. The scene where he played different chords progression than what can be heard was possibly the editor's fault, while the rest was part of the scenario of him losing his ability to play.
He actually says he is gonna play a blues riff in B, which is playing, but sounds in Bb, which is the original and the post edited version. All in all, thumbs up for Michael J Fox for actually playing it live!
Michael J. Fox neither played nor sang in that scene. The guitar work in Back to the Future for that scene was performed by a musician named Tim May. Fox did go through the added process of learning the cords to make his finger movements as accurate as possible. Also, a guy named Mark Campbell did the singing, not Fox.
It doesn't matter if he can actually play & play those songs, that's not how acting works. Not all but the vast majority of sound that's isn't actors speaking is added in during sound editing.
I love that the band didn't need any further explanation when he tells them "the dance is where they had their first kiss, if they don't kiss they can't fall in love" They're just like "yeah, seems about right"
@@BradleyHallGuitar naah, it was just in a different key. That change was probably made at editing. Fox's playing is in key relative to itself. It's a blues shuffle in A (the 2nd Chuck Berry one. The other one is also up a whole step).. The audio, however, is in B. I'm going to guess they changed the key to fit the session vocalists prime range, to "sound like" it could be coming from Marty McFly. Frankly, they did that aspect really, really well I thought. Most movies where they get a session singer to sing the protagonists' singing part - it sounds clearly like Celine Dion coming from Jenny McCarthy's fat face - type thing!😂 Clearly wrong! Or, say Michael Bolton type male vocals doing out of "Jim" from American Pie.😌 Clearly a dub in. (I think they did that as a gag on the South Park: Bigger, Thicker, Uncut movie. That resistance freedom fighter kid, sounding like Michael Bolton when he sings!😂 So funny!) And the only fallout is "know it all" guitar players in 30 years will be like...."🧐 Hmmm...it sounds incorrect - it must be COMPLETELY WRONG!☝️🤨" Yeah, it's in B, not A. Play along ⬆️a step, and you'll see...it all suddenly fits. 🙄 Buttheads! 😂👍 (I'm just playin'!)
If you had made this video in 1985, there would be about 10 million less guitar pickers in the world today! 😂 Seriously though, I think I speak for alot of us when I say, that this scene, from this movie, is the reason most of us 80's and 90's kids picked up a guitar in the first place. Definately one of the coolest moments in film history!
Perfeita colocação meu amigo! E esta cena envolve mais sentimento ainda quando paramos para refletir como está hoje o Michael J Fox no estágio da doença que não o permite mais tocar uma guitarra.
Among guitar aficionados it is often pointed out that Marty is playing a Gibson ES 335 which wasn't introduced until 1958. And truth be told the one Marty is playing is from a later model year because it has split block neck markers and a bigsby vibrato which were not available until a few years after the introduction. But hey, he travelled back in time in a Delorean so let's not quibble over the small stuff. And it is a terrific movie.
@@reuvengershon6625 I initially thought the same thing but the 345 usually has the varitone which is not present on Marty's guitar. I believe that the fancier neck inlays were used on 335s in the early 60's although I could be wrong. Gibson currently sells a 345 without the varitone. I guess most people don't like them. The old saying about the varitone is that position 1 sounds like B.B. King and the other positions sound like shit.
@@jimbonacum8917 Nope, it's definitely got the varitone knob on that guitar. That would make it at least 1959. I'm pretty sure thats the style Chuck was using during the John Lennon Toronto concert in '71 too. But you're right, still a fun movie even if not historically accurate.
Well, see it was some kind of butterfly effect caused by warping space time, and stuff because that was the only way the timeline could exist -- if there was a guitar available that he knew how to play. And he only knew how to play the Erlewine Chiquita, the Pinheads Ibanez and the ES-335. And yes, it's rated as a 9/10 Low Masterpiece, and is basically flawless. IMO it still holds up, but apparently has limited appeal (thus not a 10/10 High Masterpiece).
Michael J Fox does actually play guitar for real in the earlier scenes in the film and also briefly in the sequel, and he did later learn that solo all the way through as people kept asking him to play it.
Yes, I read that Michael J. Fox actually took lessons and learned how to play just for this movie. As a guitar player, I can see that he may not be playing it perfectly or well, but clearly he's got a novice level of ability. So many movies you can just tell they've never played a real guitar
@@ZappaSheikWhy? Because he’s a household name whose movies and TV shows will be watched for decades if not centuries to come. If you ask me God’s been pretty gracious to him.
@@leoncorbett4553 Kind of?? But I guess the general bands I've seen under that term are like Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback, Chevelle, and most of the post grunge bands of that time. So I guess in a general term yeah
@@leoncorbett4553 Non-pop harder rock on rock format radio that goes back to the 70s. This doesn't include power pop (Cheap Trick) or pop rock bands that have the odd hard song (Journey), and stops once you get to the metal-adjacent stuff. Y&T, Van Halen, and Bon Jovi are really good examples of good butt rock from the early years, and yeah, it gets a bit harder as more metal influences creep in (so you get Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, and the like). So: primarily riff-based (rather than chord progressions from poppier styles) Hooky choruses with big vocals Flashes of technical musicianship (big guitar solos, drum fills, etc.) Butt rock is that space between "get the girls" and "start scaring people."
@@leoncorbett4553 There are two different genres. Cock rock is 80s/early 90s "in yer face" rock and butt rock is cock rock's slightly softer son from the late 90s/early 2000s which is more post grunge
Well done. Really well done. An honest interpretation of what appeared on screen. And frankly, compared to most, MJF came damn close, as he said he strived to. I'm a drummer and I was in one stupid little movie and they got my hands backward and I'll never recover. So, hats off Michael J. you did your homework and the editor didn't screw you.
He does really play guitar to a certain degree so he had a general idea how to position his hands. That scene along with the ending to the second Bill and Ted movie is what made me want to play guitar haha
Well, it's not like I know how to play the guitar. In an interview she said that he practiced four weeks placing the fingers of the song on the neck of the guitar, so that in that way it seems believable.
You can hear that it was kinda there in a lot of it but that he just hadn't learned it thoroughly or cleanly (yet) and that he was playing in a different key, probably because the audio was gonna be dubbed in later and so who cares what key they use. Let's not forget that the dude practically made this movie on like no sleep due to his simultaneously being in Family Ties.
I always liked this scene because Michael can play all that stuff on guitar no problem but puts acting (maybe the directors decision?) first and plays some funny notes/chords.
@@gordianknot6867 maybe. I've worked as the audio guy on professional film shoots and often they want actors to focus on looking good and keeping the scene going and that often means that other things take a back seat even when they are within everyone's power to do so. It's an amazing scene and I think they got it right. Having MJF actually play the song would have been a bonus imo
You guys are wrong. MJF did NOT play guitar, he took guitar lessons specifically for this movie so this scene could look believable. He was a hard working, dedicated actor.
I am a musician of some hundreds of years, and this is a demo of the real guitar playing against the film version. It is excellent. Well done sir. Very real, and very excellent
He actually could play the guitar and played guitar in another film. He did learn the song for back to the future but a session player did the actual recording.
I had the great pleasure of watching Mike play this live to the crew and cast here in Wtgn with a Beatles Tribute band, he sang and played wonderfully. Great memories.
@@henrydiaz720 I always called Bill Shatner Bill as well 😂, was that wrong too. Most people prefer their given names I guess. We’re pretty casual down here.
Maybe they fixed it with the recording by doing something to have it sound lower I know there were ways to do this pre good computer recording programs.
Such a great idea. I never even considered how off those chords were until I heard you play it and then looked at his hands and thought - how did I not see that before! I can't imagine how hard you worked to get all those chord shapes. Must have been hours of work. Good job!
Of course he didn't analyse it note for note! You can't even see his hands in many of the sections when music is being played. It's an entertaining fluff piece, a bit of fun! not a serious breakdown of what he actually played.
As a trumpet player who plays many horns and a little piano and bass but not a lick of guitar, I notice this all the time, especially in horn parts, but never in guitar parts. This was sad but funny to see.
I'm a guitar player for many years and I'm pretty sure that this video is wrong. MJF's fingers ae in the right place for the proper chords and it's Bradley Hall who has assumed certain gingers were down on the fretboard when they were off or above the strings. I think MJF chords are corect and the video is trying to make this look or sound bad when it isn't .
@@Stigmatix666 That´s not the reason, actually MJF playing is on spot except for the last solo, the real problem is that the editors use tracks that are a half step down from the originals, if you compare Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry with the movie version you'll notice inmediatly, i found this video pretty unfair cause @bradleyhallguitar knows this detail, but he deliveratly ignore it to make MJF look like a fake, but he is aware that the playing of MJF makes perfect harmonic sense with the origonal realese of the tunes depicted in the movie, not only this two, but HL&TN's Power Of Love to.
@@sergiomorgado5849 Both the original recording by Chuck Berry and the BTTF version are in B-flat, and Marty's definitely playing a fret higher (in B) at some points.
The strange thing is this scene from the movie did sort of happen in real life at a live soc hop in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in early 1958. Link Wray and the Ray Men were asked to play a song called "The Stroll" for a vocal group called the "Diamonds" that were there. Link's drummer and bass player knew it but Link didn't. They started playing it so Link walked over to his Premier Amp dimed the amp volume all the way up to ten along with the tremolo effect built into the amp and started power chording to what his drummer and bass player were playing. The bass player grabbed a mic and stuck it in front of the amp. The power chords were now thundering through the PA speakers with a strange throbbing effect from the tremolo also being cranked up. The teens at the soc hop all rushed up to the stage and started slamming their fists on the front of the stage in time with the beat. It was an instant hit with the kids and they demanded Link keep playing it so Link and his Ray Men played it four times that night. The kids dubbed it "Oddball" but Link and the Wray Men recorded it a short time later, and it became known as "THE RUMBLE". It became a hit charting up to #16 and became so popular with gangs they would all go nuts and start fights whenever it came on the radio (it was banned from airplay in NYC). Guitarists Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend have all said that song was life changing because it was essentially the first use of power chords in a cranked up distorted amp. It's what inspired them to take all of the blues music they were learning and fuse it with power chords through ear splitting cranked up amps.
Bro, that 's hilarious! Always loved this scene,even though the veil has been lifted.I've been practicing this song for the last few days because it's just as great now as it was back in the 60s when i was born.Thanks wild man!
If that's what he was miming, that's pretty impressive. This was a really interesting video. I'm a fairly average guitar player but I always felt like he was relatively accurate and this seems to confirm it. Most of the time, the musician character in movies is WAY off and you can easily tell, particularly with things like guitar or piano.
It was probably the editor more than Michael J Fox miming/playing wrong. If you have the OG DVD there is behind the scene stuff where Michael J Fox is practicing shredding with Huey Lewis for the battle of the bands and for this scene. He could play everything and did as he wanted it to be authentic….
Bro...I wuz on the floor. You nailed it, absolutely. Apparently, nobody was watching They have a continuity person to check all this but, the guitar slipped through the cracks... Love yer playin' by the way
I really enjoyed this video. You are very talented. I connect with your style of playing. Incredible player. Will be listening to everything from you now.
@@Pulsar2000 That's what I heard. And honestly, it's not bad at all for someone that doesn't actually play. Or even for someone that does play, but is just trying to look flashy for the camera.
You're so right, but the die hard know-it-alls say it was fake even though Michael learned guitar and a band member from Huey Lewis and The News actually helped Michael learn more guitar for this scene.
🎸 Sign up to Bradley Hall's Guitar School for FREE! 👉 www.patreon.com/bradleyhallguitar
@BradleyHallGuitar
¿De verdad canta y toca él?, taping y todo
I want to know if you played it behind your head and while writhing on the floor like Marty did! 😂
I always wanted to play like Marty McFly in this scene. Turns out I can!
I can play only the last note that he played.
No, actually, you can’t. MJF was actually a very good guitar player before the Parkinson’s kicked in. This video is funny but it’s inaccurate. I’ve seen MJF play. He’s legit.
...stop it bro....u r killing me .....HILARIUS....!!!
thats clever
Me too! No lessons either! 🤣🤣🤣
The reactions of the other musicians on stage now make perfect sense!
Hahahahahhahaha
That was my thought as well
I was gonna say this@@zakkoehler6820
They weren't ready for that. And I am pretty sure even their children wouldn't be either.
Hahaha
“Marty‘s groundbreaking guitar work laid the foundation for future generations of free jazz.”
@@thegreenmanalishiyamadori371 I think the comment was intended to be ironic...
@@thegreenmanalishiyamadori371 I figured the comment was a reference to the scene in This Is Spinal Tap when Nigel Tufnel left the band.
"John, John! It's Marvin. Marvin Coltrane... "
you know why they call it free jazz? cause nobody's getting paid.
i had a bad ass guitarist in this country band i was in and he could play all those finger pickin parts, van halen, or just about anything but he loved free jazz. i always made fun of him.
@@mattgoett2799 ---- I had to open a different browser to upvote this criminally overlooked and hilariously appropriate comment. +1000
Michael Fox's mime was really compelling and inspiring to me, you could really feel like he was actually playing and living every note. what a good actor
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
@@henrydiaz720 xd
Not surprising because Fox can actually sing and play guitar in real life
@@d.a.thorndike8772 ohh I didn't know it
probabaly because he wasn't acting. He can sing and play guitar for real so I expect he was doing exactly that for the scene but with a turned off mic and ampilifier
now their reaction on his playing feels more authentic!
True!😂
So funny 😂
Ikrrr
Finally it all makes sense lol
THIS! 😅
I always wondered why the parents didn't find it weird that their son grew up to look EXACTLY like the kid they both knew back at school!
If they didn't have any photos of him, which I don't think they did, they would have no idea. By the time their son looked like "that guy we knew for a week 30 years ago," he would have slowly grown into that look so he would just look like the son they had been raising for the last 16 or 17 years.
True, yet they met him more than once... several times actually .
And the George is like hey, Marty's not mine!
So Marty banged his own mom then creating Marty, like Rick and Morty?
Without pictures it would be easy to dismiss it as yeah he resembles some guy we knew but he’s our son. Most people would just assume their memories aren’t perfect and that maybe he has a few similar features. Plus it was 30 years ago for a week. Their memories of how he looked probably did a fade a little bit.
"You know that new sound you're looking for?! Well listen to this!!"
That part had me dying.
They were looking for a sound that sounded like some drunk guy playing in a local dive bar
Seriously it's so good
He should have called AC/DC instead - they loved that sound :D
This is absolutely hilarious, probably only something another guitarist could appreciate. I always wondered how this would actually sound. Thanks a million for doing this. Speaking of other guitarists, every knowledgeable player knows he's playing a Gibson ES-345TD with a Bigsby and the varitone rotary switch. It wasn't introduced until 1959 and wouldn't have been available at the time Marty was supposed to be playing it.
The answer to that could inspire a hundred fan theories about Doc and his time machine exploits...
I've played guitar for years and have no clue about specs because if it's a guitar then it can play. As long as it ain't a dollar stone guitar
That's a Schrödinger's Gibson! (Ok it doesn't _exactly_ match the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment but it's still kinda funny...to me...I guess. Hi everyone!)
YEP! As a young guitar player having got some inspiration from Back to the Future... I was sadly disappointed how there was no way to overdrive a mid 50's amp like that. A old dog guitarist who owned the classic 50's gear had to explain that they were engineering to specifically not to distort back then. Makes me giggle thinking of taking my baritone guitar and the modern metal gear I use today back to the 50's. Start playing Slayer... I doubt ears from the 50's would even connect it to what is supposed to sound evil... it would probably be so foreign it would sound like alien noises to them. But maybe Marty made a quick stop in the 60's to get some gear and planted it there later... you know like what Bill and Ted did. ^_^
@@badopcode If you aren't a writer, you could consider it. What an interesting comment from a young player with his finger on the pulse of more modern music and one foot in the door of the past. You covered all the bases and made your thoughts an interesting read for players of all ages. Your reference to the "old dog guitarist" shows respect for us old guys and the equipment that was popular back then while you're reference to "modern metal gear" and Slayer will catch the attention of younger musicians. Hang in there, my friend. Always make your thoughts public. They're really interesting. Guys my age (76) won't be around much longer and guys like you will be carrying the torch. Keep on rockin'.
THE WAY HE ENDED THAT SOLO GOT ME CRYING
Too much beans put in there
FFFRRRRT!!!
That chord at the end of earth angel got me, it was played with such confidence lol
Reading this comment at the right time 😂😂😂
@@dylanbasstica8316 was giggling like an idiot and rubbing my watering eyes with that chord lol
He actually did a pretty good job matching it to what you hear in the movie.
Yes he did, and I love it when he kicks over his guitar amp.
Up until the phone call with Marvin any way.
Agreed!
1 thing for sure, Michael can play guitar and these tunes specifically.
2 possibilities: all his guitar strings were tuned half step down so the sounds came out in Bb while he's playing in B like he said - or, the audio was pitched down during the editing process.
The scene where he played different chords progression than what can be heard was possibly the editor's fault, while the rest was part of the scenario of him losing his ability to play.
Amp turned all the way down
Then added in post
He actually says he is gonna play a blues riff in B, which is playing, but sounds in Bb, which is the original and the post edited version. All in all, thumbs up for Michael J Fox for actually playing it live!
Michael J. Fox neither played nor sang in that scene. The guitar work in Back to the Future for that scene was performed by a musician named Tim May. Fox did go through the added process of learning the cords to make his finger movements as accurate as possible. Also, a guy named Mark Campbell did the singing, not Fox.
It doesn't matter if he can actually play & play those songs, that's not how acting works. Not all but the vast majority of sound that's isn't actors speaking is added in during sound editing.
I love that the band didn't need any further explanation when he tells them "the dance is where they had their first kiss, if they don't kiss they can't fall in love"
They're just like "yeah, seems about right"
'Eh, another Tuesday night dance I guess'
Saying “the show must go on!” to a bunch of performers tends to do that 😂
They were high on reefer, and who listens to teenagers anyway?
White people can be inscrutable sometimes. They just went with it.
Ok I gotta say for most of it, he was kind of close. I mean that's a lot better than most where it is horribly off.
@@BradleyHallGuitar naah, it was just in a different key. That change was probably made at editing. Fox's playing is in key relative to itself. It's a blues shuffle in A (the 2nd Chuck Berry one. The other one is also up a whole step).. The audio, however, is in B. I'm going to guess they changed the key to fit the session vocalists prime range, to "sound like" it could be coming from Marty McFly.
Frankly, they did that aspect really, really well I thought. Most movies where they get a session singer to sing the protagonists' singing part - it sounds clearly like Celine Dion coming from Jenny McCarthy's fat face - type thing!😂 Clearly wrong! Or, say Michael Bolton type male vocals doing out of "Jim" from American Pie.😌 Clearly a dub in.
(I think they did that as a gag on the South Park: Bigger, Thicker, Uncut movie. That resistance freedom fighter kid, sounding like Michael Bolton when he sings!😂 So funny!)
And the only fallout is "know it all" guitar players in 30 years will be like...."🧐 Hmmm...it sounds incorrect - it must be COMPLETELY WRONG!☝️🤨"
Yeah, it's in B, not A. Play along ⬆️a step, and you'll see...it all suddenly fits.
🙄 Buttheads!
😂👍 (I'm just playin'!)
@@lueysixty-six7300 ?????????????????????????
@@lueysixty-six7300 I thought something similar. Is it also possible he tuned down or up a half step?
@@BradleyHallGuitar Maybe his guitar was in drop C 😂
Actually, MJF knew how to play guitar. I don't know why they didn't let him play the songs if he already knew how to play well
"Marty accidentally invents future guitar techniques using time travel" is one the dumbest plot points in cinema history and I love it
So mfing dumb 😆
Yep, it's not supposed to be coherent so much as fun lol
we dont talk about the grandfather paradox lol
Yup, the secret is that white guy secretly was the master of the rock n roll guitar before Chuck Berry.
I especially enjoy how Chuck Berry got the duck walk thing from Marty despite hearing it over the phone.
If you had made this video in 1985, there would be about 10 million less guitar pickers in the world today! 😂 Seriously though, I think I speak for alot of us when I say, that this scene, from this movie, is the reason most of us 80's and 90's kids picked up a guitar in the first place. Definately one of the coolest moments in film history!
Agree 100%
Or picked up a skateboard
@@bigcladwolfdetecting6017 I DID BOTH
Honestly, hearing that first lick just gave me chills. Just like whoooooooah holy shit.
Perfeita colocação meu amigo! E esta cena envolve mais sentimento ainda quando paramos para refletir como está hoje o Michael J Fox no estágio da doença que não o permite mais tocar uma guitarra.
Bravo!!!
I’ve always wondered what they actually sounded. I just can’t believe I had to wait 38 years to hear Marty’s playing! LOL
Keep at it!
Among guitar aficionados it is often pointed out that Marty is playing a Gibson ES 335 which wasn't introduced until 1958. And truth be told the one Marty is playing is from a later model year because it has split block neck markers and a bigsby vibrato which were not available until a few years after the introduction. But hey, he travelled back in time in a Delorean so let's not quibble over the small stuff. And it is a terrific movie.
I think it might be a 345
@@reuvengershon6625 I initially thought the same thing but the 345 usually has the varitone which is not present on Marty's guitar. I believe that the fancier neck inlays were used on 335s in the early 60's although I could be wrong. Gibson currently sells a 345 without the varitone. I guess most people don't like them. The old saying about the varitone is that position 1 sounds like B.B. King and the other positions sound like shit.
@@jimbonacum8917 Nope, it's definitely got the varitone knob on that guitar. That would make it at least 1959. I'm pretty sure thats the style Chuck was using during the John Lennon Toronto concert in '71 too.
But you're right, still a fun movie even if not historically accurate.
Well, see it was some kind of butterfly effect caused by warping space time, and stuff because that was the only way the timeline could exist -- if there was a guitar available that he knew how to play. And he only knew how to play the Erlewine Chiquita, the Pinheads Ibanez and the ES-335.
And yes, it's rated as a 9/10 Low Masterpiece, and is basically flawless. IMO it still holds up, but apparently has limited appeal (thus not a 10/10 High Masterpiece).
It is a ES-345
Marty McFly Shreds
StSanders. That's a nostalgia trip
Mcflys hands really be flying across that neck
Aaah you beat me to it. Good call!
and farts at the end.
1:52 bro really played better call saul theme 💀
Thats a stretch
Michael J Fox does actually play guitar for real in the earlier scenes in the film and also briefly in the sequel, and he did later learn that solo all the way through as people kept asking him to play it.
Yes, I read that Michael J. Fox actually took lessons and learned how to play just for this movie. As a guitar player, I can see that he may not be playing it perfectly or well, but clearly he's got a novice level of ability. So many movies you can just tell they've never played a real guitar
MJF did all his own playing and singing in the movie Light Of Day. His co-star Joan Jett said he was actually pretty good.
I have read that he is actually a pretty decent player.
He played as a kid before his film career.
i saw him play it live at a Coldplay concert. even with Parkinsons he can play.
Amazing! Though I don't think they quite had that level of distortion back then, but their kids will love it!
pretty much the only way you could get distortion back then was by stabbing the speaker and putting the amp on full volume
@@itscorvid358 Also, putting those amps at ridiculously high levels
valve amps tended to get distorted/more gainy the higher the volume was
@@pedrosilvamusician That's what amps are for 😁🤘
Going deaf 4 a living🙊🙈🙉
0:20 Marvin’s face takes on a whole new meaning with the updated audio 😂😂
This was amazing. I love when the sound drops out cause we can't see what he's playing. Well done.
MJF is such a legend!
It's like if an older MJF playing the guitar! 🤭
@@territhetankedupterrapin6592 Ahh that's bad!!!!!!!!!!! But I still gave a thumbs up!!!! LOL
Yeep. And God hates him for some reason.
@@ZappaSheikWhy? Because he’s a household name whose movies and TV shows will be watched for decades if not centuries to come. If you ask me God’s been pretty gracious to him.
@@territhetankedupterrapin6592 czcams.com/video/IVy8tz54_JA/video.html
You may not like the reality of how Marty sounds, trying to play... but your kids are gonna love it!
Underrated comment!! 😂
I hope you aren't right
When Marty plays the guitar behind his head and the notes go pew pew pew.... I felt that
There is a distinct difference in acting and real life, and this video proves it. This is great for anyone who plays guitar. Absolutely hilarious.
That's probably the funniest thing I've seen in 20 years. My side's literally hurt from laughing
This should never have been made but I’m thankful it has. I didn’t know I needed this but I definitely did 😂
When Marty rose from the dead and strummed that powerful outta tune chord it was magical comedy!
When he gets fast, he actually gets a little bit better, even sounding a little bit impressive at the beginning of the song.
He's supposed to be an 80s kid who plays guitar. He had to be able to shred a little
Even with the "Real" Johnny B. Goode riff it sounds ahead of its time. It sounds like some kind of punk or butt rock riff
I still can’t figure out what the fuck butt rock is (is it a term for early 2000s radio rock bands like Nickelback?)
@@leoncorbett4553 Kind of?? But I guess the general bands I've seen under that term are like Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback, Chevelle, and most of the post grunge bands of that time. So I guess in a general term yeah
@@leoncorbett4553 Non-pop harder rock on rock format radio that goes back to the 70s. This doesn't include power pop (Cheap Trick) or pop rock bands that have the odd hard song (Journey), and stops once you get to the metal-adjacent stuff. Y&T, Van Halen, and Bon Jovi are really good examples of good butt rock from the early years, and yeah, it gets a bit harder as more metal influences creep in (so you get Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, and the like).
So: primarily riff-based (rather than chord progressions from poppier styles)
Hooky choruses with big vocals
Flashes of technical musicianship (big guitar solos, drum fills, etc.)
Butt rock is that space between "get the girls" and "start scaring people."
@@leoncorbett4553 There are two different genres. Cock rock is 80s/early 90s "in yer face" rock and butt rock is cock rock's slightly softer son from the late 90s/early 2000s which is more post grunge
wtf is butt rock?
MJF actually played this live with Coldplay a few years back, he finally stopped being a slacker
They should have played "whole lotta shake n going on"... I'll see myself out.
@@stillwelltjz6798 🤣🤣🤣 💓👋🏼🥶
@@stillwelltjz6798 Dude. That's wrong. But funny.
@@stillwelltjz6798 Ouch! but, funny.
@ghost mall I can't control how others perceive my JOKE
That made my night, and the last bit had me laughing out loud.
Never knew I need to see this, but damn glad I did.
Fucking awesome. 🤘
Well done. Really well done. An honest interpretation of what appeared on screen.
And frankly, compared to most, MJF came damn close, as he said he strived to. I'm a drummer and I was in one stupid little movie and they got my hands backward and I'll never recover. So, hats off Michael J. you did your homework and the editor didn't screw you.
The variety of content in this channel man
Big up Bradley
He does really play guitar to a certain degree so he had a general idea how to position his hands. That scene along with the ending to the second Bill and Ted movie is what made me want to play guitar haha
Well, it's not like I know how to play the guitar. In an interview she said that he practiced four weeks placing the fingers of the song on the neck of the guitar, so that in that way it seems believable.
You can hear that it was kinda there in a lot of it but that he just hadn't learned it thoroughly or cleanly (yet) and that he was playing in a different key, probably because the audio was gonna be dubbed in later and so who cares what key they use. Let's not forget that the dude practically made this movie on like no sleep due to his simultaneously being in Family Ties.
Crowd reactions seem to make so much more sense now with this audio
Since 1985, I always wondered what this sounded like. Thanks!
I always liked this scene because Michael can play all that stuff on guitar no problem but puts acting (maybe the directors decision?) first and plays some funny notes/chords.
Yeah this confused me too, cause I knew he played also. Lol
Probably wasn’t required to learn the actual song.
@@gordianknot6867 maybe. I've worked as the audio guy on professional film shoots and often they want actors to focus on looking good and keeping the scene going and that often means that other things take a back seat even when they are within everyone's power to do so. It's an amazing scene and I think they got it right. Having MJF actually play the song would have been a bonus imo
You guys are wrong. MJF did NOT play guitar, he took guitar lessons specifically for this movie so this scene could look believable. He was a hard working, dedicated actor.
@@T00LF00LHe also plays guitar in the light of day with Joan Jett
I am a musician of some hundreds of years, and this is a demo of the real guitar playing against the film version. It is excellent. Well done sir. Very real, and very excellent
He actually could play the guitar and played guitar in another film. He did learn the song for back to the future but a session player did the actual recording.
Light of Day, with Joan Jett, and Michael McKean of Spinal Tap and a billion other great things.
I had the great pleasure of watching Mike play this live to the crew and cast here in Wtgn with a Beatles Tribute band, he sang and played wonderfully. Great memories.
Mike? Oh yeah...you and mike are close personal friends.
@@henrydiaz720 I always called Bill Shatner Bill as well 😂, was that wrong too. Most people prefer their given names I guess. We’re pretty casual down here.
This was such an awesome scene! Regardless of the key change, Michael J Fox deserves huge props for making "Johnny B Goode" so authentic.
Michael J Fox was at that time a Great Guitar Player (For Real) !!
This might be the best thing I've seen on here in a really long time LOL!
MJF is a legend he is really good playing guitar he play with coldplay so many times even with parkinson’s nobody can stop him God bless MJF
Actually far better than what I was expecting.
"Well listen to this!"
3:23
😐
never knew i needed that but that was hilarious! thanks!😂
The looks the band gives makes this even more brilliant \m/
Well done.
So basically this is what Marty McFly's playing would've sounded like a half step higher.
He was playing Earth Angel two steps higher on the same guitar as well
So maybe he didnt had a standard tuning
Maybe they fixed it with the recording by doing something to have it sound lower I know there were ways to do this pre good computer recording programs.
Tunning on E flat standard was common when playing with wind instruments...
The thing is if he swaps from D standard to Eb so fast between songs!!
@@0000song0000 McFly tunes to Eb because Eddie Van Halen 😉
Such a great idea. I never even considered how off those chords were until I heard you play it and then looked at his hands and thought - how did I not see that before! I can't imagine how hard you worked to get all those chord shapes. Must have been hours of work. Good job!
It looks like just bar chords the whole time, with no apparent key.
Of course he didn't analyse it note for note! You can't even see his hands in many of the sections when music is being played. It's an entertaining fluff piece, a bit of fun! not a serious breakdown of what he actually played.
As a trumpet player who plays many horns and a little piano and bass but not a lick of guitar, I notice this all the time, especially in horn parts, but never in guitar parts. This was sad but funny to see.
I'm a guitar player for many years and I'm pretty sure that this video is wrong. MJF's fingers ae in the right place for the proper chords and it's Bradley Hall who has assumed certain gingers were down on the fretboard when they were off or above the strings. I think MJF chords are corect and the video is trying to make this look or sound bad when it isn't .
@@gabriel38g Hey thanks for the reply. Good to hear!
Great idea and amazing realization!
Earth Angel: Casual guitar mistakes
Johnny B. Goode: Aggressive strumming
He actually knows how to play but the way he played looked more cinematic.
Yeah. Director’s aren’t too hung up on.. tiny details.. like the right chords. It’s more on the level of "Okay, strike a cool pose!"
@@Stigmatix666 That´s not the reason, actually MJF playing is on spot except for the last solo, the real problem is that the editors use tracks that are a half step down from the originals, if you compare Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry with the movie version you'll notice inmediatly, i found this video pretty unfair cause @bradleyhallguitar knows this detail, but he deliveratly ignore it to make MJF look like a fake, but he is aware that the playing of MJF makes perfect harmonic sense with the origonal realese of the tunes depicted in the movie, not only this two, but HL&TN's Power Of Love to.
@@sergiomorgado5849 Both the original recording by Chuck Berry and the BTTF version are in B-flat, and Marty's definitely playing a fret higher (in B) at some points.
Michael J Fox and his strumming patterns nowadays are next level difficult
@Der_Mantie wahh cry harder
That A chord at the end of Earth Angel had me rollin 😂
1:06 - "I can't play!"
- No shit.
Beat me to it…
Except there was a little right at the end :3
🤣🤣😂
No joke, this just makes me want to watch Back to The Future now. Bloody hilarious though 😂. You get a sub!
Well, I'm glad they made the cut version of this that we all know and love today !
So classic! Rock and Roll will never die!
That solo was the first thing that made me want to learn guitar.
0:56 it's like his playing so bad he'd being erased from existence lol
The phone call makes the whole video
"LISTEN to THIS"
*technically guitar sounds*
Chuck Berry's like: "I'm not playin' that SHIT!"
2:15 On the lower right, his girlfriend is telling him "It isn't what he's really playing, ya know".
I like how towards the end, Marty has maxed out all distortion
When Rick Astley steals your daye
The strange thing is this scene from the movie did sort of happen in real life at a live soc hop in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in early 1958. Link Wray and the Ray Men were asked to play a song called "The Stroll" for a vocal group called the "Diamonds" that were there. Link's drummer and bass player knew it but Link didn't. They started playing it so Link walked over to his Premier Amp dimed the amp volume all the way up to ten along with the tremolo effect built into the amp and started power chording to what his drummer and bass player were playing. The bass player grabbed a mic and stuck it in front of the amp. The power chords were now thundering through the PA speakers with a strange throbbing effect from the tremolo also being cranked up. The teens at the soc hop all rushed up to the stage and started slamming their fists on the front of the stage in time with the beat. It was an instant hit with the kids and they demanded Link keep playing it so Link and his Ray Men played it four times that night. The kids dubbed it "Oddball" but Link and the Wray Men recorded it a short time later, and it became known as "THE RUMBLE". It became a hit charting up to #16 and became so popular with gangs they would all go nuts and start fights whenever it came on the radio (it was banned from airplay in NYC). Guitarists Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend have all said that song was life changing because it was essentially the first use of power chords in a cranked up distorted amp. It's what inspired them to take all of the blues music they were learning and fuse it with power chords through ear splitting cranked up amps.
Turned it all the way up to ten? Where could he go from there? That's right, nowhere. Nigel Tuffnel would have taken it to eleven. 😉
But this moment made me listen to classic rock…
Same
Gene Vincent is my personal favourite but Chuck Berry was the king of Rock n Roll.
I remember being like 4 and this scene made me want to play guitar.
Because of the butterfly effect, Marty caused an alternate timeline where Weird Al was assassinated in 1985.
The part where the other band members all look at him like he's got three heads makes a lot more sense now! 🤣
One of my favourite scenes from the movie, this was fucking great to watch
Bro, that 's hilarious! Always loved this scene,even though the veil has been lifted.I've been practicing this song for the last few days because it's just as great now as it was back in the 60s when i was born.Thanks wild man!
The bit behing the head.
Widdle widdle widdle
1:15 Even the smallest of details don't go unnoticed. 😂😂
This was brilliant! I know it must have taken a lot of effort but please do more of this sort of thing!
This was so strangely entertaining! Great work!
The sax-a-ma-phone-ist looking at him always kills me
1:52 better call saul
It's cool that he actually learned some of the parts for that scene.
The fart at the end was amazing
This is brilliant, thank you!
If that's what he was miming, that's pretty impressive. This was a really interesting video. I'm a fairly average guitar player but I always felt like he was relatively accurate and this seems to confirm it. Most of the time, the musician character in movies is WAY off and you can easily tell, particularly with things like guitar or piano.
It was probably the editor more than Michael J Fox miming/playing wrong. If you have the OG DVD there is behind the scene stuff where Michael J Fox is practicing shredding with Huey Lewis for the battle of the bands and for this scene. He could play everything and did as he wanted it to be authentic….
3:45 When I try to play eruption that's what it sounds like.....
"I guess you guys aren't ready for my guitar playing yet, but your kids are gonna love the singing"
Bro...I wuz on the floor. You nailed it, absolutely. Apparently, nobody was watching
They have a continuity person to check all this but, the guitar slipped through the cracks...
Love yer playin' by the way
I really enjoyed this video. You are very talented. I connect with your style of playing. Incredible player. Will be listening to everything from you now.
Oddly enough, I often wondered what it would have sounded like had he actually been playing.
AFAIK, he practised it for serveral weeks/months, to play it as good as possible. He want's to look authentic not just like an air guitarist.
Me too hahaha 🤘
@@Pulsar2000 That's what I heard. And honestly, it's not bad at all for someone that doesn't actually play. Or even for someone that does play, but is just trying to look flashy for the camera.
He knows how to play the song. He actually played it with Coldplay in 2016. Video is on youtube.
@@j_fley6702 He does now. He didn't at the time.
And he still sounds badass
On-screen Character: Super good at guitar
Real Life: Miming it to make it look good
I’ve always dreamed of reaching the level of playing it took to play this solo. Turns out I was there 10 years ago.
One of my favorite movies and this scene is great. Great video
The sad fact is that Zemekis didn't have to make Fox mime this whole scene as Fox can sing and play guitar for real
You're so right, but the die hard know-it-alls say it was fake even though Michael learned guitar and a band member from Huey Lewis and The News actually helped Michael learn more guitar for this scene.
Haha very good and excellent job in matching what you see in the movie! Hahah glad someone has finally done this!
So the ending is just a Kerry King solo.
😂
I’m not familiar with Kerry King. Were they like Cecil Taylor?
I want a full version of this rendition of Johnny B. Goode.
40 years too late
I don’t think there is one I believe it’s by someone from the Guitar Institute in a studio for the movie but I’d like to know also .
czcams.com/video/M53TruVezUs/video.html
Just go listen to the original.
@@captainkenzie6873 not the same as the movie song But Chucks original is great too .
That is some sick overdrive .