John’s notes; This is a beautiful ballad written and recorded by Richard Marx. Check out before playing my arrangement to get a flavour of how it goes. I have arranged this as a ‘Power Ballad’ suitable for electric guitar. This song is great as a melodic practicing tool because it has a strong melody and allows for a wide variety of ‘improvisation’ techniques such as bends, pull off’s, hammer on’s, and dynamics (playing parts quiet and loud). Once you’ve got the timing and basic melodic structure down by following the TAB this arrangement allows you to be very creative in your playing. From Phrase 32 to the end I maintain the basic melodic theme but ‘improvise’ by playing phrases I think serve the tune but allow for creativity. This is what ‘improvising’ means - always serve the tune but feel free to express your own way of playing it! That’s why learning by heart the 3 ‘shape’ scales ‘A’, ‘D’,and ‘E’ is essential to play over the underling chords. To be able to improvise (not playing random notes but always serving the tune) is a great joy, and adds interest for the player and the listener. I use a touch of distortion (gain/drive) on the amplifier to add a little ‘edge’ to the melody. This helps to provide sustain (length a note lasts) which suits power ballads. I also switch between the middle pickup and bridge pickup on the guitar when going from the verse to the chorus. This gives the chorus more prominence and cuts through the backing better. I also pluck a little harder to increase the volume slightly.