“TOYS IN THE ATTIC”
Aerosmith
THIS CLASSIC UPTEMPO rocker and title track from Aerosmith’s blockbuster third album showcases guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford’s excellent arranging teamwork, as they effectively combine different, complementary parts with their similarly overdriven Gibson Les Pauls that mesh together beautifully.
The song kicks off with an instrumental iteration of the chorus, with Perry deftly picking a busy, grinding E minor pentatonic riff in 1st position while Whitford provides a supportive yet unobtrusive power chord part punctuated with percussive, fret-hand-muted “chucka” strums. The two guitarists come together at the end of the repeating four-bar phrase (bars 5 and 6) by doubling power chord accents then
