What happened to the Guitar solo??

[Ansil]

after reading tims post i ahve to agree on many levels. but what do you do when you become known as someone who is a hired gun for that type of music.

i get called all the time to do that sort of stuff, and have played evertything from country to classical metal to blues and in between,

but i get bored easily i guess thats why i stick with what i do best

[MarkB]

right on the money, Tim..
there ARE a few exceptions - and those are the ones that have REALLY risen above, or they were a gunslinger surrounded by musicians who knew how to make good songs (Early VH comes to mind).

But generally, yeah.. I remember all the neo-classical shredders in the late 80s..  jaw-dropping chops, but completely unlistenable.  My musician friends were all trying to play it - and couldn't understand why I had NO interest, as I popped my headphones back on and listened to some Hoodoo Gurus.
"-)

[Boofhead]

I recently went through a heap of 70's/80's hits and it really made me think how contrived and pre-formatted the music is these days.  The other thing which is missing is nice little guitar fills etc which broaden the sound of the track.  The guitar stuff is all nuances and there's just no room for these in the commercial scene anymore - the record companies just want to churn or recipies which the lowest common denominator likes to eat.

You have to admit though, a good deal of 80's solos in popular music were pretty uninteresting and pre-formated themselves often you could tell it was time for all too predictable solo to hop in.

I noticed a few of the time-life re-releases of some of 70's hits had the guitar solo parts truncated from the end - what ar*holes.  So there you go....

[WGTP]

Eric Clapton Crossroads, Spoonful, Sushine
Jimmy Page Starway to Heaven, Since I've been loving you, Black Dog, etc.
Jeff Beck everything
Leslie West Mississpi Queen, Dream Sequence,
Van Halen You really got me, Get me Doctor
Hendrix everything
Billy Gibbons La Grange
George Harrison rythme
Joe Walsh
Pete Townsend
Chuch Berry
Johnny Winter
etc.  

When you can match those, you can play a solo.  

[WGTP]

Forgot, when you can match:
The first time you fell in Love
The first time you lost at love
The first time you realized you were mortal and were going to die.
Miles Davis
Blackmore Highway Star
Pearlmans Violin virtuosity
Maynard Fergusons High notes
Most Sax solos
The black girl that sings in "Gimme Shelter"
Roger Daultery's scream in Won't Get Fooled again
John Bohnam's drum fills
Honky Tonk Women
Prince doing the splits
Micheal Jackson Moonwalking
The first time you got laid
The wolf pack's howl
The Coyote's wails out back of the house
A Stallion Thundering thru the prairie
The Angus Bull bellowing across the fence
The Grand Teton Mountains
Most Sunsets and Sun Rises
Dropping the clutch in a 440 GTX
Michele Pfifer's lips
A Rocket headed for the cosmos
A lightning Strick at point blank range
An F5 Tornado 1 mile south of your house
A '68 Z-28 at 6000 RPM in 2nd gear
A 454 at 7000 RPM in 3rd gear with your stoned brother at the wheel
A Porsche Turbo at 100 mph on the local highway
A Black Fire
THE BEATLES
A snoot full of Wahocan
A shot of Jack Daniels
Bad Company
Great Balls of Fire
The first time you picked up a Les Paulo
The smell of a Marshal
Jim Brown runnig the football or Walter Payton going around the end
A 16 year old chearleader in mid air
Frodo getting the ring into the fires of Mordor
The sound my son makes when he is filled with joy
Sweet Thistel Pie

Then you can play a solo and I'll listen.

[Fret Wire]

Blackmore - Highway Star. I'll second that. Especially the Made in Japan live version. Got it all: tone, technique, gut playing, and maniac whammy bar work.

[Lonestarjohnny]

WG you got it Bro,I can Dig it !
Don't buy no gangsta
Don't buy no Perry Como
Don't Buy no Julie Andrews
Don't buy no Pat Boone
Just give me RockNRoll Music
any'olway you choose it
Just gotta be RockNRoll music !
JD

[petemoore]

Is the drummers for these new bands..we've been checking out to see what the kids are up to these days.
 Guitar players a paddling Pegged Line6's.
 Bass players..the one kid had 8x8 cab.
 The Drummers are the ones 'playing' the song...albeit tharsh punk new genre.
 The amout of energy coming off the drummers, and the interesting hybrid techniques looked like alot of fun to play.
 Guitars played sorta like organs playing guitar or something...mostly finger across the bass side going Bo BO...BO Bo bo Bo, a wierd note or 5, then back to the rythm grind. Like Sex Pistols meet Pantera, but with 2 'modes' [fast and wierd], and only one tone, with very hard to distinguish attack or dynamics.
 Being a guitar player and all, I'm sure because I understand it...just seemed too boringly easy to be remotely interesting, Dime a Dozen on the new guitar hacks...  Them drummers...how do they figure that out...it would not be easy for me to sit behind a drum set and play song rythms that get Ppl Moshing out...I was shocked [I sould like an oldie...] beer sprayed on the floor and bodies flying/flopping all over...just about took her teeth out with that swing with the beer bottle there...I can't believe these places can exist these days...
 Anyway now that you mention it I can rant about it..I don't know what those Line6 amps are all about like if I owned one.
 The hope were lost for something interesting happening, after  the third band did the same thing...Gargle Glong Glongar Gargle....along with " That Drummer" it didn't look easy hammering out mosh drums...seems like they'd have a guitar player somewhere who could figure out how to infuze some interesting passages, cameo tone appearances etc. etc. etc.
 I don't know but the musicality went not only all the way downhill, but sounded like it was under water.

[bwanasonic]

If I quess right the Finnish tango piece might have been a song called "Satumaa" by composer Unto Mononen.

That is the one, and extra special thanks for the *Finnish content*.

Kerry M

[brian wenz]

I played guitar for Lord Sutch in 1968!
I replaced Blackmore when the Deep Purple deal went through.
I'm surprised that anybody knows about David Sutch.....it was a damn shame that he died.
My stay in Sutch's band was the most fun I've ever had in ANY GROUP before or since.
Brian.

[Fret Wire]

Serious? You played with Sutch and the Savages? You're a piece of rock history then! Blackmore said he got his sense of showmanship from Sutch. Said the man was a true visionary for his time. He was ahead of his time in some ways, and doesn't get much credit for it.

[blabj]

speaking of solo's does anyone like my atte,pt's at one in my band... i thnk i got 2 bum notes but other than that its ok... check out;
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamM3U.m3u?ID=1037743&q=Hi or
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamM3U.m3u?ID=1037743&q=Lo
the difference being the first is better quality but longer download and the other is poor but fast.
its rather distorted but its cool for a single...
E.P's available from blabj?hotmail.com (replace ? with @ )
yeah tell me what you think

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
   Yeah, Sutch did alot of gigs with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates [another HIGHLY underrated and influencial band] and between those two I got all I needed on "showmanship 101".   I learned how to duck flying swords and spears, too!
 I would say that between Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and Lord Sutch you've got  every bit of rock & roll  "theatre"  that's  been used  ["ripped off"]  'til this day.
By the way, I used an old red  Gibson ES-335 and Marshall amps  [sometimes Fender......blecchhhh....] for most of Sutch's gigs.
I agree with Blackmore on everything he's said about Dave Sutch.......he started all this stuff back in the late   50's!!
Brian.

[zener]

One classic example of a very famous band dumping those guitar solos is Metallica. They released their tenth album last year featuring tracks with just heavy riffs, heavy riffs and heavy riffs. Gone are the intense solos    that put Kirk Hammett in the top 10 guitarists in a magazine. Feels like his guitars were silenced by the trend in the rock industry that were flooded with rap metal artists (I'm really confused on what to call that music genre :? ).

They always reason change. Yeah, change.

Money is the bottomline of everything. Basic rule in marketing: "Give the customers what they and you'll be saving your business for another day."

I just hope that more often, the money aspect is more on the side of the producer and the recording company, not on the artist themselves.

[bwanasonic]

I say good riddance to the masturbatory extended rock n roll guitar solo. While I can appreciate player skill as much as anyone, I like listening to songs rather than chops...

I think now is the most amazing time to be a musician. The degree of independence, artistic control AND access to exposure is beyond what most folks could dream of twenty years ago. Record companies are just as crappy as they've always been. But more and more, musicians are finding that going their own way is a viable alternative.

I consider myself lucky that I live in an area that has both GREAT college radio, but also an interesting music scene. I get exposed to a lot of great music that really helps to keep my creative batteries charged. The extended guitar solo in *pop* music can be pretty gratuitous, but in a more creative setting it's not doomed to the *maturbatory*. I really like My Morning Jacket's "It Still Moves" , which features solid songs and even a few guitar solos in a somewhat *classic* vein. There is a LOT of great music coming out of the so-called *indie scene*.  Depending where you are, it might take more work to find, but it's out there.

Kerry M

[WGTP]

I need a breathalizer on my keyboard.  With the criteria I established, I won't be able to play solos anymore either :shock:

Brian that's cool.  I used to listen to Screaming Lord Sutch on 8 track tapes that firiends had in the early '70's.  I don't think we knew who was playing guitar.  

I don't want to hear anymore Chuck Berry knock offs.  Jeff Beck can do more with one not than most folks can with 333.  That's why it's important for me to have the most effective tone available, and why I'm here.

[u1061810]

I grew up with  all those  ridiculously fast solos, and hope  they never come back in fashion again.They where only pretentious, self serving, mechanized, sterile sonic babblings with little value.The exception to this was definitely VH,who never seemed to play just notes, but always injected sonic fury into his technical virtuosity.Clapton is a perfect example of the fact that it's not how many notes you play, but how much life you can breath into each and every one.Gilmour also, could make every hair on your head stand on end from one incredible, vibrating volcanic blast . "It don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing".Solos should always be an integral part of a song's structure and not a separate entity to be gawked at,only a part  of a song's complete sonic landscape.

[troubledtom]

i didn't read all the post.............but......
  what kind of bands do you listen to?

old school is still kick'n
ozzy
priest
maiden
slayer
damageplan/pantera
peter framton
trower
frank marino
nugent
G3 tours
dream theater
deep purple
rick derringer
al dimiola
slash
d. zappa
alice cooper
just to name a few.
all these bands are active and kicking ass.

but i know the lead factor is on the back buner for a lot of bands, sucks to be them.
my band hits the seen may 31. i'll play some leads for yah :twisted:

   peace,
        - tom

[teamodave]

I say good riddance to the masturbatory extended rock n roll guitar solo. While I can appreciate player skill as much as anyone, I like listening to songs rather than chops.

The likes of Hendrix made it fashionable to promote the technical ability of pop musicians, particularly guitarists. Which evolved from the recycled blues licks to fusion to metal gods of the 80s. But as far as I'm concerned, there's almost a inverse relationship between skill and quality music. The better equipped the guitarist was to say what they want, the less they actually have to say. Other than, "Hey, look how fast I am!" While these guys can play circles around me fast enough to make my head spin, they can't play a song to save their lives.

I find it hard to lament over the state of the record business. It's no more greedy or shortsighted now than it was 30 years ago. The record business has always been about business first. Period. Promoting a honest-to-god good act was as now, the exception rather than the rule. The age of the guitar solo was all about fashion.

I think now is the most amazing time to be a musician. The degree of independence, artistic control AND access to exposure is beyond what most folks could dream of twenty years ago. Record companies are just as crappy as they've always been. But more and more, musicians are finding that going their own way is a viable alternative.

You may be right in many instances, but don't tell me that solos like Page's in Ten Years Gone don't add something wonderful to the song.

[Tim Escobedo]

You may be right in many instances, but don't tell me that solos like Page's in Ten Years Gone don't add something wonderful to the song.

In the case of that song, I'd say the guitar playing is tasteful and inline with the tune. I would say, though, the whole song could have been trimmed by two minutes and been just as good, if not better. Not strictly a guitar solo problem, but related to the general musical self indulgence in fashion at the time.

I've no problem with guitar solos. But when music becomes a showcase for soloists, it turns into boring exercizes for the benefit of other soloists. I remember finding a record at the library when I was a teenager, a band with the linup of Al DiMeola, Stanly Clarke, Chick Corea, and Lenny White... Return To Forever. I figured a lineup like that should bear some good fruit. Jeezuz, was I wrong. Four guys with all the skill in the world and absolutely nothing to say, sounding like trashy throwaway background fusion from some bad 70s cop show. Or the metal "bands" of the 80s thrown together to showcase the guitar player's blinding speed, dazzling technique, and lineage to Paganini, with all the excitement and passion of listening to practice exercizes. Or songs that never end, mostly because the guitar players can't help themselves, like in "Freebird".