Favourite guitar solos...and why

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:10 am

SRV's playing the Little Wing progression over and over as a bonus track on one of the reissues.

Jimmy digging in and raking through the strings then letting up the bar as he starts In the Evening's solo

That envelope filter/wah? solo for What I Am. e. brickell and those bohemians. So 'fisticated.

The springing out of your speaker aliveness of Spin Doctors' Jimmy Olson's Blues

The adrenaline back and forth on one string one note Erika Kane solo on Saturation- urge overkill

Manual reel flanging on Cherub Rock

(back in the day..)Driving home from school on break well over speedlimit to Drop Dead Legs and House of Pain by EVH.

The Analog Kid-Rush

u2-love is blindness, because notes are expensive

That Devo tune where the solo is a series of brief riffs that sound like machines breaking down.

The smokin rock soloing tune Frank Gambale plays to introduce one of his instructional vids. (the one where he's sporting a mullet and a blue shirt on the cover iirc) ..so that's what modes are for!

Mental Hopscotch-Missing Persons, thick effects laden brief bend and build

Already mentioned ones; Sweet Child o' mine, Talking Heads Belew, Reelin' and Ricki, cult of personality, Hendrix blues album, Something, Maybe I'm amazed, stairway, knopfler, eric johnson, elliot easton..etc.etc.etc ad infinitum..

..and Pat Metheny with Jaco.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:30 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:they could've stopped after the first verse...

But then you wouldn't have the solo?! I mean, the coulda, but aren't you glad they didna?

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:44 pm

shedshrine wrote:u2-love is blindness, because notes are expensive

haha, awesome. actually all of edge`s guitar on that record is amazing. the solo on "the fly" is a heart stopper.

but speaking of expensive notes, i`m sure "another brick in the wall" has already been mentioned, probably by me, but ms mse and i heard that in the car yesterday and what a marvel of economy that solo is. whole measures go by without any comment from gilmour...

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:52 pm

shedshrine wrote:The Analog Kid-Rush

i have to agree.

i like the parallel harmonies at the end, too.

i think Lifeson was a big Holdsworth fan at the time.

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:but speaking of expensive notes, i`m sure "another brick in the wall" has already been mentioned, probably by me, but ms mse and i heard that in the car yesterday and what a marvel of economy that solo is. whole measures go by without any comment from gilmour...

holy crap, love for Gilmour!

his playing was an early formative influence on my own.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:26 pm

Speaking of Gilmour (and another guitarists mentioned thus far) ...

Some of you guys have probably already seen this, but in case you haven't..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOAY-zURlGA

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:11 pm

shedshrine wrote:Speaking of Gilmour (and another guitarists mentioned thus far) ...

Some of you guys have probably already seen this, but in case you haven't..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOAY-zURlGA

klathik.

Jazz Jed · Post by **Jazz Jed** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:29 pm

Old thread, still going, and why not. For almost forty years, since I first heard it on my old man's mono valve gramophone off a vinyl double lp my older brother bought, I keep coming back to Cream and Clapton's second Crossroads solo on Wheels of Fire.

Three piece format, at their peak, playing live at Winterland, San Francisco, on March 10th, 1968. Clapton in his angry young man Gibson toned days through an early Marshall stack turned up flat out. Recorded on Wally Heider's eight track analog mobile studio by Felix Pappalardi and Bill Halverson who captured all that live room air.

That ticks every box for me.

Jed

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:22 pm

Some of my favorites:

Dave Gregory from XTC: "Supergirl", "Reel by Real", the bouncing-ball solo on "Love at First Sight". Some of the most lyrical solos ever, played with raw intensity and incredible finesse.
Robert Fripp on Eno's "I'll Come Running"--pure sonic emotion
Alex Lifeson of Rush--I was just driving & listening to Moving Pictures yesterday and was floored by all the phenomenal solos..."Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", Limelight", "The Camera Eye"...talk about batting 1000 (and not mentioning his great tone & solos on so many other songs)
Frank Zappa "50/50" from Overnite Sensation. Zappa follows Jean-Luc Ponty & George Duke's solos with the pedal to the metal in high gear, and somehow keeps building the momentum and intensity into the stratosphere...Zoinks!
Allan Holdsworth w/the Tony Williams Lifetime--"Fred" from Believe It. Yes, there are a trillion notes in this solo, but each is carefully considered, perfectly played, and soulfully executed.
Hendrix...way too many, but "Nightbird" and "Wind Cries Mary" come to mind...
Marc Ribot..."Hang Down Your Head" on Rain Dogs is an arrow through the heart

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:56 pm

I'm not really into solo's as a whole....i tend to get bored and feel like i'm just listening to somebody bragging on the guitar for 15 minutes.
I think it was much more fun and tasteful during the mod or garage era than classic rock stuff...which tends to drag on and on. That being said Jimmy Page has had some incredible solo's when he was a studio musician before joining the Yard Birds....i can't remember the band, maybe it was the Impact...or something like that...but his solo just takes over that song.

I really love Jeff Parker's work with tortoise. The opening track on Standards has a killer solo....it's just so unique. Plus the solo on the 2nd track of TNT (Swung from the gutters, I think) is really great.

I have always liked Justin Trosper of Unwounds guitar style....though not much of what he did would be considered in the solo category. I love the "solo" on fingernails on a chalkboard....cause you can even tell its a guitar for the most part.

EDIT:
Totally forgot about Stephen Malkmus....really creative solo's on every Pavement record...and some great stuff on the Jicks records 2. There's a track on pig lib that has a stellar solo.....i'm not so good with track names though.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:06 pm

ott0bot wrote: I really love Jeff Parker's work with tortoise. The opening track on Standards has a killer solo....it's just so unique. Plus the solo on the 2nd track of TNT (Swung from the gutters, I think) is really great.

I hope you've heard isotope 217 stuff too then ... that's all Jeff Parker soloing right? Listening to him is like watching (good) cartoons.

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:09 pm

;ivlunsdystf wrote:
ott0bot wrote: I really love Jeff Parker's work with tortoise. The opening track on Standards has a killer solo....it's just so unique. Plus the solo on the 2nd track of TNT (Swung from the gutters, I think) is really great.
I hope you've heard isotope 217 stuff too then ... that's all Jeff Parker soloing right? Listening to him is like watching (good) cartoons.

Indeed....saw them live in 2000....what a great live show. He also played with Tricolor, chicago underground quartet and has a solo record. Really cool version on mavin gaye's "when did you stop loving me..." on his solo record.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:54 pm

Wubbeneezer Garibaldi wrote:Dave Gregory from XTC: "Supergirl"

Dude, one of my favorite songs, ever! No one ever talks about that tune.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

leftofthedial · Post by **leftofthedial** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:53 pm

cgarges wrote:
Wubbeneezer Garibaldi wrote:Dave Gregory from XTC: "Supergirl"
Dude, one of my favorite songs, ever! No one ever talks about that tune.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

The whole album "Skylarking" always struck me as sounding wonderful. Way before I ever gave a shit about that sort of stuff either.

On another totally random note, I love the solo in Replacements - Johnny's Gonna Die. Stinsons' part followed by Westerberg's part. Total opposite skill level and feel. So out of place that it works perfectly for the song. Especially love the tone of Paul's guitar.

CarlosEs · Post by **CarlosEs** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:34 am

I'm definitely a fan of atypical solos or more textural stuff. In the end, I'm probably more a fan of things that are memorable as opposed to manic fretboard runs.

Michio Kurihara's solo on Ghost's cover of "Hazy Paradise" (on Hypnotic Underworld) is great. Just all feel - the closest guitar approximation to an explosive soul singer letting it all out.

Like others, Marc Ribot is one of my favorites. "Hoist That Rag" from Tom Wait's Real Gone album is so dirty, rhythmically loose, and he never really plays anything that different from his verse part, but something about it just hits the spot.

Also, say what you will about the band's later direction/indulgence, but Omar Rodriguez Lopez's solos on the first Mars Volta album (Deloused) are phenomenal. A lot of different tones going on at once and crazy in that Fripp-esque way at times, but always seems to fit the song (unlike later albums).

Speaking of Fripp, "St. Elmo's Fire" is pretty awesome.

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:26 am

CharlieMurphy'sStare wrote:
Speaking of Fripp, "St. Elmo's Fire" is pretty awesome.

ha....i was just thinking of this track. Fripp's work with eno, especially on st. elmos fire, seems so hap-hazard and improvised without feeling like he just noodling. awesome

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Favourite guitar solos...and why

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