Bands Today/Guitar Solos

[leeferdude]

does anyone really know why most bands today dont do guitar solos?

[Wayjurn]

Kids with short attention spans can't appreciate guitar solos, will instead spend their allowance on bands that follow the 'don't bore us, get to the chorus' rule.

[Crash]

I would have to agree with Wayjurn on this one, I had SRV's Voodoo Chile playing on my Stereo and my little sister came in complaining about how it was sooooooo boring and it needed more words. Then she went back to her room and turned on some Avril Lavigne. She says she only likes music with lots of lyrics.

That's what gets me, when someone would rather listen to some badly written emotoinless lyrics than something like Voodoo Chile or Little Wing. I might be able to understand if they went and started listening to something with quality lyrics and such, but no they listen to songs with horrible singing/lyrics instead of amazing songs with minimal vocals because the bad song has more singing in it.

[Greyskull]

SRV's version of Little Wing is the best.....

[Clayton38]

It comes from the fact that most kids today believe that a band should be a unit, and not a guy saying "look at me do my solo".
They just don't understand that a solo of any kind adds variety to the verse/chorus/verse way of writing thats become so pouplar and it allows you to expand on the general melody of the song. I think solos got a little out of hand with the eighties metal era, but there are some really good people who play solos in that style liek Dave Navarro and Eddie Van Halen. If you want to hear solos that actually expand on the music though, I think Peter Buck, Peter Distefano, The Cure, Adam Jones, Tom Morello and lately Zwan have nailed it. It is rather disheartening when you hear people do solos just to do them, and I think that kind of overexposure in the eighties has made modern musicians steer clear.

[leeferdude]

SRV's version of Little Wing is bad ass :D

[The User]

1. I play alternatative music. I play guitar solos. But my guitar solos arent a bunch of scales played quickly full of trills and widdly bits. My solos are feedback, noise, one or two note, Neil Young inspired, guitar parts. Widdly solos dont fit the music...so why wank for the sake of wanking?

2. Stevie Ray Vaughn was sh*t. He never played the blues. He was the first tasteless shredder. I love blues music....Stevie Ray should never have been a part of it. He is not even on the same planet as John Lee and BB King. I know I'll get blasted for this, but I dont see any emotion in his music, and his licks were text book examples. Stevie Ray was a shredder...not a blues man.

[Void]

Most of the time solo's are just self-indulgent and pointless in regards to the song as a whole. I also think that people associate the word 'solo' with 1980s hair rock, at least, the non-musicians (and even some musicians) I have spoken to do.

I'm not anti-solo at all, far from it, but I just think emphasis should be taken away from it as I don't think it should be the climax of the song.

[Anders]

I really like a GOOD guitar solo, but if it doesn't fit into the song, it sounds stupid and ruins the song completely. I seldom like superfast, technical solos' as music. They're cool to listen at, you know, hearing different techniques and so on, but that's it.

I really like slow solos', that go over 1 minute or so(Pink Floyd's "Time") or short solos' which are just short, subtle solos' which underline the song without forgetting how the song really was before the solo started.

When it comes to lyrics, I feel that too much lyrics which deals with specific themes make the song to easily understandable and the music looses its magic. Look at Tool's lyrics, it's not so many words, but the songs ususally lasts for 6-7-8 minutes. And there is NO typical Intro---Chorus---Verse---Chorus---Verse---Chorus---Bridge---Chorus repeating itself while the song fades out. That is so boring! You know when the "catchy chorus" comes. You know when the song draws itself to a close. I like lyrics which are timeless, i.e. Pink Floyd, Tool, etc.....



By the way, a good bass or drum solo kicks ass!

[Surferosad]

Most guitar players shouldn't play guitar solos because they don't know how to handle them. I don't have nothing against guitar solos. But I do hate pointless wanking, what a friend of mine called Sports guitar i. e. shredding. It’s very hard to solo tastefully...

By the way, when I was younger, I thought the guitar solo was dead and buried until I listened to Tom Verlaine’s solo on Little Johnny Jewel. Television showed me that the guitar solo wasn’t a dead art form.

[reallygeeky]

There's always J. Mascis... the guy I like to call the alterna-shredder... he goes from EVH technique to Neil Young noise while always sounding melodic... one of my favorites. Or Jonny Greenwood from radio head... very angular, almost jazz like at time. There are also solos in music by GBV or Built to Spill.

Also, I've never agreed with pop music bashing... many of what we consider "classic" songs today written by the likes of Phil Spector, the Motown writers, the Hit Factory, etc... in their day were meant to be what things like Avril Lavigne, Britney, N'Sync (or suck as your opinions may lie) are today. There's a skill and an art to writing a song that appeals to everyone and has a hooky melody and doesn't bore people like Dianne Warren or the Neptunes seem to be able to do time and time again.

I have to disagree with SRV being the first shredder... shredders were around before him and were far more tasteless (even if sometimes he was over the top). SRV's brother Jimmie would often times berate his little brother for being too flash and trying to say too much. Nevertheless, his tone was beyond belief and his ability to bend notes hasn't been matched (amazing compound bends). Also, with Stevie's history he can hardely be called a "schooled" musician... Popular history says he was booted from Bowie's tour for not being able to read music and not getting along with the other session musicians. Definitely not typical shredder behavior.

[Greyskull]

The drum solo from TOOL's Forty-Six & Two is nuts.
Its like its out of time, but its not.

You know what the problem with "shredding" and bad solo's is ? Its when that person decides to show off, and s/he lose focus of the song, and dedicates those moments to themself, instead of the song. The song is most important - not the ability to play the 5th/3rd Minor Asian scale, in 64th no less, over it; never go over the song.

Stay within the songs. The songs are our friends.

[Aim]

Well.......representing the shredder community.......i think there's nothing wrong with shredding and going over the top.........i mean it's music.....as long as you can express yourself then anything is fine........it doesn't matter if the majority can't feel the intensity of the notes being play....if any of the notes can touch one person then the job's been accomplished...........unless you mean shredding with no emotions behind them....then yea....i'd agree with what your saying......btw here's a little thing that i worte a week ago (it's not shred stuff)...... i'm using a really beat up classical guitar (the 6th string is missing....the frets are worn and the action is really high! ! !) to record this so excuse the quality.....also i recored it with a crappy little mic straight into my comp.....i was just bored one night i guess..........my stupid song (http://hometown.aol.com/daonlicaffeine//xangademo.rm)

[j_stashko]

Originally posted by Aim
Well.......representing the shredder community.......i think there's nothing wrong with shredding and going over the top.........i mean it's music.....as long as you can express yourself then anything is fine........it doesn't matter if the majority can't feel the intensity of the notes being play....if any of the notes can touch one person then the job's been accomplished...........unless you mean shredding with no emotions behind them....then yea....i'd agree with what your saying


I totally agree with you, it sounds like the other people replying this thread are knocking shred or fast solos because they are flashy and non emotional. I think it is really important that the solo actually fits the song, emotion is in the player not the notes, I've seen some of my friends play emotional slow stuff but they play it with no soul even though they are playing it properly and I tell them to play with soul but they don't understand they just play it so robotic-like. I love to play slow emotional solos, they are so good, but I can't really use that all the time and most fast songs call for a fast solo. Sometimes I like to hear solos that are just off the wall crazyness, it is kind of refreshing just to hear someone go nuts all over the fretboard.

[j_stashko]

Originally posted by leeferdude
does anyone really know why most bands today dont do guitar solos?

Well back to the topic at hand. SOME of these new bands that don't play solos supposedly can, but they don't for various reasons:
-they want to keep the song simple, simple songs for simple minds
-some people think that the point of a song is to get some sort of message across and that they shold be able to do that in a short as possible time period.
-some bands just want to fit in and copy other bands and just want popularity and/or money.
-and the obvious, some people are too impatient to take the time to learn how to solo or make up a solo.
I think every guitarist should be able to pull of an even simple solo that is relevant to the song, but some people don't take the time because it is boring, more boring than their sludgefest riffs. I have a friend that says he doesn't want to learn how to solo, or learn and sort of scales, and he doesn't write any original material either, he just learns some songs but mostly parts of songs that he likes the most. So why people don't play solos, they are impatient and not dedicated to guitar enough.

[The User]

Originally posted by reallygeeky
...your opinions may lie...

oh the irony

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by leeferdude
does anyone really know why most bands today dont do guitar solos?

i think there are variety of reasons... i personally think that the overbearing solos of the '80s have turned people off from doing those sorts of solos.

in my humble opinion, long drawn out super-fast solos are unnecessary and i cater to more riffs or sections with out singing. i guess that's a solo to some extent.

of course, if a good song warrants a good solo? by all means. :)

[rocknroll321]

Originally posted by Wayjurn
Kids with short attention spans can't appreciate guitar solos, will instead spend their allowance on bands that follow the 'don't bore us, get to the chorus' rule.

Thats true but not with every kid. I myself am only 15 and play lead a give a polite F*** off to all the kids that want me to play their punk riffs that really annoy me.

[stratocaster83]

Originally posted by The User
Stevie Ray Vaughn was sh*t. He never played the blues. He was the first tasteless shredder. I love blues music....Stevie Ray should never have been a part of it. He is not even on the same planet as John Lee and BB King. I know I'll get blasted for this, but I dont see any emotion in his music, and his licks were text book examples. Stevie Ray was a shredder...not a blues man.

you are kidding: you just want to get attention because you're somehow frustrated. anyway, since your solos are an expression of yourself, and since they're 2 notes feedback stuff, maybe you can't understand scaled based bended pentas stuff...

dude, more respect towards other styles and other musicians, especially if they're universally recognised as "greats".

lemme guess: you didn't think in that way and you didn't meant to offend anyone, did you?

[The User]

Originally posted by stratocaster83
you are kidding: you just want to get attention because you're somehow frustrated. anyway, since your solos are an expression of yourself, and since they're 2 notes feedback stuff, maybe you can't understand scaled based bended pentas stuff...

dude, more respect towards other styles and other musicians, especially if they're universally recognised as "greats".

lemme guess: you didn't think in that way and you didn't meant to offend anyone, did you?

No. I absolutely stand behind what i said.If i offended you, you really need to form less of an attatchment to your guitar heros. As for respect for other musicians, my CD colection ranges from Motzart to AC/DC to Bach to MArilyn Manson to B B King to Madonna to Mudhoney, and my records span from Neil young to Nirvana to the Cars.
I can take something simple like a minor pentatonic and lay down for as long as I want, but I have nothing new to bring to that style of solo, so why re-hash? I love the blues, John Lee Hooker is one of my all time favourite musicians ever. B B King blows Stevies bends out of the water. And no. Im not kidding.

[stratocaster83]

the other day a girl I'd die for asked me for some acoustic music. I gave her 2 cds: a.di meola/p.de lucia/j.mc laughlin "friday night in san francisco" and john scoefield "quite" (the one with the large ensamble, steve swallow & wayne shorter).

yesterday she told me: "fra, those cds are terrific, but you guitarist should think more about 'non-musician' listeners: we like lyrics, it's tough for us to undestand all those melodies & solos..."

I answered: "darling you're right, but you must think that the melody played by an instrument it's somehow the 'voice' of the composer, the inner expression of the musician... I know it's tough, but I found more depth in it than in lyrics"

especially if lyrics are so stupid... and I think that 90% of the lyrics I heard are written by ****ing dumb ass!!! I think I studied too much poetry of last centuries, and I tend to do comparisons...

anyway: I love jazz players who pick up "pop" songs and play them without lyrycs, just emulating the melody of the voice with thier instruments: there's loads of expression in it. have you ever tried to arrange a song with lyrics into an instrumental piece? I tried several times and it's so difficult... I tend to become boring after 20 bars!!!!!!!!!

in conclusion: it's difficicul for us -musician- to understand non- musician points of view. it's more natural for us to express ourself in notes, but the other half of the planet who never picked up an instrument is more confortable expressing itself with words...

[The User]

Originally posted by stratocaster83
in conclusion: it's difficicul for us -musician- to understand non- musician points of view. it's more natural for us to express ourself in notes, but the other half of the planet who never picked up an instrument is more confortable expressing itself with words...

You have me wound up now...Im not done yet.
Stevie Ray was a good guitarist. But i dont like him. I like Grunge. I like country. I like blues. I love Bjork and Aerosmith. I dont like stevie ray.
And some more controversial things I dont like:

I hate the Fender Starocaster
I dont like Takamine acoustic guitars
I dont like the Fender Cyber Twin
I dont like double cut-away les pauls
I dont like EMG pickups
I dont like Mesa/Boogie rectifiers.
I dont like Digitech

oh...forget it.

[stratocaster83]

Originally posted by The User
No. I absolutely stand behind what i said.If i offended you, you really need to form less of an attatchment to your guitar heros. As for respect for other musicians, my CD colection ranges from Motzart to AC/DC to Bach to MArilyn Manson to B B King to Madonna to Mudhoney, and my records span from Neil young to Nirvana to the Cars.
I can take something simple like a minor pentatonic and lay down for as long as I want, but I have nothing new to bring to that style of solo, so why re-hash? I love the blues, John Lee Hooker is one of my all time favourite musicians ever. B B King blows Stevies bends out of the water. And no. Im not kidding.

hey, don't you think that a lot of dudes outta there tend to recognize themsleves in other musicians? * I can understand you don't bash solos or whatever, but you've been really rude toward SRV. I do really think he deserves more respect, even if you don't like his style. and I prefer b.b.king towards SRV too!!!

* don't get me wrong: I don't recognize myself even in SRV's pinky!!!!

I'd like to say something else: if sometimes b.b.king is almost "forced" to play, SRV was ALWAYS spontaneous, he put always depth into everything he played. you know, they used to tell to louis armostrong that he was just "smiling for the whites": that's way people like miles davis, jeff beck, eric clapton put out (or used to) a record maybe with a 5 years span. they just play whenever they wants to...

solos MUST be a spontaneous expression of the musician (I'm not talking about mtv/radio stuff), that's how I tend to deal with it when arranging a song or just playing it. do I have something to say in this piece? do I think a solo may fit in? does my ego need to show up? can the audience give me some feedback if I solo? will they enjoy it?

I don't think about all those question: it's just natural. solos comes to me, and not viceversa. I hate al those shredders who plays the same stuff ad libitum & ad nauseam!!! they make me sick...

[The User]

Originally posted by stratocaster83

I'd like to say something else: if sometimes b.b.king is almost "forced" to play, SRV was ALWAYS spontaneous, he put always depth into everything he played. you know, they used to tell to louis armostrong that he was just "smiling for the whites": that's way people like miles davis, jeff beck, eric clapton put out (or used to) a record maybe with a 5 years span. they just play whenever they wants to...

I see myself in musicians too. But as far as being spontanious goes, three words...


John Lee Hooker

[stratocaster83]

Originally posted by The User
I hate the Fender Starocaster

you're a misguided fool.

I dont like Takamine acoustic guitars

never tried them in depth.

I dont like the Fender Cyber Twin

me too, but I recognize it may be useful in some situation... and I found it better than most modellers amps

I dont like double cut-away les pauls

yeah you got me! I only like the jr. one with one p-90, and I want it possibly tv yellow... so cool!!!

I dont like EMG pickups

I found a party called "get the batteries out of your instruments". do you want to subscribe?

I dont like Mesa/Boogie rectifiers.

only metalheads like their guitars to be full of gain and sounding like they're amped through a shoes box...

I dont like Digitech

they did the whammy, and then they lost the path...

[The User]

Originally posted by stratocaster83
you're a misguided fool.

I found a party called "get the batteries out of your instruments". do you want to subscribe?

I'd love to subscribe:P

Also, i propose a truce. we seem to have similar ideas anyway.

[stratocaster83]

Originally posted by The User
I see myself in musicians too. But as far as being spontanious goes, three words... John Lee Hooker

sure I agree: I think robert cray used to play with him once and asked him "hey, but how many bars there're in your songs??!?!?" and JLH just answerd "hey, just follow the music and play". no one could force him to change the chord from I7 to IV7 and so on...

but how many records he did?!?!? was he always spontaneous, or sometime it was just a puppet in the hands of producer, whose appeal it's just to put out a record with the name of the man stamped on?!?!? ummm... try something else to convince me, sorry!

[Wayjurn]

Oh, you guys are gonna LOVE this.

THIS (http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=5782) is the reason guitarists today don't play solos

[stratocaster83]

Originally posted by Wayjurn
Oh, you guys are gonna LOVE this: THIS (http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=5782) is the reason guitarists today don't play solos

one word to describe this: bull****.

[Welladjusted]

if they don't want to play solos, that's their call. i play some solos, but not one in every song, only when it's necesary. and even then, they're more about feel than being shreddy.