TOP 20 STRANGEST GUITAR SOLOS OF ALL TIME - Rick Beato

[Caevan O’Shite]

Good stuff! Be sure to check it out!
 

 

[Sharkman]

I would have had the live version of Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin from their Song Remains The Same album in this list.  Jimmy Page plays his Les Paul with a violin bow.  If that doesn't qualify as strange, nothing does.

[KuruPrionz]

Gotta give it to him for including Jeff Beck. 

Since he mentions technique, what about Jeff Healy?

 

Yeah, he sounds like Hendrix and/or Stevie Ray but who else rips riffs like that with their thumb?

 

[Winston Psmith]

One of my favorite very strange tunes - I invite you to listen in around the 1:55 mark . . . Vambo Roolz, Okay!

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

Nice, thanks Winston!!!

 

Of course today I think of some serious omissions from Beato's list. 

Robert Fripp may be the Grandfather of Weird, the solo from 21st Century Schizoid Man is an iconic entry into weird guitar.

 

And... I saw David Bowie on the Low tour with Adrian Belew on guitar. AB is a weirdo beyond any doubt, one of the best shows I've ever seen. This is from the same tour but not Fresno.

Last but not least, James Blood Ulmer has been a champion of Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic approach to music. Another pioneer in weird guitar. 

 

 

 

 

[Scott Fraser]

What surprises me is how conventional so many of these sound to me, and how Rick Beato must never have heard Marc Ribot, Robert Fripp, Nels Cline, Marc Ducret, Adrian Belew, et al. He listens to a lot of metal, which sounds not strange at all to me.

[KuruPrionz]

18 minutes ago, Scott Fraser said:

What surprises me is how conventional so many of these sound to me, and how Rick Beato must never have heard Marc Ribot, Robert Fripp, Nels Cline, Marc Ducret, Adrian Belew, et al. He listens to a lot of metal, which sounds not strange at all to me.

Yeah, he could toss out at least 5 or 6 of those "top 20" without remorse. 

 

It's about what I expect from Beato, overall he is "Safe As Milk". 

Which reminds me, aren't there some weird guitar solos in Captain Beefheart's catalog?

[Reezekeys]

Not sure if this qualifies as a "guitar solo" but there is a guitar here, and some might call it "strange." Enjoy!

 

I'll be interested in RB's discussion of the harmonic movement in this song (link goes to right before the "solo"):

 

🙂 

 

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

LO0O0O0NG a favorite- including that very specific video... ! Bowie and Belew were a particularly excellent pairing!
 

2 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

And... I saw David Bowie on the Low tour with Adrian Belew on guitar. AB is a weirdo beyond any doubt, one of the best shows I've ever seen. This is from the same tour but not Fresno.

 

  

 

[KuruPrionz]

11 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

LO0O0O0NG a favorite- including that very specific video... ! Bowie and Belew were a particularly excellent pairing!
 

  

 

Yep, that was one of Bowie's best "finds". He promoted a good contingent of lead guitarists by hiring them to play on his records and go on tour. 

Stevie Ray Vaughn was doing pretty OK until Bowie had him play on China Girl and Let's Dance, then all of a sudden he was somebody. 

 

I wouldn't include Mr. Vaughn as one of the weirdest soloists but Adrian Belew certainly qualifies and then some!!!! 😇

[Sharkman]

 

This definitely should have been on the list.

[Scott Fraser]

20 minutes ago, Sharkman said:

 

This definitely should have been on the list.

Does Jeff Beck get royalties for being the inspiration for the Nigel Tufnel character? (I love the ridiculousness of tuning the violin in the midst of using it as a bow. And of course the gag of using a violin instead of a violin bow for the Jimmy Page routine.)

[Scott Fraser]

3 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Not sure if this qualifies as a "guitar solo" but there is a guitar here, and some might call it "strange." Enjoy!

 

 

Sonny Sharrock was the godfather of a whole movement of free jazz noise guitarism. Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Keith Rowe, so many others, all followed in the footsteps of Sonny Sharrock.

[KuruPrionz]

4 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Not sure if this qualifies as a "guitar solo" but there is a guitar here, and some might call it "strange." Enjoy!

 

I'll be interested in RB's discussion of the harmonic movement in this song (link goes to right before the "solo"):

 

🙂 

 

 

Thanks for this, when I was about 14 I had no idea where the good stuff was and my 16 year old brother started bringing home all sorts of interesting records. Not this one specifically but I listened to Sun Ra, John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders live in Seattle, Rashann Roland Kirk and more "normal" jazz like Mingus, Monk and Miles. Plus anything he could find from other countries so authentic Middle Eastern, Indian, African and Asian musics, crazy people like Wild Man Fisher and Captain Beefheart, etc. 

 

Yes, that is a strange guitar solo and the singing really brings it to life!!!! 

[Winston Psmith]

There's a quote from Sonny Sharrock that I keep in mind whenever I'm trying something on the fringe, and all too often, when I'm listening to some of my fellow Electronic/Experimental Guitarists - "The Fool decides he's tired of Music and wants to make Noise: Fool plus Noise equals Bullshit."

[Dannyalcatraz]

Haven’t checked out the Beato vid yet, so I’ll ask: did he put Steve Stevens using toy ray guns or Reeves Gabrels using vibrators on the list?  EVH and the drill?

 

And my memory fails on his name, but I remember watching a guitarist play with wooden pencils on his fingers, striking the strings with the erasers.

[KuruPrionz]

5 minutes ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

Haven’t checked out the Beato vid yet, so I’ll ask: did he put Steve Stevens using toy ray guns or Reeves Gabrels using vibrators on the list?  EVH and the drill?

 

And my memory fails on his name, but I remember watching a guitarist play with wooden pencils on his fingers, striking the strings with the erasers.

None of the above. 

I think Mr. Beato was more interested in guitar solos that he could play "air guitar' to (except with a real guitar sitting unplayed in his lap), instead of anything actually strange.

Nothing new, just more hot air and blah blah blah. Meh....