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Favorite solos?

Tedster

By Tedster
in Guitar Forum

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Tedster

Tedster

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So, Lee et al, what are some of your favorite solos? A lot of guitar players will point at slightly more obscure offerings, but, as a lot of us grew up listening to commercial radio (GAG), I'll point out a few of my favorites that actually managed to get on the mainstream airwaves without getting snipped by the unscrupulous editors. (That's a whole 'nother topic..."Don'tcha get pissed off when they snip the solo out of commercially released tunes?")

 

Among my favorite commercial-airwave friendly solos, (some of the few that found their way onto the mainstream airwaves and didn't get edited out) in no particular order...

 

1. 25 or 6 to 4...Chicago. This solo still kicks ass after 30 years.

2. Day After Day...Badfinger and...

3. I Saw the Light...Todd Rundgren...some of the most melodic use of harmony and slide guitars I've heard...simple. Not too many notes.

4. That's Just the Way it is, Baby...Rembrandts...The first time I heard this cut I laughed out loud from the clever classically inspired phrasing...

5. Something...Beatles...Harrison constantly defied the usual pentatonic patterning of his contemporaries and created a simple yet beautiful solo.

 

There are tons more, I know...but these are a sampling. Most are really short, and serve the song in a really unique way...with the exception of the Chicago tune, they tend to be understated and non-boastful yet melodic.

 

I mean, anyone can go into "Birds of Fire" or "Yngwie" territory if they want... Oh, and BTW, I forgot to put Steve Morse on my list of faves.

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Lee Flier

Lee Flier

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My VERY fave solo is a no brainer -"Sympathy for the Devil". Pure Les Paul heaven. Still blows me away every time I hear it. I love Mick Taylor's solo on the live version on "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" too.

 

What else? Mike Campbell's solo on Tom Petty's "Too Much Ain't Enough" is killer, well lots of Mike's stuff is. I'm nuts about Jeff Beck's riff on the Yardbirds' "Over Under Sideways Down". Don't know if this qualifies as a real "solo" so much as a guitar-driven instrumental piece, but I LOVE the "Underture" from the original "Tommy".

 

And yeah Geo. Harrison on "Taxman" - awesome!

 

Then again it's hard to beat Richard Thompsons's out-of-phase Strat solos on "When I Get To the Border".

 

Jimmy Page has too many good ones to mention, although he's even better at coming up with riffs and layering different sounds than he is at solos. My favorite stuff of his mixes both together, a la "Song Remains the Same" and "The Ocean".

 

But then that IS my favorite kind of guitar playing, the kind where "lead" and "rhythm" are virtually indistinguishable...

 

--Lee

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Freak

Freak

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For all time, seems to me it's pretty hard to beat Jimi's Machine Gun performance on the Band of Gypsys album. For living legends, that's a tough one. I'd have to at least include Satriani's Satch Boogie, on Surfing With the Alien, with an honorable mention to Andy Timmons for Cry for You, on Ear X-tacy.

 

------------------

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Guest

Guest

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ted, this brings us back to your earlier statement about geo harrison. the slide solo in "how do you sleep" by JL has to be the best I've ever heard. geo didn't touch on any of the accepted patterns of the day for slide.

also, the don felder/joe walsh leads in the original hotel calif. simple, yet very poignant.

plus any live recording of dwayne allman solos. the way he floated around the meter still gives me goose bumps.jeff back gives me the same feel. has anyone heard his slide instrumental version of a day in the life?

JP

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Guest

Guest

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Originally posted by tonemonkey@yahoo.com:

Easy one - David Gilmour/Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb"

gotta agree with ya there. gilmore is one-o-the best. and it's that same melodic in-n-out thing I been talking about

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Tedster

Tedster

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Gilmour, yuppers, Satch, natch...

 

I know this isn't necessarily a bass forum, but I remember some little bass solo the late great Jaco Pastorius played on a (of all bands) Mott the Hoople. Whoa! Can anyone give me the name of the song??? It's been years...

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Lisa

Lisa

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There are so many amazing solos it's hard to pick even a few. I'm surprised none of you rockers mentioned Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" solo or the sacred solos in "Freebird," "La Grange" or "Stairway To Heaven." I suppose those are just a bit too obvious. For me, I end up drawing a blank because there are so many - maybe too many to mention. Here are some of my favorites that come to mind: "White Room," "Heartbreaker," "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers," "Shapes Of Things" (both Beck and Yardbirds versions), "The Wind Cries Mary"..... Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...... I could be all here all night listing stuff I dig. But one thing this thread proves is that what you play IS remembered by others and that great solos and great songs do stand the test of time.
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Tedster

Tedster

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Well, "Eruption", "Freebird", and "Stairway"...yup, you're right, too obvious. Eruption was such a head turner in it's day.

 

For a lot of us, we're absolutely sick of certain songs that get over-requested every f***ing time we play...and "Freebird" is one.

 

Heartbreaker was a classic. One of my all time fave Page solos. For something that just about every time nails me, though, the climactic crescendo out of Chuck Leavell's "Vince Guaraldi"-esque piano solo into Dickey Betts' soaring solo on "Jessica"...that one lights my candles. Other faves, Alvin Lee's intro to "I'm Going Home". More Allman Brothers...I remember the first time I heard the "Don't Want You No More...and the powerful segue into "It Just Ain't My Cross To Bear"...I was a kid, that opened my eyes to the power of the blues. I saw Gregg Allman with Dangerous Dan Toler in Tallahassee in '88 or so, and they opened with those songs. Just about shat my britches, even though it was Dangerous Dan and not Duane and Dickey playing...the power was there. I'll shut up now...

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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JP_dup5

JP_dup5

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Originally posted by Tedster:

For a lot of us, we're absolutely sick of certain songs that get over-requested every f***ing time we play...and "Freebird" is one.

 

 

man, this could be a new post.here's the songs I hated to have requested, or see on the play list (in no particular order);

free bird, gimme three steps, cocaine, old time rock and roll (hated the most)anything by CCR, except run thru the jungle or born on the bayou, and no one ever asked for those. I'm sure there are more, but these urked me the most.

JP

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Lee Flier

Lee Flier

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LOL! I'm with ya JP! Well, I do like CCR a lot (Born on the Bayou is my fave too) so I'm happy to play anything by them, but yeah, the others I refuse to do!

 

Remember in "Wayne's World" when they go into the music store and there's a "No Stairway" sign by the guitars? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

Actually a friend of mine works in a Guitar Center store and one day I went in there to buy some strings and shoot the shit with him, he took a break and we went into the vintage guitar room and started jamming. At one point my friend opened the door and started playing some of "Stairway" because he KNEW it would attract a whole crowd of people. Sure enough, it did. A bunch of kids started crowding into the doorway and the minute they did, my friend started playing something else! LOL... they got really mad and started bugging him to keep playing it and he totally ignored them! Revenge is sweet... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

--Lee

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JP_dup5

JP_dup5

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Originally posted by Lee Flier:

LOL! I'm with ya JP! Well, I do like CCR a lot (Born on the Bayou is my fave too) so I'm happy to play anything by them, but yeah, the others I refuse to do!

 

Remember in "Wayne's World" when they go into the music store and there's a "No Stairway" sign by the guitars? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif]

--Lee

I am a major CCR fan, but it's amazing how a bunch of drunks can ruin something for you. but honestly, I love those drunks.

back in the seventy's, there was a monument (in the deep south) to the vietnam era veterens that no city wanted. my home town said they would take it, and it was erected at the local shriners site. we performed that night at the affair and we opened with gimme shelter and segued into run through the jungle. It was what I always wanted to do, but couldn't in a dance club.

the waynes world "stairway to heaven" is a classic, and only someone who spends a lot of time at their friendly neighborhood music store can appreciate it.

JP

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Tedster

Tedster

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>>free bird, gimme three steps, cocaine, old time rock and roll (hated the most)anything by CCR, except run thru the jungle or born on the bayou, and no one ever asked for those. I'm sure there are more, but these urked me the most.

JP

 

EX-F***IN'-ZACTLY!!!! Same tunes, any given town. What is it about those godawful songs???

 

I do love CCR...but we avoid Proud Mary like the plague. We do Born on the Bayou. Other hated tunes are "House of the Rising Sun", "Wonderful Tonight"...I could go on and on..."Turn the Page"...but yeah, Old time wretch and roll is the worst.

 

On the topic of music store terror, I would submit the classic "Smoke on the Water" to the newer "Enter Sandman" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as great classics every 15 year old needs to master just enough of to drive the poor schmuck behind the counter crazy!!!

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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JP_dup5

JP_dup5

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Originally posted by Lee Flier:

Oooh, JP, Gimme Shelter segueing into Run Thru the Jungle... killer! That'd send a shiver up yer backbone, for sure.

 

--Lee

 

yeah, I was afraid some of the vets there were going to have flashbacks, but it turned

into one of the most musically rewarding things I have ever done, except for the gnats.

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JP_dup5

JP_dup5

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Originally posted by Tedster:

>>I do love CCR...but we avoid Proud Mary like the plague. We do Born on the Bayou

yeah, when i made the statement, i was going to say proud mary, but then green river jumped in my mind, and then old man down the road, so i just said CCR.. anytime someone asked for on of the songs I mentioned, we would make an announcement that " Randall Ferguson was partying for the first time in 15 years because his wife kicked him out of the house",and that the band was going to buy his first beer, would anybody else like to help Randall celebrate? People absolutely loved this and knew that the guy had requested something we didn't wanna do. he would be shifozzed ( that's shitfaced with a PHD)before the night was over, and our friend for life. got a lot of local roadies, and crash pads that way.

JP

 

 

[This message has been edited by JP (edited 11-24-2000).]

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Tedster

Tedster

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No flame here...think of Neil's classic "Cinnamon Girl"...the whole solo is only one note...talk about a minimalist triumph.

 

Which is why I like B.B. King's playing so much...of course, he's got some killer licks, but he'll hit one note as a filler between vocal phrases, and tear you up with it.

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Lisa

Lisa

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Both Neil Young and B.B. King prove that just one note can be all you need to create a solo that people consider absolute genius. That one note can be so distinctly executed that it's difficult for others to copy it and play with the same feeling behind it. The intention and feel are in the player's heart and hands. The choice of notes is important, but may not be as meaningful as the execution.

 

Lisa

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Jose Cobelas

Jose Cobelas

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Greetings to you all, from Madrid, Spain!

 

My tastes are more than a bit eclectic, so I can´t think of a favorite recorded solo...from the obvious (Hendrix, Page, Gilmour...) to Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd in Television´s "Marquee Moon" to anything by SRV to Pete Anderson´s work with Dwight Yoakam...Steve Hunter and the intro to "Sweet Jane" in Lou´s Rock and Roll Animal...I can think of several solos by Prince...on the obscure side, I used to be a fan of Danny Lademacher, of Hermann Brood & His Wild Romance (Hermann, a Dutch legend on his own, was wild enough to become the loving husband of Nina Hagen...for at least a couple of months or so).

 

But I can certainly remember the fierest live solo I have witnessed, and it was Neil Young on "Like a Hurricane", maybe fifteen years ago, in his first visit to Spain. I really have a weakness for the old Canadian. Don´t you agree that his guitar playing is underrated?

 

Have fun,

 

Jose.

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Tedster

Tedster

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Like anyone else, there are times when I think Neil's great, and there are times when I wince...oops, but I'm sure there are those who wince when I play, too http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

Madrid! Cool! I've gotta say I think of the Spanish guitar masters when I think of Madrid...who's hot on the classical/flamenco scene over there (or am I a hundred years out of touch?), what obscure maestros should we be seeking out? (I can't play that kind of music, but I lo-ove listening to it)...

 

Oh, yeah, and welcome!

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Scott from MA

Scott from MA

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Lisa... I may be wrong, but I believe the "Rock Around the Clock" solo was played by Danny Cedrone. Am I right? That was a memorable solo!

 

A lot of great solos mentioned here! Although, I must admit I've never been a fan of the "how many notes can I fit into this bar" solo, such as "Eruption" or anyhting by Vai.

 

How about Robbie's "Light My Fire" solo, or something from Alex Lifeson (he had so many good ones!)?

Scott

(just another cantankerous bastard)

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