O/T Who listens to guitar solos??

[Nitrix]

From WhiteStrat:

"Still got the blues" is one song I can think of that made it big purely because of the guitar solo. The rest of the song was so-so.

Couldn't agree more. I don't mean to slag the song, that solo just seers into your head! I haven't heard that song in years! Good call.

 

[D.K.]

Just thought of this yesterday on a plane:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7JAq11LzPc"]YouTube- Roger Waters - What God Wants part 3[/ame]

From "Amused To Death" by Roger Waters, 1992. Guitar - Jeff Beck. If You have spare 4 minutes, listen to it, and try to tell me this solo is not the complete essence of the song .

 

[Ricman]

Great topic.

I think the best solos are the ones that anyone (ie non-musicians) can sing back to you, as they would the rest of the words.

I think Brian May is the master of this. His solos just seem like the next verse, but with the lyric played on the guitar rather than sung.

Ask anyone to sing you Bohemian Rhapsody, and they'll have a go at singing the guitar solo (wayne's world?).

 

[straycat113]

Well right up until the grunge movement rock songs always had a solo no matter how wimpy the song or artist. I believe the lack of playing skill was an easy out for most of them bands to say solos were not important. Just a few listens of a Kurt Cobain solo will prove that, but at least he tried.

Though I am not a huge metal or shred fan though I am a fan, I believe these bands and artist actually held the fort and saved the solo and also brought guitar playing back to a high skill level.

I always look at the solo as a seperate composition within a song. Imagine having the radio on and the DJ cutting out the solos to Bohemian Rhapsody or Sweet Child of Mine. it would totally kill the song. I am from the school of guitar solos in the middle or ride out of a song and the power it has. Watch a group of people listening to Free Bird and preparing for the solo, if you were doing a cover in a club and did not play it you would surely get booed off the stage.

But there are also good texture players like the Edge or Andy Summers who is an excellent jazz player for those who dont know in which it works. As far as total guitar instrumental albums those are probably 90% all bought by guys who more than likely play. When I saw G3 with Yngwie on the bill there might of been 10 girls in the whole place. And though I am not a big country fan after reading so many good reviews about Keith Urban in guitar magazines when he broke I bought his DVD and am now a fan . His audience was about 70% female but he let it rip on every song and is a terrific player and all those girls were screaming when he would solo so it is not just a guy thing.

 

[e.mate]

At first I thought, this would be totally boring....and now I see, this is an absolutely interesting thread There's a lot of different perceptions out there regarding solos. This is mine...of how non-musicians see guitar solos

1) Basically, most non-musicians I know, don't care about guitar solos....but they do recognize that somthing is missing, when they are missing. Moreover, we all know, that sometimes a solo just doesn't fit....do we

2) An ordinary audience might not know anything about structuring songs, but they definitely recognize when a guitar solo has the sole purpose of showing off. Therefore, there must be a perception among all those "listeners" about when a solo fits a song....or when it is overdone. Of course, I am not naive enough to know that this varies between different audiences (there are differences between Metal and Jazz audiences )

3) There is a visual aspect too, as you can literally "see" the expression if a great player goes for a solo.
A good example is the mighty Lucious himself. Though many of those non-musicians will have definitely heard him play a guitar solo in a song, but would not recognize him....or would not even care, as "after all, it's just a guitar solo". Watching him on stage is a different piece of cake, because when he's blasting off a solo, the whole audience can see and feel the energy of it. The sheer presence of the player himself during the solo process is something that changes the perception completely....provided the player is good