I agree with this, BTW. It always sounded to me like someone trying to play way faster than he was able to.
Yeah, the Kinks probably have a lot of examples of bad solos. Sometimes the bad ones work, though.
“You Really Got Me” (a more interesting set of notes than “All Day and All of the Night” because the notes complement the chords rather than shadow them), is not technically good, but it works because Dave Davies can just barely play it. The whole record sounds like the band is holding on to the song for dear life, and a cleaner solo wouldn’t work.
But lots of their stuff - “Don’t Ever Change” - is just bad.
“Get Back.”
Most of the time, if someone is playing lead on a professional recording, by definition it will be competent. There are few “train wrecks” like “All Day and All of the Night.” For the most part, bad solos are just formulaic and / or forgettable.
I saw Hedges play live a few months before his death. He was amazing. And he played both acoustic & electric in that show. He’ll always be in my top 10 list, along with Knopfler.
What about Brian May? I’ve always been able to recognize his style, and he did some amazing work on certain Queen songs (Good Company especially comes to mind).
Hmm. Love the song (and the album and the film). Do you think it’s great guitar work?
My first guitar teacher played Abbey Road for me, so I could hear the guitar solos on “The End.” Was more than thrity years ago (man, I’m old). My teacher was a real virtuoso–he was great. He loved the phrasing, the sound, the exchange–until it got to Lennon’s part. Lennon (or “shitman,” as he called him) caused him to roll his eyes. He didn’t think he belonged with the other two.
Now, John is probably my favorite Beatle. He just wasn’t a great soloist.
[QUOTE=Stratocaster]
Hmm. Love the song (and the album and the film). Do you think it’s great guitar work?[/qupte]Well, I like it.
The trade-off jam part of the song, right? I honestly don’t know whose parts are whose (except for Ringo and Paul). I’ve never thought any one of those solos really stank, or was particularly greater than the others. Which runs are John’s?
Oh - I got another one: Enter Sandman by Metallica. I love Metallica - Master of Puppets and Sad but True are two of my all-time favorite metal songs, as is, frankly, Sandman. But the lead - pointless dweedling. Hammett moves from lick to lick with no discernable (to me) emotional point to make - he is just going through the motions over the chord changes. And about 3/4 of the way through the lead, he does this repeated lick that sounds like a person on helium laughing that is just discordant with the intent of the song. It’s kind of a wah-wah sort of lick - and the song is this menacing, dark “be scared” song…no fit at all…
Paul plays first, then George, then John, then repeat. John actually plays a “rhythm solo,” just chugging on a chord, which actually serves as a nice contrast with the other two’s squealy leads.
Yep, it’s Paul’s song, and he wanted to be first, so the other two deferred. And I agree, Lennon’s solo is a nice contrast, my former teacher’s reaction notwithstanding. But Paul and George’s solos are sweet.
Any Hellecasters fans in here?
We’re square then. Good!
The “I can pick him out with a blindfold on” thing is not necessarily an ego thing. The personality of a great player, especially one with a distinctive tone, sometimes comes through even when he’s playing in an un-showy fashion. Some of the best lead guitarists were also great rhythm players. When I hear Hendrix’s latter-day studio stuff, I find that it’s actually restrained and tasteful and he doesn’t do more than he needs to. Duane Allman and Derek Trucks, to name two of my favorites, are fantastic rhythm and complimentary players - they can do great work while doing that or supporting someone else’s solo.
I think something about Bill Frissel was mentioned in one of these posts, but upon a slightly less then thorough glance, I can’t even convince myself. His playing is brilliant. How about Mick Goodrick? I like Kurt Rosenwinkle and Paul Bollenbeck.
I think you can tell if a guitar player is good or bad based upon your own thoughts. Does it sound like bullshit? Then you think it’s bullshit. Does it MOVE you? Then it’s probably good.
bump - just curious if others have examples of bad solos or comments on the songs I shared where I thought the solo wasn’t great…
I’m pretty sure the famous lick in “Thunderstruck” is picked. If you listen closely, you can usually tell the difference between two notes that are picked, and notes that are hammered-on, pulled-off, bent, or slid. The story goes that Angus recorded that part with only the B string on his guitar (presumably so he wouldn’t hit the other strings).
As an aside, anyone with decent chops who thinks they can, try playing the lick with only hammer-ons and pull-offs, and see how long you can keep it going. Then try playing it picking each other note. Personally, I find it much, much easier to play picking each other note, and I think it sounds better, as well. I haven’t seen the video, but I can imagine that, like many other artists in their videos, he probably wasn’t playing exactly the same way the song goes when they recorded him for the video.
How would the guitar experts on this board weigh in on someone like Jack White?
In my very amateur opinion he’s an awesome guitarist. He’s sloppy to say the least but I think he makes that part of his sound (especially live). i could pick out his playing anywhere.
Plus the fact that he’s the only person on stage (besides the drummer) so he has absolutely no support if he screws up. To his advantage this also frees him up to improvise to his heart’s content during shows which he does often.
So how would he rate to you guys?
Jack White doesn’t really go for guitar solos, at least from what I’ve heard of the White Stripes. (I have three of their albums.) But I think he’s a monster player.
Perhaps on the studio albums he doesn’t but he really DOES go for guitar solos live. some cites:
This is a piece from his cover of Son House’s “Death Letter” he is using a slide but it definitely shows how much he’s ‘feeling it’. About 2/3rds of the way in his eyes kind of roll back and he just leaves the planet for a few moments.
From the same show. This is a song called “Ball and Biscuit” He shows more of his “chops” here.
Jack played more leads on Elephant than on previous CDs. As I have opined on quite a few threads previously, he is a a wonderful, wonderful guitarist. Stays locked into the groove while moving between chords, single-note bass lines using an octaver, leads, slide, etc. He’s the whole package and the real deal.
Oh, and pertaining to this thread, his leads are tasteful and great.
I saw the Violent Femmes play a couple of years ago, and Gordon offered his advice on this very subject (only applies when seeing someone play live): If you see the guitarist check his watch at any point during the solo, you’re seeing a bad solo.
Other underrated guitarists, who are not virtuosos, or generally even thought of in this category:
Ricky Wilson from the B-52’s (Rock Lobster).
Roland Howard from the Birthday Party, for being able to make absolutely unholy amounts of noise, but not soundling like he was just blindly thrashing away.
I don’t know if anyone would count Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine, since it would be pretty hard to define a solo within their songs, but there might be one there.
Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed. Check out White Light/White Heat from Live 1969.
Joey Santiago from the Pixies.
Adam Forkner from Yume Bitsu and Surface of Eceyon.
Porl Thompson from the Cure.