# When singers sing "Guitar!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390 "2002-09-07T04:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/41 "2002-09-10T23:57:08Z")
during the Overture on The Tubes “What Do You Want from Live?” album, right before a guitar mini-solo, Bill Spooner (I think) sings: “…that’s how our guitar player, Roger Steen plays it-- listen to him–he plays it so TO-GETH-ER… 'cuz that’s how he likes it…” this is kind of a fun variation on what the OP was referring to… ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/42 "2002-09-11T01:05:18Z")
How about Jon Spencer right before Judah Bauer’s solo on the Blues Explosion’s “Dissect?” “Play the blues, punk!” I think this was also meant as a reference to their music often being described as “punk blues.” ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/43 "2002-09-11T05:24:43Z")
In a similar vein, Freddy Mercury introduces each of the members of Queen in “The Invisible Man” “John Deacon!” “Brian May, Brian May!” “Rrrrrroger Taylor!” ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/44 "2002-09-11T06:08:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brandocet \* > \*\*Eddie Vedder says “make me cry” before the weeping guitar solo on **Yellow Ledbetter**. \*\* I was going to mention that. I think that’s the best variation of “Guitar!” I’ve heard. It doesn’t hurt that the solo after that is great as well. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/45 "2002-09-11T10:36:05Z")
The whole song _[There’ll be some changes made](http://www.neck-and-neck.com/disco/albums/neck.html#03)_ as performed by the late **Chet Atkins** and **Mark Knopfler** (still very much alive) is chock full of this sort of thing. Hilarious stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Monkeypants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Monkeypants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeypants)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/46 "2002-09-16T03:50:22Z")
Wow! Monkeypants steps off the plane from Prague and his red-headed stepchild of a post has become a 44-reply behemoth! Groo-vy! So the thread has multiple personality disorder – that’s ok. To sum it up, we have: 1. the original – the single word, “Guitar!” before a guitar solo. 2. the command form – e.g., “Play that guitar, Bill!” 3. On the drums, Ooooooopal! 4. introductions, e.g., “That’s Nikki Sixx on the carillon!” (see #3) 5. the submissions from some of you who just don’t get it, some of which are alarmingly low down in the thread. Example: Ziggy Stardust . . . Now, my OP was meant only to deal with #1, but incidents of #2 do embody some of the negative elements of #1. Thanks everyone for unexpected and fun reading. And I stand by my words: Heart were formed when a baboon’s ass sweat dripped into a termite mound. Now, bonus points to whomever can identify the Paula Abdul song in which she shouts, “Guitar!” before the solo. Disclaimer: bonus points cannot be collected by next of kin of winner if winner’s cause of death is stoning, drawing and quartering, defenestration, shooting, stabbing, human cannonballing, or dropping into a volcano, and death occurs as a direct consequence of answering question. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/47 "2002-09-20T13:00:07Z")
My response must’ve gotten lost in the crash. Jonathan Richman does this not once but twice in “Important in Your Life.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/48 "2002-09-20T19:04:53Z")
It’s been a very, very, long time since I’ve listened to KISS, but I know Paul Stanley did it at least once. I think it was on the live version of “I Stole Your Love”. (maybe because Ace Frehley was so fucked up that if Paul didn’t remind him, he’d forget to do the solo?) ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/49 "2002-09-20T20:16:56Z")
I remember the Dead Milkmen doing it at least once, but can’t remember the song. He says something like, “Play it Joe!” The great part about it was that it announces the worst guitar solo imaginable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/50 "2002-09-21T02:58:48Z")
How about as a signal to stop? There are some bootleg **Strawberry Fields Forevers** where you can hear John yell “That’s enough Ringo” or “Settle down Ringo” at the tail end of the song before it completely fades out. ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/51 "2002-09-21T05:53:32Z")
What if during a live performance the singer yells “Guitar” right before the well rehearsed solo, but the soloist finally tires of being told what to do and refuses to play. Anyone ever see that happen? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/52 "2002-09-21T06:39:22Z")
Bradley Nowell yelled it in one of Sublime’s million different remixes of _Don’t Push_. He then proceeded to say “bass!” before the bass solo and “come in, Bud!” right before the drums. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/53 "2002-09-21T07:04:36Z")
For the record, while the late and lamented Michael Hutchence did indeed yell “Trumpet!” beforethe sax solo on the recorded version of “New Sensation,” on live versions he can be heard to say, after the solo has concluded, “That ain’t no trumpet.” I always get a giggle out of that. Can someone tell me again why he’s dead? ---
**Author:** ![Lipid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Lipid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lipid)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/54 "2002-09-21T07:51:38Z")
I hate in songs when the band mentions the name of their band or the date in their songs. 311 is guilty of both of these crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/55 "2002-09-21T19:59:52Z")
hmmm, i dont recall heart ever doing this. maye I hav an example (if its on or after bad animals it wont cause me to dislike them as those albums already suck, but some of their earlier stuff is good)??? who can forget ween, on “powder blue” , where he introduces the entire backup country band, up to, and including, Muhammed Ali? ---
**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/56 "2002-09-22T07:29:41Z")
Well, slightly left of topic. The song _Victim of Changes_ by **Judas Priest** contains the lyrics _“I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough, good God - pluck me”_ which comes right before the guitar solo but I’ve always wondered what this line really meant. Way off target here, but I’ve always liked the end of **Megadeth** s _Paranoid_ cover. At the very end of the song all the instruments cease except for the drummer, Nick Menza, who is still wailing away at his kit. The lead singer, Dave Mustaine yells “Nick ! Nick!” to which Nick responds “F\*ck me running”. I’m not sure if it was staged or they just left it in for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390/57 "2002-09-22T20:53:38Z")
Beck says, “That was a good drum break” after a short drum solo in “Two Turntables and a Microphone”. And of course, who can forget Archie Bell and the Drells? After all, they can sing and dance just as good as they walk. And they invented a new dance called “The Tighten Up”, in which Archie calls in each instrument, “Aww yeah… Tighten up on that bass now! Okay, Drummer… Tighten it up!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-singers-sing-guitar/127390.md?page=2)