Premier Rock Forum

yaledelay wrote:as far as I am concerned the greatest solo ever is the one by Eddie Hazel that opens Maggot Brain, I wish I could play like that but I can't

seconded.

they re-released that album with an alternate mix of that song. it must be heard. the entire band is playing on the track, but in the version we all know and love, george mixed everything way down but the two guitar tracks. it brings new light to the solo.

it occurred to me whilst riding my bike around late one night with maggotbrain in the headphones that the whole band was playing. i sensed bass and drums happening. a snare hit in the middle of the song or something. some echo-y bass. i was right.

steve wrote:Robert Fripp (Eno albums especially)

the solos on "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Golden Hours" especially blow me away beyond all belief...they're guitar solos, and he's SHREDDING but holy crap it's some of the most amazing stuff i've heard in my life!

endofanera wrote:

Get dog costumes wrote:Greg Ginn is often considered a terrible soloist

Good LORD! By who?!? Point out the heathens! Point them out I say!

i could easily see a lot of jerks saying that...like bring a Black Flag record to a guitar store and play it for the employees and they'll be like "N-N-N-N-N-N-NOOOOOOOO!!! YOU CALL THAT A GUITAR SOLO!? THIS IS WHAT I WOULD'VE PLAYED! WEEEEDLDELEDLEDLIDDE etc" of course they're fags and they would be wrong...Greg Ginn's like one of the awesomest guitar players ever...to me his little solos are like rockabilly licks being played by some jazz dude over a hardcore song...seriously, his guitar-work alone raises Black Flag up several rungs of the ladder of my esteem...

bad solos always sound like this: wheedly-wheedly-wheedly-wheedly-weeeeooowwoowooowwww wheedly-wheedly-wheedly-wheedly

etc

that damned fly wrote:

yaledelay wrote:as far as I am concerned the greatest solo ever is the one by Eddie Hazel that opens Maggot Brain, I wish I could play like that but I can't

seconded.

they re-released that album with an alternate mix of that song. it must be heard. the entire band is playing on the track, but in the version we all know and love, george mixed everything way down but the two guitar tracks. it brings new light to the solo.

it occurred to me whilst riding my bike around late one night with maggotbrain in the headphones that the whole band was playing. i sensed bass and drums happening. a snare hit in the middle of the song or something. some echo-y bass. i was right.

I have not heard this, but I need to...

when the HI-Fi played at CMJ we bumped into George Clinton (not really but kind of) and I wanted to ask him about the delay/wah comb on that song, I still can't figure out how he got it so that when the wah was cranked one way the delay was on and how when it was cranked the other way it is off... but I didn't want to come off like a knob.

I think Greg Ginn is interesting if you listen to him texturally (like you'd approach an album like Bitches Brew), but melodically he's crap. I give him props for deliberately avoiding melody, but to infer that there's a true method to his madness (I've heard his instrumental stuff referred to as "twelve tone," which it's not) is ill-informed. He was good on the first couple 'Flag records; once they slowed down, he stayed the same, and didn't fit (though I did really like the guitar work on "Three Nights"). I also enjoyed The Process of Weeding Out, but again, I liked it more texturally than melodically.

the solo in general? not crap. if well done, and not over-done. some bands do it every song, and it sucks. generally speaking i prefer solos in slower songs. fast solos are a little wanky for me, because it usually ends up where the guitarist just plays scalar figures in the same mode over and over and over. examples of what i'm talking about:

*What Am I Doing Here? (Rollins Band)
*I of the Mourning (Smashing Pumpkins--say what you like. the solo kicked ass.)
*Grab It (later Dino Jr)

...i just realized how little good music in my CD collection actually has good solos in it. oh well. perhaps the solo IS crap then.

I vote NOT CRAP.

But only if they are used intelligently and in the appropiate places. A lot of rock bands I've heard rely on solos a little too much; using it as a crutch for a lack of ideas or for showing off, rather than using them to effectively express an idea, mood, etc. of a song. This is partly why I would prefer jazz and classical guitar work, or a jazz\classical influence in rock music, a la Robert Fripp.
I also would prefer an unusual and\or unique soloing and playing style (in any genre). Ex: early Pete Townshend, Robert Fripp, Santiago Durango, Steve Albini, Colin Newman, and B.C. Gilbert.

This, of course, is not to say jazz guitarists are immune to playing bad or self-indulgent solos. This also doesn't mean rock guitarists can't play good solos. I'm merely speaking of the bad examples in the genre of rock.

In light of the guitar evolution thread, I thought I'd bump this one up.

I don't like solos except for a handful of players, like Hendrix, and Iommi. The (overplayed) freebird one is fantastic, though.

fugazi's 'life and limb'. that's some coooooooool shit, man. dig?