GT Solo Assignment May '07

Hi gang :)
I'm pretty new around here, and I'm really enjoying the GT community! This is the first month that I've known about the backing track and solo opportunity, so I decided to give it a shot.
Julian, I really like the backing track! It reminded me alot of some of my younger days listening to guys like Joe Satriani. In fact, I tossed in a little tribute lick from "Summer Song" in the middle of my solo to pay homage to the great Satch.
Let me also say that . . . . WOW! It's sure alot harder to come up with a solo for 2 and a half minutes, than it is to solo for 8 or 16 bars in the middle of a vocal song!

O.K. Gear used. - Epiphone blue flame Les Paul Classic dual humbucker. Played through a POD XT live and using one of the factory preset patches called "Eruption", then plugged directly into my MacBook Pro laptop and recorded into GarageBand.
Now that I've created mine, I'll go back and listen to some of the rest of yours as well! Talk to you all soon!

Kevin

www.soundclick.com/worshipsmack

Ha ha!!!... Kev, that Joe S. lick in there litterally cracked me up.....I was not ready for that one at all....toooo funny ...good stuff man! :)

Originally Posted by: WorshipSmackHi gang :)
I'm pretty new around here, and I'm really enjoying the GT community! This is the first month that I've known about the backing track and solo opportunity, so I decided to give it a shot.
Julian, I really like the backing track! It reminded me alot of some of my younger days listening to guys like Joe Satriani. In fact, I tossed in a little tribute lick from "Summer Song" in the middle of my solo to pay homage to the great Satch.
Let me also say that . . . . WOW! It's sure alot harder to come up with a solo for 2 and a half minutes, than it is to solo for 8 or 16 bars in the middle of a vocal song!

O.K. Gear used. - Epiphone blue flame Les Paul Classic dual humbucker. Played through a POD XT live and using one of the factory preset patches called "Eruption", then plugged directly into my MacBook Pro laptop and recorded into GarageBand.
Now that I've created mine, I'll go back and listen to some of the rest of yours as well! Talk to you all soon!

Kevin

www.soundclick.com/worshipsmack

Hey man glad you like the track, you did a good job with it too :) . Just wanna say that for these things it's not necessary to 'solo' over the whole track. What I like to do is come up with repeatable melodies especially during the chorus like you would with a normal song and improvise over other bits.

Magicninja

:)

Nice tune Ninja. I like the tone. I wish I would have added a little chorus and delay to my entry. What kind of setup are you using?

It seems I get asked this every month. :)

I run my LP direct to PC through a Roland VS880. Then, I used Tracktion as my recording software, and use Amplitube 2 as my amp sim, and use Waves compression and reverb to top it off.

Hey guys I’ve listened to all the entries submitted so far, and first of all I have to say that everybody did a great job, and I had fun listening to your takes.
Please don’t take in the wrong way anything I say as I am only giving constructive criticism and I do have plenty of good things to say about your entries.

Julian._ thanks for the backing track man, it is a fun track to improvise over.
z0s0._ I liked a lot the expressiveness of your vibrato technique and the choice of tone. The mixing work doesn’t do you justice, maybe some panning would do the trick.
Bar Chord Nick._ I always like your riffing and phrasing man, and you bended those notes to right pitch; not a bad tone at all. The only thing is that the guitar sounded a little quiet in comparison to the backing.
WringglerUK_ You played some good lines here and there and some bends were in pitch, however; most of the bends were off key. Also the tone was too tinny and trebly to my taste, maybe some EQ, pickup selection or tone knob could take care of that problem.
FingerSpasm._ Asserted volume levels, enjoyable tone, good timing, but some notes were off key. I liked the sustained bends and the slides.
WERNER1._ Excellent vibrato, nice tone, (I think I hear the right amount of reverb in it) perfect pitch bending and timing, loved the blues-rock licks and that harmonic reminded me of Zakk Wylde.
WorshipSmack._ Good choice of tone, and the Satriani lick was a clever idea.
magicninja._ Warm tone and good mix. I liked the repetitive melody line, but it was a little over used in my opinion. You have improved a lot on your phrasing and timing.

Once again, great job everybody.

Originally Posted by: equatorHey guys I’ve listened to all the entries submitted so far, and first of all I have to say that everybody did a great job, and I had fun listening to your takes.
Please don’t take in the wrong way anything I say as I am only giving constructive criticism and I do have plenty of good things to say about your entries.

Julian._ thanks for the backing track man, it is a fun track to improvise over.
z0s0._ I liked a lot the expressiveness of your vibrato technique and the choice of tone. The mixing work doesn’t do you justice, maybe some panning would do the trick.
Bar Chord Nick._ I always like your riffing and phrasing man, and you bended those notes to right pitch; not a bad tone at all. The only thing is that the guitar sounded a little quiet in comparison to the backing.
WringglerUK_ You played some good lines here and there and some bends were in pitch, however; most of the bends were off key. Also the tone was too tinny and trebly to my taste, maybe some EQ, pickup selection or tone knob could take care of that problem.
FingerSpasm._ Asserted volume levels, enjoyable tone, good timing, but some notes were off key. I liked the sustained bends and the slides.
WERNER1._ Excellent vibrato, nice tone, (I think I hear the right amount of reverb in it) perfect pitch bending and timing, loved the blues-rock licks and that harmonic reminded me of Zakk Wylde.
WorshipSmack._ Good choice of tone, and the Satriani lick was a clever idea.
magicninja._ Warm tone and good mix. I liked the repetitive melody line, but it was a little over used in my opinion. You have improved a lot on your phrasing and timing.

Once again, great job everybody.

Thanks for the Feedback. I am not sure what you mean by asserted volume levels? I am working on trying to stay in key and bending to pitch. I am still pretty new to all of this but its alot of fun and thanks again for the input always nice to have some one listen and then give an honest opinion wether its good or bad. :)

Originally Posted by: equatorHey guys I’ve listened to all the entries submitted so far, and first of all I have to say that everybody did a great job, and I had fun listening to your takes.
Please don’t take in the wrong way anything I say as I am only giving constructive criticism and I do have plenty of good things to say about your entries.
WringglerUK_ You played some good lines here and there and some bends were in pitch, however; most of the bends were off key. Also the tone was too tinny and trebly to my taste, maybe some EQ, pickup selection or tone knob could take care of that problem.

I don't want criticism, I want flattery!!! :D

Yeah, I know I need to work on bends & such. I still haven't got the knack of bending INTO a note rather than off it. It'll come... eventually!

The tone was actually intentional - you're right, it doesn't work too well, but I did do it deliberately. I may go back and re-mix it. Not to post again, just to see what it may sound like with a different amp model.

Thanks for the comments. BTW, who's this Wringgler character anyways ;)

I know that I've not been around here very long,...and I've only done a couple of the monthly solo's....but it's SOOOOO amazing to see the different ideas that everyone comes up with for the same BT.....That to me is what makes this so awesome!


You had me a bit worried when you mentioned vibrato.....I hadn't sat down and scrutenized my vibrato for a LONG time....so I had to go back and give it a couple of quick listens to make sure I wasn't doing something silly in there :o

I noticed that a few of you all are having the ever so peski trouble with bending the note's into pitch .... I know quite a few acomplished guitarist who still have a bit of trouble with this issue.....I took years for me to finally "get it down" so to speak....it was like one day I couldn't do it worth a darn, and then the next day I could...very wierd stuff... So take heart and keep praticing those bends...one day that muscle memory will kick in just right every time and you'll go "Woah" :cool: ...I still have some troubles with this myself from time to time as I find my self actually over bending the note just a hair.....and then if I switch to a hard tail guitar :eek:

Good stuff here guys!!

Rick

Hey guys here's my take this month. It's kinda dumb cause I kept changing my mind what pickup i wanted my lead guitar on, so it keeps changing throughout the track :confused:

Julian Vickers

Originally Posted by: Julian VickersHey guys here's my take this month. It's kinda dumb cause I kept changing my mind what pickup i wanted my lead guitar on, so it keeps changing throughout the track :confused:

Julian Vickers

Wow :eek: Very nice entry. I liked the effects you were using.

That was some very nice playing Julian!!!....Very soulful......

I haven't posted any thing this year... I got a new band, new computer, lots of work at work. Well I have been lazy. This is not about to end, between when I downloaded the song and the time I posted it (now) it's a just an hour.
I guess I am not shooting for quality but I tried. I'll do better next time, critics are welcome:
http://www.macjams.com/song/31885

ThanX :D

i was actually really surprised, man. sounds good f'shao, rg.

Originally Posted by: rgrandsireI haven't posted any thing this year... I got a new band, new computer, lots of work at work. Well I have been lazy. This is not about to end, between when I downloaded the song and the time I posted it (now) it's a just an hour.
I guess I am not shooting for quality but I tried. I'll do better next time, critics are welcome:
http://www.macjams.com/song/31885

ThanX :D

No Critics here! Except maybe I wish it would have taken you longer to play something that good. :) I spent like 8 hours on my simple entry. But I am still learning and inspired. :rolleyes: