What ever happened to the guitar solo???

yes, copyright infringement, forgot about that deal, but still, it's no talent to have producers say "do this song, it's not yours but you'll make more money" that's the problem,I am not gonna start a band for money, god no, I will never become a commercial pawn, I'd rather be doing remixes of K.C and the Sunshine band before I gave in. People today are weak to these messages, everyone's angry and they don't know who to be angry at, people like eminem, and Fred Durst piss the masses off and don't tell them what to be angry at, the anger today needs a focal point, and that focal point should be big business, industry, or the government.

I've played with fred durst character in 'WWF just bring it' on PS2, and he has cool moves!!! I know I'm off topic, leave me aloooooooooone.... Cough COugh...

look, a decent guitar player can still get off playing
rhythm. dont feel left out of the solo thing... rhythm
playing still allows you to get your voice heard.

want examples? check the rhythm playing on
some of my mp3's at http://www.mp3.com/jaycjames
specifically My Crotch Is On Fire for a good
example of rhythm playing in a straight rock context.
or even 'I Think' for a most interesting riff and
a most interesting rhythm track.
ok, so the vocals suck... i am NOT a singer, but
i have some things to say that a guitar just cant :)
like... REAL WORDS! :)

" is your mind so small, that you have to fall in with the pack wherever they run..."
"are you afraid of what your friends might say when you believe in God above,..they should realize before they critisize that God is the only way to look" OZZY BLACK SABBATH. I woulkd like to appoligize if I hit some nerves against rap music, when a person becomes defensive there is usually some truth behind what makes them so. I can relate to the lyrics in rap, In my younger years I lived in the streets, I knew prostitutes, was addicted to drugs, sex alcohol, violence, I was homeless, I whatched life being drained from people including myself by the lifestyles we chose..the music we chose. All music has its place I just decided to change my tune, or tune in to sounds and music and attitudes that were more positive and that enhanced my life and others from a heart and spirit from within instead of violent complaining attitudes, blaming everyone and everything and giving into my vices. I must admitt I like a lot of "rap" dance techno style rythms and I use them alot, I just try to keep my attitude above water because I have been right at the bottom of it all.

Originally Posted by: snimbkarMy opinion on what "killed" the solo? The "anti-playing" backlash, created by Nirvana, and grunge. These guys were either incapable of playing anything challenging, or simply did not put in the effort. As a result, Nirvana got extremely lucky, let's face it, Their songs are sh*t, but their timing was good. I love the fact that "artists" who write three chord songs with lyrics about depression are considered to be profound, intuitive, visionary...Give me a break. So the music "band wagon" jumped to the 'anti-playing' trend, and is slowly coming around thanks to bands like Godsmack, even Sevendust. And as far as Cobain being a visionary? , the best thing he did was pull the trigger.

Have you ever heard Cobain solo? He is a genius. He shapes all the feedback he gets out of crappy guitars to make amazing guitar solos. The "anti-playing" that you're talking about is not about playing simple little songs. It's a mindsett against Pop music and against order in music. He throws his emotions into his music and clearly depicts his feeling through his guitar. This makes him an outstanding guitarist. The measure of a great guitarist is not how well they understand music theory or how fast they can play. It's about their ability to put themselves completely into their music. Grunge music is all about doing this. Look at Jerry Cantrell from Alice in chains. He's a great guitarist with a completely origional sound. Mike McCready from Pearl Jam is one of the best grunge guitarists of all time. He's just as good as any Metal Guitarist. You obviously don't understand the feeling and emotion behind music. I'm guessing your a fan of Dragon Force. Cobain was a visionary and deserves more respect than he gets. If you want to point fingers at bands for ruining the guitar solo look at the Ramones or The Misfitts. Both are great bands but they are both anti guitar solo. You don't know what you're talking about and this is exactly the reaction Cobain hoped to get from people like you.

i dont think you can blame any bands for ruining guitar solos, you can blame the consumers that chose purchase music with less solos.

i've never thought music was about technical skill, but more the feeling you can convey thru it, if you can convey your feeling thru 3 chords and no solo then thats fine.

i have always been a nirvana fan, as well as a fan of a lot more technical playing styles. to me its about the music, if i'm writing a piece of music and i feel a solo will enhance it, then i try it, if i feel it does not need on i dont force it.

i'm a pretty gheto guitar player, and just as ghetto a song writer, but i do my best. but i never feel i need to force a solo into something

Personally I was thrilled when rock and metal acts started playing some decent solos again. Something that comes to mind is Slipknot, actually. Now. I must stress I'm not a fan, but it interested me when it was revealed that the band had been asked not to play any solos on their records for years by their label and management as solos weren't in vogue. Then, the label finally gave in once the band was big enough, and their solos were awesome (technically speaking rather than melodically).

Granted, I'm a shred addict through and through, but I can appreciate a beautifully melodic solo too, and really misssed them throuhgout the whole grunge thing. Plus there was nu-metal, which seemed to further dumb down guitar playing, but at least with nu-metal there were some acts doing interesting things with different time signatures.

Anyway, just thought I'd jump in and worship at the altar of expressive, impressive and infuriatingly good solos ;)

Quite the old thread! Always a good subject though.

Originally Posted by: shredhead_xPersonally I was thrilled when rock and metal acts started playing some decent solos again. Something that comes to mind is Slipknot, actually. Now. I must stress I'm not a fan, but it interested me when it was revealed that the band had been asked not to play any solos on their records for years by their label and management as solos weren't in vogue. Then, the label finally gave in once the band was big enough, and their solos were awesome (technically speaking rather than melodically).

Wow, I wasnt aware that the actual label told them to not do guitar solos. Thats just ridiculous. It you makes you wonder what else perhaps goes on behind the scenes in the recording studio; Just how much are the labels producers pulling the strings in the labels favor...

But anyway, this thread was at the end of 2001. After reading through some of it, it was very relevant at that time. But as of time right now, I think it has actually turned 180 degrees. In alot of current metal, the "progressive" and "classical" influences, even the 70/80's are starting to show their faces in abundance lately.

As one of the very, very dusty responses said earlier in this thread, at one point in the 90's some guitarist were almost ridiculed for being skilled. "Tee hee look at him shredding! Hes stuck in the 80's!"

But in this day & age, I am excited to see musicians constantly testing their abilities and always reaching for higher ground in their skill. Of course good songs can be the simple 3 power cord prgression and a nice vocal melody, but as a guitarist I just get bored frankly, and always want to hear something new and inventive. If we would have stuck with nirvana and green day for too long (which we probably did) we would be going backwards in music, not forward in my opinion.

This thread is far too long to read all the way through.

Suffice it to say, I'm in complete agreement: most bands have no clue what it is to actually solo. Most of the solos I hear today consist of the guitarist hitting a large number of random notes that make the band sound "metal."

That being said, there are a few amazing bands I know which consistently put out great solos. I'm just going to name one (a band which has yet to disappoint me. Okay, I take that back. Once they did a techno remix of one of their songs. Barring that, however, they have produced consistently great music, with great solos every few songs) - an alternative rock band called Anberlin. If you're interested, I'd say check out: The Feel Good Drag


Personally, I don't think that every song should have a solo. Some songs can do without. It really depends on what the song is saying.

Originally Posted by: FlyingJbirdThis thread is far too long to read all the way through.

Suffice it to say, I'm in complete agreement: most bands have no clue what it is to actually solo. Most of the solos I hear today consist of the guitarist hitting a large number of random notes that make the band sound "metal."

That being said, there are a few amazing bands I know which consistently put out great solos. I'm just going to name one (a band which has yet to disappoint me. Okay, I take that back. Once they did a techno remix of one of their songs. Barring that, however, they have produced consistently great music, with great solos every few songs) - an alternative rock band called Anberlin. If you're interested, I'd say check out: The Feel Good Drag


Personally, I don't think that every song should have a solo. Some songs can do without. It really depends on what the song is saying.

Your last point is very, very true. Not everything needs a flashy solo (which sounds rich considering my username) - if a tune is fine without one, then a solo wil just stick out like a sore thumb.

Solo or no solo, personally I've found that 95% of the rock music post 80s is 100% boring to listen to. Or, if they are exciting to listen to, their singer opens his mouth and ruins it. Sounds more like their trying to pass a turd the size of a log in most cases.

It's amazing how a singer can take a band from great to awesome, or take an awesome sounding band and make them sound like pure trash.

Originally Posted by: RickBlacker
It's amazing how a singer can take a band from great to awesome, or take an awesome sounding band and make them sound like pure trash.

Ha, it's true! They either sound like "Rawr look at me I'm making monster sounds" (are they like 12?) or they sound like some emo case whining about existence. Gawd...

I can't stand "radio music" for that reason mainly. The singers all sound the same like you said. Either trying to be tough.....or the complete opposite, sounding like little girls.

Originally Posted by: RazboHa, it's true! They either sound like "Rawr look at me I'm making monster sounds" (are they like 12?) or they sound like some emo case whining about existence. Gawd...

Haha well, even though I enjoy a lot of metal that utilizes screaming or "guttural" (cookie monster pretty much) vocals, thats funny.

To each his own I suppose. As a guitarist, well, I listen to the guitar... If I am fascinated with the guitar work, I dont really care what the vocalist is doing for the most part. How much amazing guitar work are you by chance missing out on because you are focusing on the vocals?

Smashing Pumpkins is a good example of a band that didnt get attention from some people solely because of his vocals, which is complete nonsense.

Also consider the theme in which the band is going for. If a band wants to sound very dark, or very heavy and just obnoxiously brutal, you can only sound so "brutal" singing in a clear voice or even a raspy Dave Mustaine/James Hetfield sort. So the guttural/screaming type of vocals came naturally in the path of metal, so they could make it sound even more dark/brutal than what was previously dubbed dark and brutal; Black Sabbath is a really good example of that.

"How can we sound more dark than Black Sabbath? Well, lets growl like we're demons and tune our guitars lower, cant get anymore dark than that, right?"

As a guitarist, I listen to a very wide spectum of genres where the vocals are no where near comparison, because as a guitarist, vocals come secondary. Its the guitar turns me on, than I respect it, no matter the genre/vocals.

Originally Posted by: Jarsew
As a guitarist, I listen to a very wide spectum of genres where the vocals are no where near comparison, because as a guitarist, vocals come secondary. Its the guitar turns me on, than I respect it, no matter the genre/vocals.

I dig metal guitar, but that is only part of the package. Each to his own, as you say. Incessant double bass also turns me off.

I love guitar as well, but the vocals are so much a part of a song. Personally, the cookie monster vocals turn me off so much, I can't bare to listen to the rest of what's going on.

Sad really because I've heard some music that actually sounded good until the vocals kicked in.

I listen to intrumentalists like Jeff Beck for inspiration. He can make any sound with just his fingers, his whammy bar and a volume control.
Today's music is pure crap. Everywhere all I hear is profanity shouted over a drum machine. That is NOT MUSIC. Little kids appearing on American Idol and
others just make me laugh....

I listen to intrumentalists like Jeff Beck for inspiration. He can make any sound with just his fingers, his whammy bar and a volume control.
Today's music is pure crap. Everywhere all I hear is profanity shouted over a drum machine. That is NOT MUSIC. Little kids appearing on American Idol and
others just make me laugh....

Originally Posted by: Rocky in MemphiToday's music is pure crap. Everywhere all I hear is profanity shouted over a drum machine. That is NOT MUSIC.

Sure its music, you simply just dont like it.

I really dislike the color yellow, but that doesnt mean I can say yellow isnt a color.

Im typically not a fan of Fender guitars, but that doesn't mean I can say that Fender isnt worthy of being considered a guitar.

I really hate running to exercise, so according to your logic, I can say that running is therefore not exercising?

Todd Rundgren saw it a long time ago toward the end of the seventies, it's called the death of Rock & Roll. Now everybody lives in Hamburger Hell!

He called them at that time: Rock & Roll Pussies! (Is that politically correct?)
Anyway, you gotta let it flow from inside to the outside. It is erronious to "think how to sing or how to write a song". It has to come from the life inside you and flow out to the ears of the hearer!

Now that is what is missing nowadays in most cases. It's more like picking a subject and writing a few clever lyrics and a catchy tune (or toon) to make it pallatable to the ear.

What I miss is the songs that make you feel it, as Led Zeppelin said "Waaaay Doooown Insiiiide! Honey, You need Loooooooove!
You gotta Love what your doin and people will notice. Gotta whole lotta Love?

Go For It, Let it flow, don't force it, it won't work if it is forced.

What is it we're talking about? Oh, Yeah, Its called Music!