playlist
reality tasting: guitar solos
Nicholas Chen
tracks
A playlist for a talk I gave on how to appreciate a guitar solo.
Slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_CCBRLzIiRujkig45nIydlkBWuBW3GSxctFPIRmAorg/edit?usp=sharing
One fun thing you can with guitar solos is to pay attention to their structures. How do they fit into the larger song? How are they structured within themselves? How does the guitar interact with other elements of the song (other instruments, motifs, etc. etc.)
1. Melody solos
A lot of guitar solos just quote the melody of the song. This is a great and tasteful way to compose a guitar solo - the main melody of the song is recognizable and hummable, and repeating it in a guitar solo is a great way to get it into your audiences' heads. These 3 songs all have guitar solos that quote the main melody, sometimes adding a twist.
2. Producer solos
Solo artists often don't have their own bands and rely on session guitar players for certain parts. This is a fundamentally different relationship: the session guitar player completely surrenders creative control to the producer and artist. As a result, you see some very different kinds of guitar solos.
Crazy is an interesting one - it has a solo so short, I'm not really sure you can even call it a solo. It's incredibly flashy and technical, has all the marks of a session guitar player's work.
I include Devil in a New Dress here, but technically the producer plays the solo on this. Same difference.
3. Traditional guitar solos
This is what most people think of when they think of a guitar solo, when the band just has the lead guitarist go nuts for a few minutes (or the entire song, in the case of Maggot Brain).
4. Call and response solos
One really fun thing to do is to have call and response between the guitar and another instrument. Makes for a great climax in a song.
Arguable whether these are guitar "solos", since that implies it's just the guitar playing, and these solos involve interplay between multiple instruments.
5. Listen to the drums!
Guitar solos are often compared to narratives, with a rising action and a climax. However, often the duty of building up the energy to a climax rests with the drummer, not the guitar player! This song illustrates that really clearly. The guitar player plays the same phrase the entire solo; it's the drummer who changes the pace and energy levels.
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to record your thoughts on music, consider trying synesthesia - you can sign up here: https://www.synesthesia.club/
