Face Melting Guitar Solos

[cherryowen]

Blib said:

popeyewhite said:

Blib said:

Anyone mention the God that was Frank Zappa?

Pages 2 and 4

Good! He should be on every page!

[longblackcoat]

Blib said:

Anyone mention the God that was Frank Zappa?

Here's FZ taking Stevie Vai to school:

STEVIE'S SPANKIN'

https://youtu.be/WJxoV5O8HUU

There's dozens of examples and album after album of guitar solos.

IMO no one beats Frank. Taken far too soon, I still miss him.

It may be heresy, but I find Steve Vai intensely boring. Technically he’s brilliant, but I found myself fast forwarding though his parts of this video as it was just painful to watch.

[popeyewhite]

longblackcoat said:

Blib said:

Anyone mention the God that was Frank Zappa?

Here's FZ taking Stevie Vai to school:

STEVIE'S SPANKIN'

https://youtu.be/WJxoV5O8HUU

There's dozens of examples and album after album of guitar solos.

IMO no one beats Frank. Taken far too soon, I still miss him.

It may be heresy, but I find Steve Vai intensely boring. Technically he’s brilliant, but I found myself fast forwarding though his parts of this video as it was just painful to watch.

Technically brilliant like a lot of very fast, proficient players, but no soul.

[popeyewhite]

Eddie Van Halen monsters I'm the One and Tattoo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuR_uRtvKz4

[cherryowen]

popeyewhite said:

Technically brilliant like a lot of very fast, proficient players, but no soul.

Mmmm. Largely

Blackmore I'd suggest would be an exception, regularly mixing fast technical stuff with long, slow, bluesey bends. Page was pretty good at is as well (his intro to Since I've Been Loving You live on The Song Remains The Same film is a great example).

Paul Gilbert and Guthrie Govan like to mix up speed and soul as well, I find.

[ben5575]

dickymint said:

No girlies yet? Well have a bit of this............................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTUtkTxF38

Watch the lot but especially when she kicks of her shoes!!

Never heard of her till i saw a post on the Gigs Plan - 2019 thread. Got tickets to see her at The Globe (pokey little venue which should make it even better) on 4th March in Cardiff

Please refer to the (my) third post on this thread....

[silverthorn2151]

Not sure if it counts as face melting but Bill Nelson's guitar solo in 'Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape' always sounds fabulous to me. Be Bop Deluxe at their best.

From about 1:50

https://youtu.be/CjiArdooBi4

[Blib]

Thanks for reminding me of Be Bop Deluxe.

[Roofless Toothless]

cherryowen said:

Blib said:

popeyewhite said:

Blib said:

Anyone mention the God that was Frank Zappa?

Pages 2 and 4

Good! He should be on every page!

At this stage I have a confession to make which may completely alter your opinion of me.

I am besotted by Frank Zappa, and have bought each of his records in turn since they first started appearing in the mid sixties. I am what you term a 'completist'.

What is more, the last twenty years of my life have seen a good proportion of my spare time dedicated to creating a Zappaworld on my computer, that not only chronologically compiles information on Zappa's life, but reviews each release, and its tracks, and also the musicians involved. There are also audience and soundboard tapes of about 350 shows, each one of which is broken down into component numbers, which are logged and annotated with regard to the variations and evolution of each one. There are also films, photographs, TV appearances, live video concerts, and radio interviews, all of which I have gleaned over the years from stuff on YouTube.

At present Zappaworld consists of about 185 GB and 15,500 files, all of which are hyperlinked together to form a complex matrix that you can surf around to your heart's content.

Along the way I have learned a lot about computers. Personally, I can't abide computer games, and I can't understand why people waste their time with such stuff. Zappaworld is so much more creative. It will all die with me, of course, as nobody else in my family is interested, and publishing will be impossible as so much of it is either copyrighted or bootleg.

But back to the guitar solos. Everybody's favourite seems to be Zappa's album Hot Rats, and there are a couple of numbing solos on there. However, you should be aware that recently a multi album box has been released that contains the original studio recordings that Zappa used as the source material for the published edits. It's an expensive box, but it is all on Spotify, so for anybody with even half an interest in the great man, it is an essential listen.

[The Surveyor]

One of the best for me, and one not mentioned is Eric Clapton's slow solo through the second half of 4:41AM (Sexual Revolution) from Roger Waters brilliant 'Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4bz0OvQ8A

I also love the combination of Jeff Beck with Beth Hart on 'Tell Her You Belong to Me', his solo when they were on Jools Holland a couple of years ago is also brilliant:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTWxXG2NoKQ

[cherryowen]

silverthorn2151 said:

Not sure if it counts as face melting but Bill Nelson's guitar solo in 'Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape' always sounds fabulous to me. Be Bop Deluxe at their best.

From about 1:50

https://youtu.be/CjiArdooBi4

I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of either Be Bop Deluxe or Bill Nelson.

I have now.

That solo is fantastic; controlled, perfectly measured but with a bit of "free time", landing on notes that compliment the chord etc etc. Wow.

Many thanks for posting

[silverthorn2151]

Glad you like it.

Be Bop Deluxe are often overlooked.

[StevieBee]

There's a pub band that does gigs in an around Essex called Spanky and the Hip thrusters. Their guitarist is a 'senior fella' but one of his solos is currently going viral and well worth a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN7SxpDIv6Y

[Blackpuddin]

Anybody mentioned Barry Bailey out of Atlanta Rhythm Section yet? From about 4:00 on here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vea42Z0j7KA

[Magpie1862]

Blib said:

Anyone mention the God that was Frank Zappa?

Here's FZ taking Stevie Vai to school:

STEVIE'S SPANKIN'

https://youtu.be/WJxoV5O8HUU

There's dozens of examples and album after album of guitar solos.

IMO no one beats Frank. Taken far too soon, I still miss him.

I have a few of Frank's albums but rarely play them, Joe's Garage, One Size..., Apostophe, etc

I try to get into him but some of the tracks are in my opinion are just about unlistenable.

Obviously a very unique talent, but an acquired taste.

[Mastodon2]

popeyewhite said:

Technically brilliant like a lot of very fast, proficient players, but no soul.

How do you measure "soul"? I've often been mystified by this. See also "emotion" and "feel" in music. You sound like you've got it figured out so I'd like to know the method to quantify these things. Any help would be appreciated!

[Roofless Toothless]

Mastodon2 said:

popeyewhite said:

Technically brilliant like a lot of very fast, proficient players, but no soul.

How do you measure "soul"? I've often been mystified by this. See also "emotion" and "feel" in music. You sound like you've got it figured out so I'd like to know the method to quantify these things. Any help would be appreciated!

"If you gotta ask the question, you ain't never gonna understand the answer."

[vetrof]

Magpie1862 said:

I have a few of Frank's albums but rarely play them, Joe's Garage, One Size..., Apostophe, etc

I try to get into him but some of the tracks are in my opinion are just about unlistenable.

Obviously a very unique talent, but an acquired taste.

Not an uncommon take on Zappa. I believe even he said something along the lines of
'nobody will like all my music, but most people will like some of it'.

[popeyewhite]

Mastodon2 said:

popeyewhite said:

Technically brilliant like a lot of very fast, proficient players, but no soul.

How do you measure "soul"? I've often been mystified by this. See also "emotion" and "feel" in music. You sound like you've got it figured out so I'd like to know the method to quantify these things. Any help would be appreciated!

It's subjective, obviously, and involves actually playing a tune rather than just stringing notes together as quickly as possible or showing off how adept you are at making extemely complex guitar work look easy. Now don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with fast guitar work and shredding - it has it's place, but a cacophony is always just round the corner, and personally I'd prefer something considered, tuneful and played to draw the listener in, take the listener on a journey if you will, rather than try to impress. Also the dog whines when something screechy, long and technical is played. It's only a poodle, but poodles have feelings too.

HTH.

[popeyewhite]

Roofless Toothless said:

At this stage I have a confession to make which may completely alter your opinion of me.

I am besotted by Frank Zappa, and have bought each of his records in turn since they first started appearing in the mid sixties. I am what you term a 'completist'.

What is more, the last twenty years of my life have seen a good proportion of my spare time dedicated to creating a Zappaworld on my computer, that not only chronologically compiles information on Zappa's life, but reviews each release, and its tracks, and also the musicians involved. There are also audience and soundboard tapes of about 350 shows, each one of which is broken down into component numbers, which are logged and annotated with regard to the variations and evolution of each one. There are also films, photographs, TV appearances, live video concerts, and radio interviews, all of which I have gleaned over the years from stuff on YouTube.

At present Zappaworld consists of about 185 GB and 15,500 files, all of which are hyperlinked together to form a complex matrix that you can surf around to your heart's content.

Along the way I have learned a lot about computers. Personally, I can't abide computer games, and I can't understand why people waste their time with such stuff. Zappaworld is so much more creative. It will all die with me, of course, as nobody else in my family is interested, and publishing will be impossible as so much of it is either copyrighted or bootleg.

But back to the guitar solos. Everybody's favourite seems to be Zappa's album Hot Rats, and there are a couple of numbing solos on there. However, you should be aware that recently a multi album box has been released that contains the original studio recordings that Zappa used as the source material for the published edits. It's an expensive box, but it is all on Spotify, so for anybody with even half an interest in the great man, it is an essential listen.

Thank you for sharing Roofless Toothless.

Regarding Hot Rats I saw Dweezil recently in Manchester and he played the whole album, virtually note perfect. I've heard Son of Mr Green Genes too many times to consider over the years but Dweezil was spot on and If I'd closed my eyes it could have been Frank on stage. Funnily enough though HT is like one long jam it's not my favourite FZ album for solos - I much prefer One Size Fits All or (at the moment) Boston Live 76.