Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #32

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #32

Voting closes on the 31st January 2018 at 11.30 pm.

Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Vote for your top 3 entries. If you're an entrant you can't vote for yourself.

1st choice gets 5 points

2nd choice gets 3 points

3rd choice gets 1 point

You can find all the entries the playlist below:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm-2018-01

stratman3142

There was some discussion of the approaches used for the solos at the thread at the link below.

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/120658/solo-of-the-month-sotm-32/p1

In addition to the voting, feel free to comment and continue the discussion on this thread - keeping things constructive.

Incidentally, ignore the numbers I assigned to the track names. That was just to help me keep track of the order in which they were submitted. There were some substitutions, which means there are some missing numbers.

sticker

@Rowby1 - 5 points
 @Barney - 3 points
 @Brad - 1 point

some fantastic entries , well done to all who took part !

Rowby1

Bit short on time at the moment and I was wanting to do a bit more of a detailed post on scoring. So, the short version: 

@stratman3142 - 5 points
@Brad - 3 points
@bingefeller - 1 point

Really enjoyed this one and particularly reading of the different approaches people have taken.

DulcetJones

Great to see lots of entries, and really good ones considering the backing track was a little out of some of our comfort zones.

Here goes,

  5 Points -  @Rowby1 ;

  3 Points - @Bellycaster ;

  1 Point -  @Barney 

bingefeller

5 Points - @brad ;
3 points - @stratman3142 ;
1 point - @luxxman

flying_pie

5 points @Rowby1 ;

3 points @Brad ;

1 point @Bellycaster ;

It's all subjective but I thought Rowby1 stuck out for me creatively and melodically. I found it really hard to pick two from the rest. @stratman3142 @modellista @bingefeller @Luxxman could well have found themselves in there if I'd voted on a different day. Good work all round 

stratman3142

All good and some very varied approaches. I really appreciate those that entered and there's something to learn from them all.

I have to pick three, so I decided to go with:

@Rowby1 - 5 points. As soon as I heard this I knew it was going to be my favourite. Rhythmic and melodic. Effortlessly weaving a path through the chords without overstating the changes. Fits perfectly. I wondered whether Jeff Skunk Baxter might be making a secret guest appearance. 

@Barney - 3 points. Very inventive. I like the percussive rhythmic picking style and some great lines. btw. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I'm hearing a strange resonance in the reverb in places.

@Brad - 1 point. Extremely inventive and quite 'Jing Chi' in places, to the point where my ears got a bit lost (but that's probably my unsophisticated brain). Definitely very clever. Lovely tone and phrasing. Like @Barney you've got that squeaky punchy thing going on in your picking that I really like.

Brad

Great entries on what is a deceptively tricky backing track!

5 points - @Rowby1 - lovely chilled vibe, great melodic development and direction. Really nice bends reminded me a little of Carlton when in his softer moments. 

3 points - @Bellycaster - really like the slightly abrasive tone and angular nature of the note choice over A section. Connected smoothly to the B sections maintaining the narrative. 

1 point - @stratman3142 ; - really nice vibe again, melodic throughout and lovely tone. Great job!

Special mention to @Barney I'll be stealing some of those lines!  

markv

5 points @Rowby1 - as others have said, this stood out on very first listen and is very close to the sound I had in my head but couldn't get. Really enjoyed the phrasing and the way the notes popped out. Lovely.

3 points @Brad - not 100% sure about the slightly "outside" moments, they sound wrong to my ears, but they always resolve, the overall shape of the solo is good, and the different tones used gives variety.

1 point - @Barney - other than wishing there was a bit less reverb, I thought this was great. Nice harmony lines.

Bezzer

Well, that was a treat listening to all of those!  Quite hard to choose three favourites and in the end I was led a bit by tones that clicked with me.  So I'm going with:

5 points @Bellycaster
3 points @stratman3142
1 point @Brad ;

But really great playing throughout, well done all of yoU!

Rowby1

I didn't have much time when I gave my points out during the week and I wanted to be a bit more detailed about my scoring. So here's the slightly longer version.

@stratman This one's right up my street, I'm guessing it's Strat neck pick up which was exactly where I started tone wise too but I ended up switching to my semi  in the end in order to try and be a bit more Larry.  All nicely executed and good choices on the verb and vibrato to get the Steely Dan vibe going.

@Brad First half of the solo is really nice, love the double stops and there's some stuff in there that reminds me of early Pat Metheny. For me though the second half starts to lose direction when it moves to the more outside stuff. It's not wrong in any way, just not to my personal taste. The last quarter of the solo though you're back in the zone for me. Nicely done.

@bingefeller ; Thought this one over all felt quite relaxed,  a bit "on the fly" or "off the cuff" if you prefer. The down side to that though is that it then ended up feeling  like it lacked a little bit of attention to detail and was slightly untidy in places (over shooting the end of the track for example). Great ideas though.

Nice work all round folks, certainly stretched me a bit.

stratman3142

Rowby1 said:

I didn't have much time when I gave my points out during the week and I wanted to be a bit more detailed about my scoring. So here's the slightly longer version.

@stratman ...I'm guessing it's Strat neck pick up which was exactly where I started tone wise too... 

It was actually the neck pickup on my Telecaster Professional 2017, which I've often thought sounds more 'neck pickup Stratty' than either of my Strats

bingefeller

Rowby1 said:

I didn't have much time when I gave my points out during the week and I wanted to be a bit more detailed about my scoring. So here's the slightly longer version.

@stratman This one's right up my street, I'm guessing it's Strat neck pick up which was exactly where I started tone wise too but I ended up switching to my semi  in the end in order to try and be a bit more Larry.  All nicely executed and good choices on the verb and vibrato to get the Steely Dan vibe going.

@Brad First half of the solo is really nice, love the double stops and there's some stuff in there that reminds me of early Pat Metheny. For me though the second half starts to lose direction when it moves to the more outside stuff. It's not wrong in any way, just not to my personal taste. The last quarter of the solo though you're back in the zone for me. Nicely done.

@bingefeller ; Thought this one over all felt quite relaxed,  a bit "on the fly" or "off the cuff" if you prefer. The down side to that though is that it then ended up feeling  like it lacked a little bit of attention to detail and was slightly untidy in places (over shooting the end of the track for example). Great ideas though.

Nice work all round folks, certainly stretched me a bit.

Thanks for the constructive feedback- now I know what to look out for in future contests. 

mudslide73

@Rowby1 - 5 points - how I'd hoped my attempt would sound. Very lovely indeed.
 @stratman3142 ;- 3 points
 @Brad - 1 point

stratman3142

mudslide73 said:

@Rowby1 - 5 points - how I'd hoped my attempt would sound. Very lovely indeed.
 @stratman3142 ;- 3 points
 @Brad - 1 point

@mudslide73 did you send an entry because, if so, missed it? Deepest apologies if that's the case.

mudslide73

stratman3142 said:

mudslide73 said:

@Rowby1 - 5 points - how I'd hoped my attempt would sound. Very lovely indeed.
 @stratman3142 ;- 3 points
 @Brad - 1 point

@mudslide73 did you send an entry because, if so, missed it? Deepest apologies if that's the case.

I didn't sadly. I spent a while on it but couldn't come up with anything I was happy with. I realised I've got 10 new songs to learn too which put a dampener on things. Next time though eh?

stratman3142

mudslide73 said:

stratman3142 said:

@mudslide73 did you send an entry because, if so, missed it? Deepest apologies if that's the case.

I didn't sadly. I spent a while on it but couldn't come up with anything I was happy with. I realised I've got 10 new songs to learn too which put a dampener on things. Next time though eh?

That's a relief. I thought I'd messed things up on my first time at hosting it.
The next SotM will start at the beginning of February and there won't be anything tricky about it.

Barney

Some great entries for me it's
5 points @Brad ;
3 points @Rowby1 ;
1 point @stratman3142 ;

@stratman3142 regarding the reverb ..Yeah I know what you mean and something I will need to sort out ...it's the reverb on Bias ...also I have far to much on and it seems a problem with a lot of my stuff....I can't seem to hear it through the monitors but then loads when listening back

AndyJP

@Brad ; 5 points very tasty playing mate.  Nice job.  Lovely timing and note choice.
@rowby1 3 points - very nice phrasing!
@barney 1 point - nice vibe here.

Veganic

5 pts @Bellycaster ;
3 pts @stratman3142 ;
1 pt @Luxxman ;