SOLO of the Month #4 - Voting

Antique_Guitars

Howdy fretboarders!

Welcome to the voting thread for SOLO of the Month #4

Voting closes on the 30th of June at 11.50 pm.

Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Same deal as the main Fretboard Challenge, vote for your top 3 entries!

1st choice gets 5 points

2nd choice gets 3 points

3rd choice gets 1 point

You can find all the entries on this playlist

bingefeller

5 points @SquireJapan

3 points @Teetonetal

1 point @StevePage

Roland

5 points @Stevepage

3 points @Teetonetal

1 point @Markv

hobbio

5 points @Teetonetal

3 points @Markv

1 point @Stevepage

markv

This track sounded like the backing of a big ballad and needed an epic solo. It's why I thought a slide would work - something like the solo on "Angels". I'm still surprised no-one else tried it (it turned out to be way beyond my capabilities).

Anyway great stuff as usual and congrats to everyone. My faves are:

5 points @Teetonetal - flawless execution, great tone (I love the contrast between the soft bits and the loud bits) and great widdly bits make this the overall winner for me.

3 points @Stevepage - good composition, pacing and a classic rock tone.

1 point @SquireJapan - good beginning and nicely melodic throughout.

steamabacus

1st    @SquierJapan   ; 5pts
2nd   @Teetonetal      ; 3pts
3rd    @Sambostar     ; 1pt

Sambostar

The quiet bit and the crescendo at 1:25 is critical for me in this one.  There are many who created melodies, but failed to maximise their potential at 1:25 as they just reverted back to the melody.  I feel they missed an opportunity.

Reluctantly I have to give it to @Teetonetal although I will say I'm not a fan of the perfect tone, perfect recording and well executed triplets, which at times sounded nonsensical, although I did like the sensitive, repeated note slide legato note parts, so that made up for it eh.

@Stevepage I liked the playing of overall the best and those quick little ghost bends, but he failed to pull the best out of the quiet part and  crescendo at 1:25, therefore, unfortunately, he comes second.

I think third I'II give to @RedRabbit as although it's a bit Britpoppy, he does make good use of the 1:25 and seems naturally sensitive to the changes and talks to me.

@Teetonetal 5 pts

@Stevepage 3 pts

@RedRabbit 1 pt.

And I gotta ask, everyone is listening through headphones or decent monitors, with each track cranked up and listened to all the way through right?

OK, OK, just asking...obviously I'd vote for myself, turned up, through headphones, but I can't.  I'II just take pleasure in the fact I like my own playing and the sound of my own voice then and am a total bore then.. OK...Good then.

Teetonetal

Wow, this is really hard to vote on as even before taking everything into account just trying to compare so many tracks is hard work in itself.

The thing with this track in my opinion was the clear and distinct intensity changes, an ABAB pattern I guess, as well as the build up at 1:25 as @Sambostar pointed out. I think I would say nearly all of the solos didn't get this to one extent or another,quite a few solos had the number of notes dropped but the sound / intensity stayed the same throughout. Made me realize I should think about my volume pot more...

The 2nd thing is that given this is a pretty long solo I was surprised that no one really came up with melodies for each section that got repeated or built upon.

The funny thing is, now having listened to everyone else' solo I would approach mine with a much clearer mindset of what I wanted to achieve, I found that to be the hardest thing, working out what I wanted to play and how to approach soloing for such a long period... I enjoyed doing this a lot, will endeavour to take part more often.

Winner for me was @Stevepage some really nice licks and phrases and I really liked the tone

2nd: @Markv there were some really nice subtle touches in there, just could you have used a little bit more intenstity in the B sections

Had a real hard time choosing 3rd place as every track has it's merits..

3rd @Sambostar I really liked that it was different to the others, I liked the bends in the opening section a lot and they really stuck with me, I can still hear them after I listened through the tracks again, but then I thought between 30 and 50 secs it lost it's way and started to meander a bit..but then picked up again for the end.

Sambostar

Meander...Meander?  Listen, I'II have you know that I grew up with Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Anyway it was my third attempt just improvising, with media player on a loop back to back through the headphones, after not being able to play for two weeks due to my back (Can't play sitting down, that's for poofs), only took 5 minutes odd, including the other two, before I had to sit down and stop playing for another week.  Which is what I assume everyone else does.

But I appreciate the honesty.  Next time, I'II turn it up!  I'm a firm believer in that the loudest gets noticed most.  I'm just glad I like my playing, although it was a bit sloppy, because at the end of the day, that is all that matters eh!  Taste is a funny thing though and still surprises me everyday.  All the guitar players I like, most would accuse of being sloppy, losing their way or being repetitive.  To me, they are expressive and connect with me.  Oh well.  I really admire the technical ability of players who can play very cleanly to time, but they also repel me as a listening experience.  @TeeTonetal - that's another backhanded compliment by the way!

Bringing a volume pot into the equation is way too technical for me and out of my league.  Good luck with that!

I wonder if taste is largely a generational thing, combined with the ability to play or years playing?  I mean, the internet and digital recording didn't exist when I grew up and the solo was long and expressive.  lol.

TTony

Votes & comments from the TT jury ...

Firstly, note to self (and thanks to everyone for not pointing it out) ... make sure that guitar is properly tuned before playing & recording anything.  In my defence, I'd been adjusting action & intonation, and the strings had cleared not re-settled, and I didn't have the time to re-do it.  Anyways, apologies for inflicting that on your hearings.

1st place, 5 points @TeeTonetal - some nice crisp and intricate playing there, melodic, clear winner for me.

2nd place, 3 points @markv - liked the different approach/tone and mix with the guitar slightly less dominant.

3rd place, 1point @SquireJapan - the final point was a pretty close decision for me, but the tone sealed it.

Thanks again to @Antique_Guitars.  I never really did solos - preferred to take the easy option of rhythm - so these challenges have kicked me out of that particular comfort zone, and got me trying to play some solos.

Teetonetal

@Sambostar I honestly and truly have no idea how to take some of that comment! Assume you are taking my comments in good nature and in the spirit it they were intended, simply constructive criticism from my point of view.

Anyway - I agree all that matters is that you like your playing, that's a far better place to be in than many people get to and after all is why all of us should be playing right? I mean I love playing guitar because then I get to create the music I want to hear...

Would also agree that taste is funny thing, but that's what makes music (and art in general) such a wonderful thing.

Internet and digital recording didn't really exist when I grew up either and both only came about (and affordable) after I had got to my mid 20's, I learnt the old school way of buy a record, play it endlessly, try to work it out and record on a 4 track / dicta phone / tape recorder.. listen critique move on. I actually kind of miss doing all that.

I have actually learnt a lot by taking part in this - being forced to play over a generic piece and actually recording the results has shown me that I spend far too much time doing unfocused playing over backing tracks (for fun)... not really caring too much what I play or not paying so much attention to the track. As a musician I need to listen more,,

Sambostar

I'm never that serious BTW!

I'm agreed, I'm glad everyone is different!  But you know what is secretly worrying me....if it's that bad...then how big is my ego???.

lol.

X

markv

Teetonetal said:

I have actually learnt a lot by taking part in this - being forced to play over a generic piece and actually recording the results has shown me that I spend far too much time doing unfocused playing over backing tracks (for fun)... not really caring too much what I play or not paying so much attention to the track. As a musician I need to listen more,,

Absolutely - having to think about constructing a solo that other people might want to hear is one of the hardest things, and something I have found it useful (and fun!) to learn about. I am hoping to graduate to a whole track soon rather than just solos ...!

daveww

As always hard to choose but my votes go to:

1st    @SquierJapan    5pts
2nd   @Teetonetal       3pts
3rd    @Sambostar      1pt

1st and second place could easily have been swapped and special mention to @Markv who could easily be in there if I listened again.

Bellycaster

5 Points - Teetonetal

3 Points - Stevepage

1 Point -  SquireJapan

It was tough to choose as they were all great efforts.

SquireJapan

5 Points - @Teetonetal (really good execution and some nice melodic ideas)

3 Points - @RedRabbit (cool ideas and a hook)

1 Points - @Stevepage (sounded like an 80's power ballad solo, which is a good thing )

daveww

Looks like nil points for me ( I hate you all ;-)

RedRabbit

Finally had change to listen to them all.  I honestly didn't think the voting would be so difficult. 

1. @Teetonetal 5pts - just great control and use of dynamics
2. @Squirejapan 3pts - very melodic and memorable
3. @markv 1pt - great tone (perhaps a little buried in reverb though?) and some really nice ideas

Antique_Guitars

5 points @teetonetal
3 points @sambostar
1 point @stevepage

Roland

Sambostar said:

... what is secretly worrying me....if it's that bad...then how big is my ego??

daveww said:

Looks like nil points for me ( I hate you all ;-)

You just didn't make the top three. As this goes on, and more people join, it's going to get even harder to get into the top three.  My expectation is that, after a few rounds of similar solos, we'll start to favour those with stylistic differences

Antique_Guitars

voting closed