SOLO of the Month #11 - Voting

Antique_Guitars

Howdy fretboarders!

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month #11

Voting closes on the 31st of January 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

eSully

So I take it no one else was recording theirs through an old iRig and the fake Marshall amp on iPhone Garageband app. Sounded really good all.

It was seriously hard to pick 3 from that, really enjoyed them all, listened through twice

1. @ChrisRG - Nothing to say really, nice solo

2. @Electrodan - Loved the spanish guitar style solo

3. @Cabicular - I did not see that whammy bar coming!!! , lulled into a false sense of security by the first half

ElectroDan

I recorded mine through the fake Marshall on my G3!

Some great solos again this month. Congratulations all. My votes go to:

1. @Cabicular - I don't know if he was wearing a Tribesman's robe and burst out of it to reveal a Buckethead costume half way through... But I certainly hope so.

2. @ChrisRG - Top tone and playing again.

3. @Teetonetal - Some cool and interesting bends.

Cabicular

1- @electrodan we had a very similar idea here ... Lull them in with the ambient then hit them with the shredz your acoustic playing was really spot on and clean here. That lifted it above the rest for me
2 @chrisrg very well put together playing and nice structure
3 @markv nice understated and nice tone

Teetoneatal just miss out on the points I would love to have put you joint with Mark if I could have

They were all really good though. This didn't throw people as much as I thought it would. Really high standard!

Teetonetal

Hmm.

Well I didn't enjoy any of these really. Playing-wise/technique I thought they were all pretty good and there were good moments in a lot of the tracks. But they were all a bit dull and meandered a lot. Maybe forced is a better word.. 

I certainly found this quite a hard one to get anything from and whilst I enjoyed the challenge, the outcome was a bit tedious.

So:

1) @ChrisRG mistake near the end, put otherwise some good playing and a nice tone

2) @Cabicular faux sitar nearly lost me but then the whammy, which was was possibly the greatest thing I've heard for a while.

3) @electrodan didn't enjoy the classical guitar but loved the shred section.

markv

5 points @ChrisRG - very smooth, tasteful and tuneful. Really enjoyed it.

3 points @Teetonetal - awesome opening, loved some of those bends, great playing & sound as usual. Maybe tailed off a little towards the end but still great stuff.

1 point @ElectroDan - nice playing, particularly the first half and a nicely balanced solo overall.

@Cabicular's whammy pyrotechnics were good fun but I found the contrast too stark with the opening bit so just out of the top 3 for me. I also like the opening of @eSully's solo (recording a bit noisy though!) and the unusual sound on @daveww's solo. A good bunch of solos all round I thought!

I wish I could have done a shred-fest too but slow is all I can play.

markv

Teetonetal said:

[...] they were all a bit dull and meandered a lot. Maybe forced is a better word.. 

Bit harsh I think, although that definitely reflects how I felt about my solo. Maybe it's because the scale was unfamiliar, maybe it's because 1.5 mins is quite a long time and verging on the "instrumental" rather than "solo". A 20-30 second solo is one thing - 1 or 2 good ideas will carry you through that, but for 90 seconds you need more.

ElectroDan

I was quite happy with how mine went overall.

If I had to play over something like that live now (which is not that likely TBH), I'm confident I would sound a little more accompliced at least.

In fact since I've recorded and sent it, other cool ideas in the same vein have been popping into my head all the time. Maybe I'm becoming a musician.

 

)

ChrisRG

@ElectroDan - 5 points - I liked the contrast between the 2 halves and the playing was pretty tight with a good mix of ideas

@Cabicular - 3 points - A close run thing with @ElectroDan for first.  Loved the dive bombs.

@Teetonetal 1 point - Nice clean playing but I thought the other 2 had a little more interest throughout.

Overall I thought that there were some great ideas in the solos.  I agree AND disagree (respectfully ) with @Teetonetal .  I thought that most people brought some really nice ideas to their solos and there was certainly contrast in some.  Judging by some of the comments in the chat thread, the backing track was outside most peoples comfort zone so I think there was some great attempts.  

I do think though that some could have had more structure to stop them feeling like they meandered a bit.  I tried to have a bit of a plan for mine and I agree with @markv in that 1.5 mins is quite a long time to maintain interest for.

I really enjoyed this one though.  I hope we get more tracks that push us into new territory.

Teetonetal

markv;949545" said:

Teetonetal said:

[...] they were all a bit dull and meandered a lot. Maybe forced is a better word.. Bit harsh I think, although that definitely reflects how I felt about my solo. Maybe it's because the scale was unfamiliar, maybe it's because 1.5 mins is quite a long time and verging on the "instrumental" rather than "solo". A 20-30 second solo is one thing - 1 or 2 good ideas will carry you through that, but for 90 seconds you need more.

I didn't really notice that it was such a long backing but would agree that's a long time to solo for especially in an unknown scale

Cabicular

Yeah I think we were all feeling it a bit
That's why I split mine into two bits
In retrospect I would have done less sitar more divebombs

eSully

Well. I'll take it on the chin that mine was the meandering mess, I know it was and I bloody warned you all ahead of time in the submission thread so it's your own fault if you suffered the lot , I don't really agree that others were though. I hadn't intended on making any excuses but screw it, after listening back to it I can't let it lie that I'm *that* sloppy a player. What I submitted was never meant to be submitted, It was me recording some improvising to come up with ideas. My wife rather selfishly went into labour and gave birth to our new son on Saturday and time was never on my side to make a proper stab at it, on Sunday evening when I had a little downtime I realised I hadn't submitted and thought, "to hell with it, I said I'd submit something so in it goes" as it was there on the iPhone so I could submit from the comfort of my bed.

Anyway, I do see @Teetonetals point but don't agree that they were dull at all, I've listened to them all at least 3 times and really enjoyed them. More so than last months entries which maybe were more polished but also in peoples comfort zones. How could you call a solo that went from sitar to whammy bar dives seamlessly dull

markv

eSully said:

My wife rather selfishly went into labour and gave birth to our new son on Saturday and time was never on my side to make a proper stab at it, on Sunday evening when I had a little downtime I realised I hadn't submitted and thought, "to hell with it, I said I'd submit something so in it goes" as it was there on the iPhone so I could submit from the comfort of my bed.

Blimey, that deserves points just for dedication mate. Congrats!

eSully

@Markv, Thanks for the congrats. Not that much dedication, we've had support around. I've had little pockets of downtime and thought guitar was a good way to use them. It has been a hectic few days though. Off to bed soon

ChrisRG

Congrats @eSully. Well done for getting a solo submitted under those circumstances.

ElectroDan

Congratulations @eSully

You'll have even less spare time to practice now.

Teetonetal

congrats @esully sterling work on getting anything submitted given that after my daughter was born I didn't resurface back into real life until after 18 months

eSully

ElectroDan;950029" said:

Congratulations @eSullyYou'll have even less spare time to practice now.

If the in stereo scream fest that was apparently last nights sleep is an indicator of what's ahead then I won't need spare time as I'll be deaf . Thanks for the congrats all and sorry for the thread derail.

GET VOTING LURKERS

stratman3142

Interesting journey into Al Di Meola land.

1) @ElectroDan
2) @ChrisRG
3) @Teetonetal

daveww

Sorry for the late votes folks.  Been out of the country stuck in airports most of the week.

5 points @Electrodan

3 points @Teetonetal

1 point @ChrisRG

As usual not a bad one amongst them so hard to choose. @eSully mine was recorded through garageband using the available effects.  Through my mac mini so not that different to iPhone really.  I have some better gear but I'm lazy...  PS big congrats on your news!  Note to self I need to rehearse these more before posting.

kin

5 points @electrodan

3 points @MarkV

1 point @Teetonetal