Solo of the Month (SotM) #52 - Chat

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stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
edited September 2019 in Making Music
This is the 52nd solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.

The challenge is now open ends at midnight 23rd September 2019.

Here's this month's backing track (you can download it from soundcloud).

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sotm52-2019-09-its-in-the-fridge-ian 

Record your solo over the top of it and then submit it (ideally in mp3 format) to solos@theFB.co.uk

Also, feel free to comment on how you approached the solo, which will add a bit more interest and maybe we can learn something from each other.

This one is based on a suggestion by @fastonebaz in post dated August 16 in the thread below:
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/161417/solo-of-the-month-sotm-51-chat#latest

Discussion: An attempt at a heavy metal backing track. Except it seems to have come out a bit happy metal, probably owing to the G#5 chord in the key of E.

Title: It's In The Fridge Ian

Tempo 150 bpm

Chords (see image below)

https://i.imgur.com/vnOLtRS.png

The backing track has some headroom to add your solos. Add your solo and (as a guideline) try to avoid boosting the overall level beyond that if possible. That way the entries should be at roughly the same level and we won't get into loudness wars.

Voting will start soon after the submission deadline, with each voter selecting their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice.
First choice gets 5 points - Second choice gets 3 points - Third choice gets 1 point

The order and scores of the top three entries will be announced soon after the voting ends. If there are 8 or more entries, then the order and scores of those in the top half will be announced.

No prizes. It's just for fun.

As people submit their entries, I'll post them below to hopefully promote some discussion on approaches used for the solo:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm52-2019-09

It's not a competition.
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Comments

  • Entry sent.   Erm, how do you play heavy metal solos lol
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
    edited September 2019
    Entry sent.  

    In the playlist at the start of this thread.

    Erm, how do you play heavy metal solos lol

    Don't ask me I think I'll end up trying ideas and selecting the things that seem to work - a sort of composition by selective improvisation.

    It's not a competition.
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  • Done mine, which is now in the playlist. Bit late at the ending but I need to move on.


    I did a video as well. Next time I must tidy my room first.



    It's not a competition.
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  • Ah great to see a vid of it. Nicely done. 

    In order to get my spectacularly appalling tone,  I had to work very hard indeed.  First I recorded the master lead.  Then duplicated it. Panned the original to the left around 60% and added delay and reverb.   Panned the duplicate to the right and removed delay and reverb and added auto wah with most knobs upto 10 or so.  Finally,  offset the duplicate track a few ms  forward.

    Perfect,  a splendid assault of the aural kind.
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  • In order to get my spectacularly appalling tone,  I had to work very hard indeed.  First I recorded the master lead.  Then duplicated it. Panned the original to the left around 60% and added delay and reverb.   Panned the duplicate to the right and removed delay and reverb and added auto wah with most knobs upto 10 or so.  Finally,  offset the duplicate track a few ms  forward.

    Perfect,  a splendid assault of the aural kind.

    I like the tone. The inventive style made me think - that's what it would sound like if Adrian Belew played metal.

    It's not a competition.
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  • Entry sent.   Erm, how do you play heavy metal solos lol
    Simple. You play a solo that fits within a metal track
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  • Submission sent!  =)
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  • Submission sent!  =)

    You didn't give your forum name in the email but, as soon as I played it, I thought "fxxk, that can only be be @Vibetronic :)"

    Now in the playlist. 

    It's not a competition.
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  • Submission sent!  =)

    You didn't give your forum name in the email but, as soon as I played it, I thought "fxxk, that can only be be @Vibetronic :)"

    Now in the playlist. 

    Oh yes, sorry - too busy remembering not to forget to put the mp3 on! :) Cheers mate!
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  • A reminder about SotM. Three entries so far. 

    Any requests for a style for the next one? Perhaps it would be good to go for something more laid back next time.
    It's not a competition.
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  • steven70steven70 Frets: 1262

    Any requests for a style for the next one? Perhaps it would be good to go for something more laid back next time.

    If you did 'Stormy Monday,' I could reuse the same licks from my last entry.
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  • steven70 said:

    Any requests for a style for the next one? Perhaps it would be good to go for something more laid back next time.

    If you did 'Stormy Monday,' I could reuse the same licks from my last entry.

    That's a good one. There are some interesting variations on a basic blues and I think I've already created a backing track for that one, if I search my archives.
    It's not a competition.
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  • I found this one impossible. Had a couple of goes tonight, and came up with something that sounded like a crapper version of what Stratman3142 already did.

    I found the non-diatonic progression just impossible to play over while playing fast. Probably something I need to work on.
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  • Definitely challenging. 
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  • Matt_McG said:
    I found this one impossible. Had a couple of goes tonight, and came up with something that sounded like a crapper version of what Stratman3142 already did.

    I found the non-diatonic progression just impossible to play over while playing fast. Probably something I need to work on.

    I just basically used E Phrygian dominant, which is like playing a C major scale against E but with a G# instead of G. In fact I'm pretty certain I played G instead of G# a few times, which kind of works as a blues note.  So you could try a straight C major (i.e. a straight E Phygian mode).

    You could also think E minor pentatonic and add a C (b6) and F( b2), plus a G# (3)  instead of G (b3) which is sort of how I think of it. Plus I chucked in E maj arpeggio type ideas.

    Perhaps @fastonebaz and @Vibetronic could share their thought process.

    It's not a competition.
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  • Um, I just played loads of notes that happened to fit in with the rhythm guitar.  Pretty sure I used the E, B, G and D strings,  possibly the A as well briefly.   I was planning on using that really thick string too but i just couldn't find the  right place for it in the song.  Maybe on the next one I'll use it.  Cheers :)
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  • Yeah, I started with Phrygian dominant, too. Which worked as initial phrases, but I couldn’t turn it into anything longer than 5 or 6 bars without it sounding god awful.

    I also tried E Phrygian (non dominant), E minor pentatonic (and sharpening the G). 

    Just couldn’t “hear” it. This was an interesting challenge. Might come back to it and through compose a solo, as I clearly can’t just improv one.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
    edited September 2019
    Matt_McG said:
    ...Just couldn’t “hear” it. This was an interesting challenge. Might come back to it and through compose a solo, as I clearly can’t just improv one.
    I did quite a bit of planning and trying ideas - a mixture of improvisation, hearing things in my head plus variations on things I've played before. Then selected things I liked. I had a reasonable outline of what I was going to do (a bag of licks/lines) in advance of the final take so, in effect, there was a lot of composition involved as this style doesn't come naturally to me.
    It's not a competition.
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  • I did the same sort of thing (E Phrygian dominant) but thought of it as A harmonic minor (just because of the shape that's stuck in my head). I did initially find it hard as it's not the sort of thing I'd usually solo over which is why I gave it a go - would normally use a more traditional metal backing :) - but once I sat down and started doing little sections it came easier. Did some little muted repeating patterns which just rose up chromatically and sounded half decent. From about 0.14 - 0.26 I just widdled on frets 12, 15 & 16 across all strings in a pattern I have with muting that can sound good over certain things. Then a muted sweeping/picked thing which just seemed to work for me that day (and although not all the notes 'fitted', played fast enough and with muting it's ok). 

    Good fun. I didn't listen to the others before I did mine as I didn't want to copy people subconsciously. I like the slightly dissonant sounding natural harmonics in yours @fastonebaz though, cool touch. 
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  • Just a couple of days remaining. Entry closes midnight 23rd September 2019.

    It's not a competition.
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