Rock songs with awesome solos in a major key

fastonebaz

Looking to find some new songs to cover in the band.  Especially ones in a major key with powerful emotional face melting guitar solos in. 

Any suggestions? 

Must be major not minor.

sev112

The person who can actually tell me a definitive reason by which any tune is minor or major wins today’s Gold Star.  
C major or A minor?
not interested in “feel”, “mood”, “unhappy” etc which are not definitive.

is it as simple as what chord you start and finish most phrases with?  If it is Am then it is minor, and if it is C then it’s major?  What if it’s half and half?

soma1975

Boston - More than a Feeling

Twisted Sister - We're not gonna take it

Kiss - Crazy Nights

Kiss - God Gave Rock N Roll to you (maybe?)


Not face melting but v gainy

GnR Knocking on heaven's Door. 

Sweet Home Alabama

Almost anything by the Allman bros

soma1975

sev112 said:

The person who can actually tell me a definitive reason by which any tune is minor or major wins today’s Gold Star.  
C major or A minor?
not interested in “feel”, “mood”, “unhappy” etc which are not definitive.

is it as simple as what chord you start and finish most phrases with?  If it is Am then it is minor, and if it is C then it’s major?  What if it’s half and half?

In every sense, it's all relative innit. 

p90fool

Not facemelting, but Since You've Been Gone is fun, including some almost country licks.

bluechargeboy

Nuno does some great major solos. Song For Love by Extreme comes to mind; there are others too.

viz

sev112 said:

The person who can actually tell me a definitive reason by which any tune is minor or major wins today’s Gold Star.  
C major or A minor?
not interested in “feel”, “mood”, “unhappy” etc which are not definitive.

is it as simple as what chord you start and finish most phrases with?  If it is Am then it is minor, and if it is C then it’s major?  What if it’s half and half?

Once you've correctly identified the home note, the tonality depends on whether the 3rd is a major 3rd or minor 3rd (in most cases). That's it. Forget relatives, forget C major vs A minor, just think "home note", and then "third".

Play the first few notes of these tunes, in E, on the top E string:

- Frere Jacques

- Doe a Deer

- Postman Pat

- Vivaldi 4 seasons, 1st movement

The third is always a major 3rd (4th fret).

Now play:

- Bach double violin concerto

- Green sleeves

The third is always a minor 3rd (3rd fret)

viz

p90fool said:

Not facemelting, but Since You've Been Gone is fun, including some almost country licks.

Excellent. Also

Comfortably Numb first solo

Steve Vai Juice is great and relatively easy

sev112

viz said:

sev112 said:

The person who can actually tell me a definitive reason by which any tune is minor or major wins today’s Gold Star.  
C major or A minor?
not interested in “feel”, “mood”, “unhappy” etc which are not definitive.

is it as simple as what chord you start and finish most phrases with?  If it is Am then it is minor, and if it is C then it’s major?  What if it’s half and half?

Once you've correctly identified the home note, the tonality depends on whether the 3rd is a major 3rd or minor 3rd (in most cases). That's it. Forget relatives, forget C major vs A minor, just think "home note", and then "third".

Play the first few notes of these tunes, in E, on the top E string:

- Frere Jacques

- Doe a Dear

- Postman Pat

- Vivaldi 4 seasons, 1st movement

The third is always a major 3rd (4th fret).

Now play:

- Bach double violin concerto

- Green sleeves

The third is always a minor 3rd (3rd fret)

Yes of course 
how do you determine a home note if there isn’t one

So for example Since you been gone as mentioned above
Gmajor or Eminor ?  Phrases start in G but end on various other chords including Em ?

viz

sev112 said:

viz said:

sev112 said:

The person who can actually tell me a definitive reason by which any tune is minor or major wins today’s Gold Star.  
C major or A minor?
not interested in “feel”, “mood”, “unhappy” etc which are not definitive.

is it as simple as what chord you start and finish most phrases with?  If it is Am then it is minor, and if it is C then it’s major?  What if it’s half and half?

Once you've correctly identified the home note, the tonality depends on whether the 3rd is a major 3rd or minor 3rd (in most cases). That's it. Forget relatives, forget C major vs A minor, just think "home note", and then "third".

Play the first few notes of these tunes, in E, on the top E string:

- Frere Jacques

- Doe a Deer

- Postman Pat

- Vivaldi 4 seasons, 1st movement

The third is always a major 3rd (4th fret).

Now play:

- Bach double violin concerto

- Green sleeves

The third is always a minor 3rd (3rd fret)

Yes of course 
how do you determine a home note if there isn’t one

So for example Since you been gone as mentioned above
Gmajor or Eminor ?  Phrases start in G but end on various other chords including Em ?

Since you been gone absolutely, utterly, undeniably has G as its home note (well apart from the fact that it modulates to A at the end!) It's the note of repose. The key note. The note that the music is centred around. Like the subject of a sentence.

You have to be able to identify that - it's like knowing that 1 comes before 2 in counting. It's very difficult to describe, especially on a forum. So ultimately it comes with listening to lots of music. There are certain pointers:

- it's the first chord
- it's part of a 1564 progression, and the 4 is very unstable to end on, so at the end of the song, the G would be the "final" - it would go 1564/1
- there are various rhythmic devices that point to the first chord being the home. 
- Both the chorus and the verse have G as the home.
- it couldn't possibly be in E minor - the E minor chords are in the wrong place in the progression to act as home.  


If there's no home note, well the piece probably isn't in major or minor, because major / minor is predicated on the 3rd of the home note. That's the definition.

There are a few genuinely ambiguous songs (like sweet home alabama, which is in D but lots of people think it's in G ), and it's clear why these songs are ambiguous, but in the main it's immediately obvious, if you're musical.

mudslide73

2468 Motorway's second solo stands up to a bit of embellishment  

fastonebaz

My fingers know how to play solos in a major scale or minor scale but my brain couldn't explain or define it. 

More songs please

fastonebaz

Why was it called 2468 motorway,  what does that even mean? @mudslide73 ;

viz

fastonebaz said:

My fingers know how to play solos in a major scale or minor scale but my brain couldn't explain or define it. 

More songs please

More than a Feeling (chorus)
Whispering a prayer
Rio

viz

Where's Your Head At

Dominic

p90fool said:

Not facemelting, but Since You've Been Gone is fun, including some almost country licks.

Excellent suggestion with plenty of thematic widdle opportunity 

viz

soma1975 said:

Kiss - God Gave Rock N Roll to you (maybe?)

100% - the first word, God, is on the major 3rd.

fastonebaz

@viz if a song chords were
G
D
Em
C

what scale would solo over that? 

mudslide73

fastonebaz said:

Why was it called 2468 motorway,  what does that even mean? @mudslide73 ;

I think it's basically a song about stimulants disguised as a song about trucking. The chorus relies on 2468 then 3579 which is deffo super memorable.

I used to hate playing it until I saw the reaction of the punters. Can't explain why but they bloody love it generally. 

mudslide73

viz said:

Where's Your Head At

Tune. 

viz

fastonebaz said:

@viz if a song chords were
G
D
Em
C

what scale would solo over that? 

G major