Solo of the Month (SotM) #60 - Challenge

stratman3142

This is the 60th solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.

The challenge is now open ends at midnight 23rd June 2020.

You can download backing track from soundcloud below:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sotm60-2020-06-steel-blues

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.

Discussion: The chords to month's backing track were created with the help of Scaler 2, using the Songs>Neo Soul 7 preset. The chords are played by AAS Lounge Lizard VSTi, plus Soundtoys Echo Boy for the CE-1 chorus and Soundtoys Tremolator for the tremolo. The bass VSTi is IK Modo bass and the drums are AD2 Jazz Sticks kit

Title: Steel Blues

Tempo: 110 bpm

Chords: 

[ Cm11 / / / |Fm11 /  /  / | Cm11 / / / |Fm11 /  /  /  |Cm11 / / / |Fm11 /  /  / | C#13 / / / | Cm9 / / / ] x2

End on Cm11

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.

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/sotm60-2020-06

Bellycaster

Sent one in.

stratman3142

Bellycaster said:

Sent one in.

That's the first one in the playlist above.

digitalkettle

Sent one in!

stratman3142

digitalkettle said:

Sent one in!

It's in the playlist.

stratman3142

Done mine. That's three in the playlist.

poopot

Sent one

stratman3142

poopot said:

Sent one

...and that makes 4.

fastonebaz

Sent one in.

Initially I thought, how on earth could I schmooze out a belter in Eb Major (rather than Cm) so after re-pitching to E, i then slowed it down to 65% and composed (well, half inched/composed) what I though was splendid, doing dozens of takes to perfect each developing pinch/semi harmonic and growing in intensity vibratos. After finally repitching the mix and resetting to original speed, I realised what a unintelligible mess I'd created and stood in the corner thinking about what I'd done.  Still submitted it though ;-)

stratman3142

fastonebaz said:

Sent one in.

That makes 5 entries in the playlist.

mudslide73

Sent mine in. I've gone for playing the least amount of notes possible - I reckon I could have gotten away with less. This is Helix Native again but I've tried to do a bit of wet/dry, The reverb is Waves H Reverb on the default setting.

stratman3142

mudslide73 said:

Sent mine in. 

Added to playlist. That makes 6 entries.

Antique_Guitars

I will try and enter the next one

stratman3142

Antique_Guitars said:

I will try and enter the next one

 Excellent. It's good to see you back.

For the fairly newcomers to the forum, @Antique_Guitars is the man that started the various challenges.

Stinkfoot

Have just submitted mine.

I used to really enjoy contributing to the monthly challenges several years ago. Haven't done any home recording for ages but furlough/redundancy gave me a great excuse to assemble the studio again and try to learn how to work a DAW again!

Glad to see this is still going, and hope to become a regular contributor again. Look forward to checking out everyone's take on this month's challenge.

stratman3142

Stinkfoot said:

Have just submitted mine...

It's in the playlist. That makes 7 entries.

stratman3142

Entry closes tomorrow (23rd June) at midnight.

susbemol

I've been meaning to join you guys for a while so I thought what better time than now? Just sent mine in.

stratman3142

susbemol said:

I've been meaning to join you guys for a while so I thought what better time than now? Just sent mine in.

Great I'll add it to the playlist tomorrow. I remember enjoying your music and guitar playing on the Reaper forum years ago.

susbemol

stratman3142 said:

susbemol said:

I've been meaning to join you guys for a while so I thought what better time than now? Just sent mine in.

Great I'll add it to the playlist tomorrow. I remember enjoying your music and guitar playing on the Reaper forum years ago.

You've always been very kind, Pete... thank you! I remember enjoying your nice shredding too!

stratman3142

susbemol said:

...Just sent mine in.

Added to playlist. That makes 8 entries. A good crop this month.

Entry closes tonight at midnight.