Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #63

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #63. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Vote for your top 3 entries. If you're an entrant you can't vote for yourself.

1st choice gets 5 points

2nd choice gets 3 points

3rd choice gets 1 point

Voting will end at midnight 30th September 2020.

The top three will be announced after the voting closes.

You can find all the entries the playlist below.

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm63-2020-09

stratman3142

Details of the backing track can be found at the link below

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/189274/solo-of-the-month-sotm-63-challenge#latest

digitalkettle

Well, we're all coming from the same angle this month...I put it down to the gravitational pull of that kind of backing track!

5 points: @Bellycaster ;- striving to be unobvious and still play bold phrases...standout moment was the sliding 5ths at 0'38" (idea stretched as far as it will go!) and the few notes thereafter which would have made a nice motif...possible criticism is that it doesn't build much dynamically
3 points: @stratman3142 ;- plenty of the trademark bar work...I can feel the quest for 'the interesting notes'...nice crisp ending
1 point: @ChrisRG ;- liked the tone...+1 for bizarrely reminding me of Steve Rothery at 0'25"...-1 for absence of humorous track name

stratman3142

5 points : @Bellycaster : Good lines that float over the backing and acknowledge the changes, without appearing to obviously target them (unlike mine).

3 point : @ChrisRG : Nice bluesy feel and tone.  Suits the backing.

1 points : @Digitalkettle : Great playing and a lovely touch as usual. I like the solo and tone but I didn't feel it sat quite so well with the backing as the others (perhaps it's a sound/mix thing).

ChrisRG

5 points: @Bellycaster : Nice smooth playing, great note choice and really cool ideas.  Great work.

3 points : @stratman3142 : Great playing as usual but felt you were maybe trying a little bit too hard to play the changes (much better than I did still though!)

1 point : @digitalkettle : Top notch playing but felt the other 2 solos matched the backing better.  (..and I'll take a reference to Steve Rothery any time, thanks )

Bellycaster

5 Points @digitalkettle - Loved the Bluesy approach to this and I think it just pipped the top spot with the deft phrases in there and especially from 0:45 onwards knocked it out the Park.

3 Points - @ChrisRG - Loved the tone on this, love a bit of Neck Pick Up (at least I think it was) and again, a great Bluesy solo, lovely bends and vibrato.

1 Point @stratman3142 - More of a mellow tone and Jazzier sounding solo. I liked it, but felt the others flowed a little easier. Top bends and nice Trem work in places. Fantastic run at the end too.

stratman3142

Just a heads up that there might be a delay in ending this and starting a new one. Things might be a bit hectic this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

Just a heads up that there might be a delay in ending this and starting a new one. Things might be a bit hectic this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Time for a tie-breaker as it stands!

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

Just a heads up that there might be a delay in ending this and starting a new one. Things might be a bit hectic this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Do you have a backing track up your sleeve or would you like me to work one up?

stratman3142

digitalkettle said:

stratman3142 said:

Just a heads up that there might be a delay in ending this and starting a new one. Things might be a bit hectic this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Do you have a backing track up your sleeve or would you like me to work one up?

Thanks, I've got one ready to go. The issue is that I might not get chance to upload it over the next few days, not being around my music computer and being busy with other stuff. You're free to do one if you want to but I might still have the problem of uploading it.

stratman3142

stratman3142 said:

digitalkettle said:

stratman3142 said:

Just a heads up that there might be a delay in ending this and starting a new one. Things might be a bit hectic this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Do you have a backing track up your sleeve or would you like me to work one up?

Thanks, I've got one ready to go. The issue is that I might not get chance to upload it over the next few days, not being around my music computer and being busy with other stuff. You're free to do one if you want to but I might still have the problem of uploading it.

I've started SotM64 early to avoid problems with uploading it (link below)

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/191169/solo-of-the-month-sotm-64-challenge#latest

But backing tracks from others are welcome for future challenges.

stratman3142

Voting closes tonight at midnight.

Snags

I have listened to these over, and over, and over, and frankly I could put them in pretty much any order. Not judging on technical merit or cleverness, but purely on what's pleasing to the old lugholes. Genuinely could put each one 1st, 2nd or 3rd on any given listen.

This makes the following entirely arbitrary, and separated by the narrowest of gnat's whiskers:

1 - @ChrisRG

2 - @Bellycaster

3 - tie between @stratman3142 and @digitalkettle

In reality though, they're all equal 1st, but one has to put some kind of order on it, even if the reasons are ineffable.

stratman3142

Voting closed.

stratman3142

Snags said:

...

1 - @ChrisRG

2 - @Bellycaster

3 - tie between @stratman3142 and @digitalkettle

In reality though, they're all equal 1st, but one has to put some kind of order on it, even if the reasons are ineffable.

To relieve you of any angst, I'll make the decision for you for 3rd and give it to @digitalkettle.

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

Snags said:

...

1 - @ChrisRG

2 - @Bellycaster

3 - tie between @stratman3142 and @digitalkettle

In reality though, they're all equal 1st, but one has to put some kind of order on it, even if the reasons are ineffable.

To relieve you of any angst, I'll make the decision for you for 3rd and give it to @digitalkettle.

Yes!!!