Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #75

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #75. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

The backing track was supplied by @Bellycaster

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 31st October 2021.

The top three will be announced after the voting closes. No prizes. It's just for fun.

You can find all the entries the playlist below:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm75-2021-10?si=684f448e25d24c30bb5c6efea9c9980d

Bennyboy-UK

Morning all,

Another tough one this month - theres stuff for me to learn from all the entries

• 5 points - @stratman3142 ; - I really liked the tone when the guitar comes in - I'd like to know what the set up is for that. there was lots of variety in what was going on - lots of different techniques and some nice note choices - very polished, very pro!

• 3 points - @fastonebaz ; - I liked the repeated phrasing to kick it off - all of the playing felt very deliberate without meandering around - nice and confident. I love tapped harmonics too - and the end part with the two tapped parts going on reminded me of the end of Blackadder II theme song, which is a favourite of mine - nice contrast to the other entries much less polite, and the better for it.

• 1 point - @DrHungry ; - The question/answer thing is nice to listen to and stands out with the slide parts and regular guitary stuff. I've not ventured near a slide since about 1996!! Might give it go again!

Great stuff everyone - I'm really enjoying this part of of the forum.

Cheers,
Ben.

stratman3142

Bennyboy-UK said:

...@stratman3142 ; - I really liked the tone when the guitar comes in - I'd like to know what the set up is for that...

Thanks for the positive comments and vote.

Here's some (possibly too much ) detail.

> Jim Dunlop Jazz III (red) pick > Ernie Ball Regular Slinky strings

> Ibanez AZ2402 Prestige guitar: neck humbucker

> Zoom UAC-2 Interface 

> Reaper DAW

> Helix Native plugin: Hedgehog D9 Dist > US Princess amp and 10" cab (see pics below)

> Valhalla Room reverb plugin (see pics below)

Hedgehog D9 settings

https://i.imgur.com/6SUW1ys.png

US Princess settings

https://i.imgur.com/NCuYY0Z.png

Valhalla Room settings

https://i.imgur.com/Rbl1zmW.png

Bennyboy-UK

Thats very cool @stratman3142  ;- the current tech available for modelling has changed my life frankly. I'll do a bit more investigation of the Fender models based on the above.

As the SW based modelling is running on your computer, are you able to get the performance feel in real time, or is there some latency to live with?

The Fractal FM3 monitors directly without any lag, so I get the full feel of playing with the sound coming out as its happening - I've recently learned to take a DI simultaneously with stereo output from the FM3 - so the next bit of fun will be reamping!

...god help us!

stratman3142

Bennyboy-UK said:

...As the SW based modelling is running on your computer, are you able to get the performance feel in real time, or is there some latency to live with?...

I usually have things set to 64spls at 44.1kHz and the Reaper reported In/Out latency is 1.4/4.0ms (giving a total of 5.4ms). My computer/interface can handle that without any glitches and I don't notice 5.4ms latency.

stratman3142

The backing track for this one was supplied by @Bellycaster.

Does anyone want to provide a backing track for the next one? Otherwise I'll inflict one of mine on everyone.

maharg101

First off, really enjoying listening to the different approaches and ideas, definitely lots of inspiration for me here

Scores on the doors then:

• 5 points - @DrHungry - great vibe and variety of tones, love the panning and slide, different techniques, call and answer
• 3 points - @Bellycaster - nice tone, fits the song well, melodic, nice touches of harmony here and there
• 1 point - @stratman3142 - great tone, nice pinch harmonics, lots of techniques

Cheers,
Graham

DrHungry

Voting for this was even harder than last month! I love that some of these were just in a completely different universe from the vibes that I thought I got from the backing. Listening to the playlist of solos now though it's impossible not to hear Pretzel Logic. 
Arbitrary scores, since they were all awesome, are as follows:

• 5 points to @Bennyboy-UK - this was so utterly different to my solo, I loved it. Great choice of guitar, in your face tone and intro, nice sense of story to the solo plus, as I said last time around, there's something about your phrasing that appeals to me.
• 3 points to @fastonebaz - similarly, there is just no way, however long I sat there and listened to the backing, that I would have come up with a solo that ended up in a tapping flurry and feedback squeal. And not just because I'm incapable of playing said flurry! Fantastic.
• 1 point to @stratman3142 for those rakes at the beginning which I particularly enjoyed, but you, @maharg101 and @Bellycaster all had some lovely blues licks and phrasing that I should try to sit down and work out, and it was really hard to choose between you.

DrHungry

stratman3142 said:

The backing track for this one was supplied by @Bellycaster.

Does anyone want to provide a backing track for the next one? Otherwise I'll inflict one of mine on everyone.

Thanks for this one Bellycaster. I probably will not be able to produce anything of sufficient quality in time for the next one but I'd happily try and get something down for a future month if that's ok?

fastonebaz

5pts @maharg101 - I often wish I could get close to a thick chewy blues tone as this and never can.  Tasty and restrained in all the @ ;

3pts @DrHungry - very inspired composition.   I worried a string was going to snap before I realised it was slide.   Am a sucker for a strong clean solo. 

1pts @stratman3142 - excellent playing but most notably sounded like a lot of thought went into each note.  

joeW

Nice work by everyone here… it’s a nice backing track to get stuck into. 

5pts @stratman3142 - love the tone. 

3pts @DrHungry - slide made it stand out
1pt @Bellycaster - melodic and fit the music great. 

Gotta do one myself soon

jeroenvanhulsteijn

5pts @DrHungry - yes, the slide, catched my ear, held my interest
3pts @maharg101 - love the fuzzy tone
1pt @fastonebaz - really noisy.....well maybe that is not the right way to describe it....it's just that to me it was....really noisy all the way. I love noise.

stratman3142

I kept toing and froing between my first two choices as they were so close.

5 points @marhag101 : This one just edged it, probably down to the tone and style being a very good fit to the backing. Especially the first 20s was very strong.

3 points @Bellycaster : Another fit to the backing. Very close and a hard choice between this and my first choice.

1 point @Bennyboy-UK : A good solo and playing but a bit too aggressive for the backing for my taste.

stratman3142

Voting ends tomorrow 31st October at midnight.

Bellycaster

5 Points @stratman3142 - Nice Syrupy tone, very fluid playing. This seemed to the best "Bluesy" fit for me. Nice pinches and use of double stops.

3 Points @Bennyboy-UK - Love the dirty, sleaziness of this one, nice note choices, great feel.

1 Point @maharg101 - Another great bluesy solo that gelled well with the backing.

maharg101

stratman3142 said:

Voting ends tomorrow 31st October at midnight.

Is that midnight as in about 8 hours ago, or 23:59:59 tonight ?

stratman3142

maharg101 said:

stratman3142 said:

Voting ends tomorrow 31st October at midnight.

Is that midnight as in about 8 hours ago, or 23:59:59 tonight ?

 Nice to know there's someone as pedantic as me. 

Voting ends at midnight tonight.

stratman3142

Voting closed.

stratman3142

There'll be a delay for a day or two until I announce the winners and start the next one.