Solo of the Month (SotM) #79 - Challenge

DrHungry

Just sent one in. Seeing as I'm to blame for the backing track I'll give a bit more info about my efforts this time.

The backing has 3 wildly varying sections so I wanted to be able to reflect those differences but at the same time keep some kind of consistency through it. My signal chain is therefore pretty much the same throughout with just a change of pickup, volume pot and picking attack, although I did add a bit of doubling effect to the A section and the panning and reverb levels vary.

The A section was meant to be a Mark Lettieri style modern 80s pop/funk (the riff is adapted from one of the lessons from his excellent Jam Play course that I have yet to complete) so I tried to keep the phrases short with a lot of staccato. The Q&A bit was all recorded in one go and I just adjusted the panning and switched the doubler on and off to give some contrast. The B section was a chord sequence adapted from an Erykah Badu track, so I used all of my cliched neo soulisms on the neck pickup for a bit of mellow distinction from the other sections. The C section shuffle reminded me of something by Toto so I rolled up the volume, flipped to the bridge, dug in and...used the one Lukather lick that I can actually play. The one from Rosanna where he does a whole tone bend and then adds the pinky on top. And that was that!

Signal chain was my trusty tele with the usual gain stacking - Jan Ray --> Benson fuzz with the gain backed off --> Humboldt Simplifier set for a British EL34 sound --> interface. Compression, delay, reverb and sometimes doubling added in Studio One. It was recorded as a complete solo in "one take"...but about 5 times and I nabbed the bits from each that I didn't fluff.

There you go - more information than anyone needed on Sunday morning about my 80 seconds of solo. Everyone's efforts this month have been top notch by the way, some really innovative ideas but also lots of similar themes coming through. It's great to hear some people running with the ideas I had in my head but with the technical chops to pull it off! I promise I didn't listen to any before I recorded mine - except @stratman3142 ; who'd sent me his solo in January within about an hour of me sending him the track!

DrHungry

jasonbone75 said:

This is the first thing I've ever put out publicly in about 35 years so hope it goes down well 

Safe to say it's gone down well! Great solo!

stratman3142

DrHungry said:

Just sent one in...

It's in the playlist.

fastonebaz

Sent one in.

fastonebaz

@IvanMC ;; did you use a JEM?  Those pups sounds just like Evos

fastonebaz

@digitalkettle did you use the Hydra?!

digitalkettle

fastonebaz said:

@digitalkettle did you use the Hydra?!

I see what you did there

stratman3142

fastonebaz said:

Sent one in.

It's in the playlist.

stratman3142

Entry closes soon at midnight 21st Feb 2022.

susbemol

Ah, pants... didn't realise this was ending last night. I thought I had until the end of the month so I'd got some rough ideas down but hadn't finished it. Oh well, maybe next time then!

Bennyboy-UK

susbemol said:

Ah, pants... didn't realise this was ending last night. I thought I had until the end of the month so I'd got some rough ideas down but hadn't finished it. Oh well, maybe next time then!

Hey, we have got today matey!

susbemol

Oh, is that right? I thought the deadline was midnight last night. If we've still got today, I'll try send one in later today.

Thanks for that!

stratman3142

Yes entry closes tonight at midnight.

stratman3142

Entry closed.

susbemol

stratman3142 said:

Entry closed.

Did you get the one I sent in last night? Just checking because I haven't seen it on the playlist.

stratman3142

susbemol said:

stratman3142 said:

Entry closed.

Did you get the one I sent in last night? Just checking because I haven't seen it on the playlist.

Yes I'll add it to the playlist before I start the voting thread.

There'll be a short delay because I won't get home until later today.

susbemol

No worries at all, sorry for sending it in so late.

stratman3142

susbemol said:

stratman3142 said:

Entry closed.

Did you get the one I sent in last night? Just checking because I haven't seen it on the playlist.

It's in the playlist now.