Solo of the Month (SotM) #90 - Challenge

stratman3142

This is the 90th solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.

The challenge is now open and ends at midnight 24th January 2023

Discussion:

This backing track was kindly provided by @fastonebaz

You can download backing track from Soundcloud below:  It ends suddenly, so add a fade if you wish.

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sotm90-fastonebaz-wheres-the-f-king-beat?si=5d8f547a45e74af7b03e2d8bc4177d7c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

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.

Title: Where's The F_king Beat

Tempo: 145 bpm

Chords: (Not sure if this is dead right, but here's the gist of it. Those with better ears, feel free to correct it)

Em (for 16 bars)      (edit possibly E7#9)

Fma7#11   F#m11   G6   Am11

Am (for 16 bars)

E7   E7/G#   E7/B   E7/D   E7   E7   E7/B   E7/D

Am to sudden ending

There should be headroom to record your solo. Try to set a level without excessive master limiting, because we want to avoid 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/sotm2023-01?si=3cb46262a1474ac99d795b34213409f0&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

digitalkettle

Good lord...I feel like I've been beaten up by The B-52s!

fastonebaz

I have no clue what lead to play  

mudslide73

fastonebaz said:

I have no clue what lead to play  

If you can't there's no hope for me. I find long passages without changes difficult never mind the climbs Oh well.

fastonebaz

mudslide73 said:

fastonebaz said:

I have no clue what lead to play  

If you can't there's no hope for me. I find long passages without changes difficult never mind the climbs Oh well.

It's part of the fun of the challenge. Stretching ourselves for creativity. You can do it I'm sure  

stratman3142

fastonebaz said:

...It's part of the fun of the challenge...

Yes this is certainly a challenge  

stratman3142

Well it's definitely fried my brain. I wrote the first chord down as Em, but my ears keep leading me to play a G and a G#, which gives it a  minor to major "2001 Space Odyssey" vibe

How are others hearing the tonality of that first section? 

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

How are others hearing the tonality of that first section? 

I'm hearing:

• an E7#9 thing for the first sixteen bars......that might explain your G/G# dilemma...might go for blues, might go for dorian
• chromatic build-up for four bars to take you from E to Am
• solid Am (probably dorian) for another sixteen bars
• E7 build-up for eight bars
• close out with eight bars of Am

flying_pie

So much for my New Year's resolution of stopping resorting to gimmicks as far as solos go ...

Definitely an Athens, GA alt/indie pop vibe to it. I'm immediately drawn to a call and response guitar with a baritone male and 2 part harmony female vocal singing about a psychedelic shrimp

digitalkettle

flying_pie said:

So much for my New Year's resolution of stopping resorting to gimmicks as far as solos go ...

Definitely an Athens, GA alt/indie pop vibe to it. I'm immediately drawn to a call and response guitar with a baritone male and 2 part harmony female vocal singing about a psychedelic shrimp

"It wasn't a rock..."

flying_pie

digitalkettle said:

flying_pie said:

Definitely an Athens, GA alt/indie pop vibe to it. I'm immediately drawn to a call and response guitar with a baritone male and 2 part harmony female vocal singing about a psychedelic shrimp

"It wasn't a rock..."

"It was a prawn rock-tail (prawn rock-tail)
Setting sail in a car as big as a whale...."

stratman3142

Mine's in the playlist.

fastonebaz

There's really nothing fancy about any of the chords.  It's just as @stratman3142 described except the initial Em is more of a basic E5 power chord really, although it would be Em if I played the chord in full.

I've got one brewing, just reviewing my mixing.

fastonebaz

What bit rate does everyone else export their mp3 files in? 

fastonebaz

Hmm I think I need to use a higher bitrate in my renders

fastonebaz

maharg101

fastonebaz said:

What bit rate does everyone else export their mp3 files in? 

320 kbps every time. It's not like that makes a huge file by today's standards.

stratman3142 said:

Well it's definitely fried my brain. I wrote the first chord down as Em, but my ears keep leading me to play a G and a G#, which gives it a  minor to major "2001 Space Odyssey" vibe

How are others hearing the tonality of that first section? 

I don't have enough musical grounding to describe in formal terms, but for me it has a lot of unresolved tension, like it's pulling in different directions - you think it's going to release after the climb, but it doesn't really. I've got something which I think fits for the initial section. It's great fun !

stratman3142

maharg101 said:

fastonebaz said:

What bit rate does everyone else export their mp3 files in? 

320 kbps every time. It's not like that makes a huge file by today's standards.

Same here and for the same reason.

fastonebaz

I was doing 192 but will go with 320 now I think

fastonebaz

Sent one in.

A fat 320 kbps.

My approach was to use a totally new patch in my Bias FX2 to try to make me play and sound different to normal, but it ended up sounded exactly like me anyway  

maharg101

fastonebaz said:

Sent one in.

A fat 320 kbps.

Forget the quality, feel the width !