Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #100

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #100. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Thanks to @flying_pie for this backing track

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 November 2023.

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/sotm100-2023-11?si=8be59918bceb4878ab0f2e290f1d749b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

DrCornelius

As I mentioned on the earlier thread , Flying Pie nailed what I wanted to achieve but couldn't so for that reason he gets top marks as its my cuppa tea

Fastone Baz's is very brave and because I don't have a lot of imagination it didn't get any points although the playing definitely deserved some !

Flying Pie 5 - as above
Bellycaster 3 - Lovely legato parts and a touch of the Final Countdown in there too :-)
Stratman  1 -  Great snappiness and musical ideas

Great backing track too - lots of space to widdle :-)

stratman3142

5 points : @fastonebaz : Interesting tone. A very creative approach. Has a French murder mystery vibe about it. 

3 points : @flying_pie : A bit quiet and distant sounding, but nice melodies and ideas.

1 point : @Bellycaster : A warm tone. I think I heard a hint at Final Countdown

stratman3142

A quick reminder that voting ends tonight at midnight.

Anyone can vote, but here's a quick nudge for @fastonebaz @Bellycaster and @flying_pie ;

flying_pie

5 points @Bellycaster - loved the approach and some tasty lines

3 points @stratman3142 - cultured and skillful as in expect

1 point @DrCornelius - a good effort and I liked the direction

Sorry @fastonebaz but the tone you choose played havoc with my ears and brain despite the creative playing. Clearly that's an issue for me with a specific frequency and I'm glad @stratman3142 appreciated it differently

flying_pie

stratman3142 said:

@flying_pie : A bit quiet and distant sounding, but nice melodies and ideas

Yeah. No idea what happened with the mastering as I don't think I touched anything in the master track

I'm now left wondering if you tweaked my file before uploading if it had a bit too much headroom. I just used the original project so that could be a factor

Bellycaster

Tough to choose the top 3. All 4 tracks were great and it was the Finale of a couple of them that really pricked my ears.

5 points @stratman3142 - Some wonderfully executed bends. The solo had a nice upbeat feeling and I love the approach at the end. Was that a kind of diminished flavour?

3 Points @flying_pie - I love a dramatic sounding solo. I mean that in a good way. It was placed nice in the mix to give it a different mood. My ears pricked up with this ending too, great lead into the final big vibrato bend.

1 Point @DrCornelius - Good mix of tempo delivery with the phrases, good use of space and I like the move around the 48 second mark very much.

stratman3142

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Bellycaster

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Nice, I'm going to have to try incorporating something like that into my improvising. I've always wanted to in the past, but couldn't seem to fit it in, so to speak. I'll have to look back at the chords for this track and try learn from it.

digitalkettle

Bellycaster said:

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Nice, I'm going to have to try incorporating something like that into my improvising. I've always wanted to in the past, but couldn't seem to fit it in, so to speak. I'll have to look back at the chords for this track and try learn from it.

If you're playing over a dominant chord, start your diminished arpeggio thing a half-step up from the chord's root (or a whole-step down...same thing!). As @stratman3142 suggests, your 'lick' can then be shifted around three frets at a time without too much thought...resolve back to a chord tone and you're done Yngwie

fastonebaz

5pts @stratman3142 ;
3pts @Bellycaster ;
1pt @DrCornelius ;

Bellycaster

digitalkettle said:

Bellycaster said:

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Nice, I'm going to have to try incorporating something like that into my improvising. I've always wanted to in the past, but couldn't seem to fit it in, so to speak. I'll have to look back at the chords for this track and try learn from it.

If you're playing over a dominant chord, start your diminished arpeggio thing a half-step up from the chord's root (or a whole-step down...same thing!). As @stratman3142 suggests, your 'lick' can then be shifted around three frets at a time without too much thought...resolve back to a chord tone and you're done Yngwie

Nice bit of info for me to experiment with. Thanks.

stratman3142

Bellycaster said:

digitalkettle said:

Bellycaster said:

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Nice, I'm going to have to try incorporating something like that into my improvising. I've always wanted to in the past, but couldn't seem to fit it in, so to speak. I'll have to look back at the chords for this track and try learn from it.

If you're playing over a dominant chord, start your diminished arpeggio thing a half-step up from the chord's root (or a whole-step down...same thing!). As @stratman3142 suggests, your 'lick' can then be shifted around three frets at a time without too much thought...resolve back to a chord tone and you're done Yngwie

Nice bit of info for me to experiment with. Thanks.

Yes, and if the scale that fits the chords is A harmonic minor, then you can play G#, B, D and F (i.e. a diminished pattern) from within the scale.  All the notes are a minor 3rd apart, so you can find a pattern from those notes and shift it up or down by three frets (i.e. a minor 3rd)

If I hear a V7 chord played in a minor key, that's the clue to me that a harmonic minor scale might fit. So, for example, in the key of Am, an E7 chord contains a G# (the major 7th of A harmonic minor). 

E7 contains the notes, E, G#, B and D. So, if you shift the root note up a semitone, you've got F, G#, B and D, a diminished scale as @digitalkettle said.

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

digitalkettle said:

Bellycaster said:

stratman3142 said:

Bellycaster said:

 @stratman3142 - ... Was that a kind of diminished flavour?...

It was completely diminished. Just a 3 note diminished pattern on the top two strings, moving up in minor 3rds.

Nice, I'm going to have to try incorporating something like that into my improvising. I've always wanted to in the past, but couldn't seem to fit it in, so to speak. I'll have to look back at the chords for this track and try learn from it.

If you're playing over a dominant chord, start your diminished arpeggio thing a half-step up from the chord's root (or a whole-step down...same thing!). As @stratman3142 suggests, your 'lick' can then be shifted around three frets at a time without too much thought...resolve back to a chord tone and you're done Yngwie

Nice bit of info for me to experiment with. Thanks.

Yes, and if the scale that fits the chords is A harmonic minor, then you can play G#, B, D and F (i.e. a diminished pattern) from within the scale.  All the notes are a minor 3rd apart, so you can find a pattern from those notes and shift it up or down by three frets (i.e. a minor 3rd)

If I hear a V7 chord played in a minor key, that's the clue to me that a harmonic minor scale might fit. So, for example, in the key of Am, an E7 chord contains a G# (the major 7th of A harmonic minor). 

E7 contains the notes, E, G#, B and D. So, if you shift the root note up a semitone, you've got F, G#, B and D, a diminished scale as @digitalkettle said.

I suppose, technically, F, G#, B, D is a diminished arpeggio...and, over E, it's more of an altered sound (F=b9, G#=3, B=5, D=b7), i.e. E7b9.

When it's applied to the V chord in A harmonic minor, you get most of the notes of the E 'phrygian dominant' mode (or 'spanish phrygian'): E F G# A B C D

stratman3142

@digitalkettle, yes I'm being a bit loose with my terminology. I guess what I'm referring to is strictly a diminished 'arpeggio'.

I think the diminished 'scale' is usually regarded as an alternating whole step half step sequence. I sometimes use the Robben Ford trick with the half step whole step sequence.

Anyway, voting closed

digitalkettle

Erm...yep...sorry I didn't vote (or even enter) this month...things overtook me!

stratman3142

digitalkettle said:

Erm...yep...sorry I didn't vote (or even enter) this month...things overtook me!

No problem. At least it means I get a month when I won't be pushed down a place, as you always (deservedly) get more votes than me

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

@digitalkettle, yes I'm being a bit loose with my terminology. I guess what I'm referring to is strictly a diminished 'arpeggio'.

I think the diminished 'scale' is usually regarded as an alternating whole step half step sequence. I sometimes use the Robben Ford trick with the half step whole step sequence.
...

Thinking out loud...

I don't get many opportunities to use either but, of the two diminished scales, there's:

• whole-half: 1 2 b3 4 b5 #5 6 7
• half-whole: 1 b9 #9 3 b5 5 6 b7

Both scales are unusual in that they have eight notes...and both contain precisely two diminished arpeggios (1 b3 b5 bb7):

• whole-half: one starting on the root and one starting a whole-step up
• half-whole: one starting on the root and one starting a half-step up

There's a lot of material there ^ but most of it sounds pretty ugly to me...the only thing I've absorbed is the 'Yngwie' thing described above...and that feels like a trick really...good enough for Robben though?

stratman3142

digitalkettle said:

There's a lot of material there ^ but most of it sounds pretty ugly to me...the only thing I've absorbed is the 'Yngwie' thing described above...and that feels like a trick really...good enough for Robben though?

It's very different when Robben Ford uses it. I sometimes use the 'half step whole step scale' when the I chord is about to move to the IV chord, as explained by the excellent Ross Cambell in the clip below.

digitalkettle

stratman3142 said:

digitalkettle said:

There's a lot of material there ^ but most of it sounds pretty ugly to me...the only thing I've absorbed is the 'Yngwie' thing described above...and that feels like a trick really...good enough for Robben though?

It's very different when Robben Ford uses it. I sometimes use the 'half step whole step scale' when the I chord is about to move to the IV chord, as explained by the excellent Ross Cambell in the clip below.

I picked over one of Robben's Truefire courses once...is this about creating tension to make the I chord feel like an altered dominant which actually resolves to the IV?

stratman3142

digitalkettle said:

I picked over one of Robben's Truefire courses once...is this about creating tension to make the I chord feel like an altered dominant which actually resolves to the IV?

I guess so. I just knicked the idea because I liked the sound. Ross Cambell has a more recent video on the same topic that goes into more detail.