Solo of the Month (SotM) #43 - Chat

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stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
edited December 2018 in Making Music
This is the 43rd solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.

The challenge is now open, and remains open for submissions until 11:30pm on 24th December 2018.

Here's this month's backing track (you can download it from soundcloud). 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.



Discussion: 
This track is in an odd time signature as requested by @fastonebaz in the thread at the link below (post dated September 23):


Details:
Track Title: Unlucky For Some
Time signature 13/8 (I count it as 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7)
Tempo: 120 bpm

Chords:
It's a sequence of notes from an Em9 chord over the following bass notes
E F# A B
E F# A B
A G F# E
E F# A B
E


The backing track has some headroom to add your solos. Add your solo and (as a guideline) try to avoid boosting the overall level beyond that if possible. That way the entries should be at roughly the same level and we won't get into 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. If there are 8 or more entries, then the order and scores of those in the top half will be announced.

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/sotm43-2018-12

It's not a competition.
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Comments

  • markvmarkv Frets: 459
    Blimey, that's going to take a while to get my head around. Nice sounding piece though.
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  • Love the backing track.   Will be a late entry from me this month,  I sliced and bashed a finger up during a DIY bathroom tiling incident... doh
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  • Love the backing track.   Will be a late entry from me this month,  I sliced and bashed a finger up during a DIY bathroom tiling incident... doh
    Ouch. Hope you recover soon.
    It's not a competition.
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  • Love the backing track.   Will be a late entry from me this month,  I sliced and bashed a finger up during a DIY bathroom tiling incident... doh
    Ouch. Hope you recover soon.

    cheers.  It's only my peter pointer on the plucking hand, i can just about play but have to hold a pick between thumb and middle finger and make sure I don't bash or bend it.  It's better than it was now a few days in to recovery. :)

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  • Love the backing track.   Will be a late entry from me this month,  I sliced and bashed a finger up during a DIY bathroom tiling incident... doh
    Ouch. Hope you recover soon.

    cheers.  It's only my peter pointer on the plucking hand, i can just about play but have to hold a pick between thumb and middle finger and make sure I don't bash or bend it.  It's better than it was now a few days in to recovery. :)

    Or you could just do your solo entirely with tapping/legato....
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  • Love the backing track.   Will be a late entry from me this month,  I sliced and bashed a finger up during a DIY bathroom tiling incident... doh
    Ouch. Hope you recover soon.

    cheers.  It's only my peter pointer on the plucking hand, i can just about play but have to hold a pick between thumb and middle finger and make sure I don't bash or bend it.  It's better than it was now a few days in to recovery. :)

    Or you could just do your solo entirely with tapping/legato....
    Like my normal entries then ;)
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  • Paul7926Paul7926 Frets: 227
    Just listened to the backing track and my head refuses to understand it.  I mean I don't understand most things but that was something else.
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  • Paul7926 said:
    Just listened to the backing track and my head refuses to understand it.  I mean I don't understand most things but that was something else.
    I've made a basic drum track to accentuate the beat which I'll add as an extra track to play along with but mute when rendering the entry




     (I'll happily have any drummers correct me if it's wrong but for me it helped me get my head around it)




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  • Paul7926 said:
    Just listened to the backing track and my head refuses to understand it.  I mean I don't understand most things but that was something else.
    I've made a basic drum track to accentuate the beat which I'll add as an extra track to play along with but mute when rendering the entry




     (I'll happily have any drummers correct me if it's wrong but for me it helped me get my head around it)

    Sounds right to me - but I'm not a drummer.

    It's quite simple to spot the start of the sequence. The bass notes are played on the 'one' (i.e. the first beat of the bar).

    It's not a competition.
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  • Paul7926Paul7926 Frets: 227
    It wasn't a comment on the backing track much more a comment on my inability to understand it.  As a noob one of the things I struggle with is proper timing and listening to something not 4/4 kinda blew my mind.
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  • Paul7926 said:
    It wasn't a comment on the backing track much more a comment on my inability to understand it.  As a noob one of the things I struggle with is proper timing and listening to something not 4/4 kinda blew my mind.
    That was clear. It's intentionally an awkward time signature. I made that drum track to help myself out and not just for your benefit.
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  • Sadly, since I tried to slice my finger off last week, i can't play properly.  However, I thought, what could I play without using my peter pointer finger on the plucking hand at all (and not to knock it!)  And i found I could play swells and make use of the tremolo bridge with my palm, kind of like Jeff Beck does, and just about pluck with holding the pick between thumb and middle finger.  

    Anyway since it's going to be a while before it heals, the swelling goes down, and I can bend and use it again, I guess i'm not going to be playing much so I'm unlikely to come up with anything better than this.  Shame as I enjoyed the mood of this track alot.

    So, now submitted, a nice early entry from me to kick this off.  I filmed this one, you can watch me fluff my way through it here lol:


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  • Well that deserves a Wow @fastonebaz.

    Limitations can sometimes force a new perspective and creative ideas. Great stuff. 

    Hope you recover from your injury soon.
    It's not a competition.
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  • Done mine as well, which was played entirely using harmonics.

    Two entries now in the playlist in the original post.
     
    It's not a competition.
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  • Paul7926Paul7926 Frets: 227
    @fastonebaz Have a WoW for your dedication Sir.  
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  • Good effort @fastonebaz very impressive.  I was tempted to do some careless tiling to see if I could play like that...

    Sent. That was bloody difficult. I'm happy to play/write riffs in odd time signatures but improvising is a huge step up. That'll explain why lots of prog bands switch to 4/4 for the solos. I tried to build some melody before winging it while watching the bar markers to try and keep vaguely in time.
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  • ...Sent.

    Added to the playlist. That makes 3 entries. Good to get so many so soon. Hopefully they'll keep on coming.

    It's not a competition.
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  • BezzerBezzer Frets: 581
    edited December 2018
    I tried to build some melody before winging it
    Pfft, melody is for wimps ...

    *covering back now for tuneless wankathon to arrive once I acheive*

    And @fastonebaz very nice indeed, don't seem to be too hindered by losing a finger!
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  • Bezzer said:
    I tried to build some melody before winging it
    Pfft, melody is for wimps ...

    *covering back now for tuneless wankathon to arrive once I acheive*

    I only resort to attempting melody because my technical ability and fretboard knowledge is so poor. I would have mindlessly shredded over that particular track if I could have!
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  • BezzerBezzer Frets: 581
    I was only being daft, besides I’ve heard your playing so you’re fooling no one with this “knowledge” ruse! :-) 
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