This is the 68th solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.
The challenge is now open and ends at midnight 24th March 2021.
You can download backing track from Soundcloud below:
https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sotm68-2021-03-bellycaster-mel-and-colin 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:
Title: Mel and Colin
Tempo: 60 bpm.
The chords are:
| Am(add9) / / / | Gm(add9) / / / | Am(add9) / / / | Gm(add9) / / / |
| Cm(add9) / Bb / | Cm(add9) / Bb / | Cm(add9) / Bb / | E7 / A / |
| Dm(add9) Dm Bm7b5 / | Eaug E Am(add9) / | Am(add9) / / / |
end on Am(add9)
The 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.
Comments
I'm best not knowing what I've got to come up with.
At first I wanted to do something really ambient. Instead I ended up with just my acoustic recorded through the microphone of the laptop . No effects added, just the guitar.
My personal opinion is that if you start right and end right, it doesn't really matter what you play in between, as long as you maintain some cohesion between start and ending. But that is a trick I don't master myself
I struggled with it to be honest. I'm not a musician so I just listened to the track and hummed it out. I ad libbed last months but I actually tried to work something out this time and I found that harder. Sounds like my ears aren't tuned
I thought I'd enjoy the challenge but I don't have the necessary skills/ ability to play what I hear in my head and I don't have the time to address that so I'm going to stick to playing covers and copy other people. It's easier
It's not called a challenge for nothing...keep going...everything gets better as a result!
Each month @stratman3142 reposts the competition boilerplate of "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". That's the whole point of SotM...besides the self-discovery part of the process. We ask each other a few questions every now and then but we could certainly do more 'show & tell'. I suppose it can feel a bit pretentious sometimes.
Enough of my bullshit...both months I've heard from you, I thought you had more than a fair crack at it.
normally (if and when I enter) I’ll hit record with the cycle on in logic and just play... after a couple of takes I start getting a better idea of what I’m playing... after a dozen takes there’s enough to comp a solo...
this time round I sat the night before just playing the backing track over and over and worked out what I wanted to play.
when it came to record I did one take on the neck pickup of the tele, a second take on the bridge pickup, both panned right and left respectively. Then did a third take with a wah...
not sure which method I prefer tbh... the improvised way or the more structured way...
I guess with the more structured way I at least “know” what I played and could play it again whereas with the first method I’d have to go back and learn the solo!!!!
but... to echo @logie ‘s thoughts... never really happy with what I submit... could always do better...
So I’ve been experimenting and may eventually get something to enter. Maybe we could document the key in addition to the bpm?
C for the middle bit
back to A for the end section
Mostly minor!!!!
I'd regard the key as Am, as that's the home chord, but I'm not sure how much help that is for the whole track.
If the song changes key I try different positions where I find it easy to change key.
I then have the track played repeatedly and try out the themes and key turnarounds and I'll look for ways to connect them.
If I don't have any melodic ideas, I try to find patterns to play. As long as your start and finish of the pattern are somewhat in key you can play almost anything you like.
For some tracks I just grab the guitar and start noodling to get me some ideas.
Kidding: It's actually is a great chord sequence.