From: ken@batman.austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Improvisation where has it gon
Keywords: lead guitar
Date: 21 Jul 92 15:08:25 GMT
Reply-To: ken@batman.austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Organization: IBM Austin, TX


A few thoughts on this thread:

1. I am guilty of playing the same solo over and over. Part
   of it is because I sometimes write a solo for a specific
   song, and then it's part of the song. Sure, I'm sacrificing
   some of the spontaneity, but would I rather record a really
   interesting solo that plays on the chord progression, or would
   I rather fumble around and wind up on the pentatonic scale?

   However, sometimes I'll just wing the solo. I may have a
   good idea ahead of time of what I want to do, or some things
   that I can do, so it's not precisely mapped out. Sometimes
   these are much better because there's a sense of excitement,
   an energy that can't be recaptured. I recorded a great solo
   this way on a "scratch" recording of a song and I cannot
   reproduce it exactly as I did it the first time! Argh!

2. Of course, live playing is a totally different matter. I
   like seeing people play "the solo off the record" if it's
   a really wild, technically complex solo. But there's still
   room to expand there too. If I were seeing, say, GNR or
   Tesla, I probably wouldn't notice if Slash or Tommy didn't
   play a solo note-for-note because their music doesn't require
   that additional sophistication and I wouldn't expect it anyway.

   This is kinda contradictory, but I wouldn't expect Holdsworth
   or some of the jazz/fusion players (or Vernon Reid) to play
   the same solo exactly the same every time. Part of this is
   because of their level of talent and part of it is because of
   the type of music they play.

3. A lot of whether I expect to hear the album solo at a concert
   depends on the song. If I saw Jeff Beck, I wouldn't expect him
   to do the album solo on a song like "Led Boots" for a number
   of reasons. First, that was recorded *years* ago, and he's
   probably technically progressed beyond this. Second, this song
   doesn't *require* that the album solo be played - it's got
   room for improv. I think the second is the more important reason.

   Conversely, if I were seeing, say, Night Ranger, and they were
   playing either "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" or "Rock in America"
   and Jeff Watson didn't do the eight-finger hammer-on solo just
   like the album, I'd be disappointed. It's part of the song. It
   just about has to be there.

   Even a song like, say, "Stone in Love" by Journey, which has
   some of the best guitar soloing ever on it, requires that the
   major themes of the solos be played live. There is room to do
   some improv, but the outro solo is so melodic, so identifiable,
   that it pretty much has to be done like the recording.

4. I think in most cases people take solos that are too long. Why
   not shorten it? You won't run out of ideas, you won't repeat
   yourself, and you can dazzle them and get the heck out of the way!
   Or don't take a solo on every song! I'm almost to the point that
   I'd rather write songs that don't have to have a big guitar solo.
   Why not write more interesting rhythm parts that don't require
   soloing, or come up with some neat atmospheric guitar work?

   All this from a guy who's spent the last year working on shredding
   for solos! Oh, the humanity!

5. detchay@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (TONY CHAY) writes:

   >Learning Tab and playing a lead break by another guitarist is good 
   >fun and alot of people may be impressed with it.  What I want to 
   >know is what happened to the guitar purists like Jimi Hendrix etc.
   >who played a 
   >different solo every time they played the same song.  Improvisation
   >to me 
   >provides alot more emotion in lead guitar than a well rehearsed solo
   >which was learnt from sheet music or a well practised solo which was
   >written by a lead guitarist sitting alone with his amp trying to
   >produce a sound he would be remembered for.

   Well, maybe the days of Hendrix, Clapton, and Beck are gone. I
   don't know. That's not saying it's not valid, or that it can't
   be resurrected, but there will always only be one Jimi, no matter
   how many people learn note-for-note covers of his tunes.

   Then again, if you were as high as he was when he played live,
   you probably wouldn't play the same thing twice either! ;-)
   He probably couldn't remember what he did the previous time!


THIS POSTING DOES NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYERS.
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Newsgroups: alt.guitar