great guitar solos (contd)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
In this age, guitar solos are a tricky thing. Hair bands of the 1980’s pretty much perfected the balls-to-the-wall, more is more, 1000 notes a second wankery in which every ounce of sonic space is filled with gooey shredding goodness. I still have on my art to do list the task of making a 90 minute mix tape filled with just 80’s guitar solos…though in some ways, if you have heard one you have heard them all.
That is why, I have been paying attention to solos lately and how inventive guitarist still find room to surprise and invent new ways to delight with the six stringer. With that said, here are a few of great solos that spring imediately to mind:
1. Blur, “Country House” (Graham Coxen solo, 1:57-2:18): Coxon is an extremely talented guitarist, often picking intricate lines and apreggios rather than playing power chords. In this case, his solo is a skewed, slightly off melodic line that sounds as if it were played by someone new to the guitar who has only listened to the shaggs. It is angular and charming…and wonderfully weird.
2. The Smiths, “Frankly Mr. Shankly” (Johnny Marr solo, :38-:58) The KING of the unconventional solo, Johnny Marr never really played a traditional guitar solo until the song “Paint a Vulgar Picture” off the Smiths last full length album. Before that, he eschewed tradition and instead produced a string of amazing guitar interludes that were as tasteful as they were inventive. His solo on “Frankly Mr. Shankly” is Marr at his best: melodic, unexpected, and original…It is hard to know exactly how many guitars are exactly playing here and exactly what he did…..genius
3. Radiohead, “Banana Co” (Johnny Greenwood solo, 1:28-1:52) Johnny Greenwood is the best guitarist of his generation- playing in a raw, slashing style in which he subverts the blues scale by mixing in odd note choices and runs that are atonal and jarring. One could choose from a number of his warped solos (“paranoid android”, just” etc) but I chose “Banana Co” because of what happens at the end in which he turns on his phaser pedal and the solo melts down into chaos.