I’m currently enjoying the last week of my winter break, just before I get thrown back head first into the brutal, biting tundra of Bingahmton University. So before my fingertips decay at the Mr. Frost’s unforgiving mercy, I think a new post is in order. This morning I was channel flipping and came across an amazing new single by the likes of British singer Corrinne Baily Rae. The melody was simple but intoxicating, gentle, bluesy and warm. And so like any good music enthusiast would do, I listened to the song I’d DoIt All Again on a loop. Rae’s newest album The Sea will be released in 2010, and I suggest you all check it out.
Recently, I interviewed Mickey Raphael, the long-time harmonica player for the Willie Nelson Band. After a great interview I found out that Willie Nelson is a big fan of the video game Wii Golf. I imagine that after practice the 76-year old musician is probably good at the game. The same cannot be said for the 69-year old Ringo Starr and his attempts at “The Beatles:Rock Band.” To be fair, he kind of made the real songs, but if Southpark has taught me anything, real musicians don’t hold a candle to those video game superstars. Ringo revealed that the game was for the “young folk” and that he was “c**p at it.” Paul McCartney similarly has had trouble with the music game. Yet, Paul has the right idea. When asked to play he stated that “I was in the band the first time around,” which is just hilarious and obviously true.
Coldplay! What is with you and plagiarism. You are like a slacking English major with a computer (Not Me…I Promise). Now, an unknown musician who claims you stole “Clocks,” “Yellow,” and “Trouble” from his catalogue of music (around 4000 songs recorded since 1976). The performer, Sammie Lee Smith, has just received his fifteen-minutes of fame. Of course, I am sure if this is true then it is just about the music because he has obviously not had much success over his long music career. Smith is requesting that Coldplay stops playing his songs and he probably wants a large sum of money. I wish I had audio but I cannot find any of his music for the life of me leading me to believe that if somehow this is true there will be a quick settlement. Otherwise, this will be shoved under the rug and never heard from again.
“It’s hard to describe, because on one hand you want your solo to be spontaneous. On the other hand, I feel a good guitar solo should be somewhat of a composition in itself. So, you sort of toggle back and forth between the concept of trying to initiate flow and composing. I think it’s a combination of both” – Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter – guitar – Steely Dan / Doobie Brothers
After Josh did a post last night on people destroying their guitars for fun it got me thinking about guitarists who enjoy playing their guitars more than concentrating on smashing them up. That brought me to the topic of guitar solos and a corresponding poll. Baxter explains the guitar solo well in his quotation above. A great guitar solo involves practice of the solo prior to recording. It needs to be a composition and cannot just be purely on the fly. Yet, what makes these amazing guitar solos ineffaceable and forever ingrained in the rock n’ roll music lover’s mind is the subtle spontaneity and feeling that a guitarist is able to put into the solo. They are able to put their trademark on it and add some bends, hammer-on’s and various other points of feeling to make it their own each time out. No great guitar solo should ever be the same, yet, there needs to be the recognizable root.
So, what makes a guitar solo great? Well, it helps if you are popular prior to the release but that matters very little. A resounding guitar solo has feeling, skill and recognizability all wrapped up in an effulgent guitar chef d’oeuvre. I know many people who can put feeling in the guitar but lack that skill and I know people who have the skill to go fast on the guitar and make it sound cool, but, lack the feeling. These soloists listed below have it all. I will limit the choices to five because, while I could put more, I believe that these solos go above and beyond.
Once again, I just found myself skimming through some videos, and I witnessed something else that, for lack of better words, struck a chord with me.
Guitars are expensive nowadays. So, one should therefore never disrespect his or her guitar. A guitarist, as talented as he may be, cannot hope to make music without his partner. So as entertaining as it may be to watch, Things to Never Do #3 will henceforth state that thou shall not disrespect your guitar, no matter how much fun it may be. Check out some of these vids.
This guy is just a dumba$$.
But this guy: is awesome.
Stay tuned for a countdown of the top 25 guitarists of all time!
Tortuous (adj.): full of twists, turns, or bends; twisting, winding, or crooked
Example: In 1970, Paul McCartney recorded his tortuous ballad “The Long and Winding Road” which became the Beatles’ last #1 song and coincidentially their last single released. The song, which is claimed to actually be inspired by a true tortuous road in Scotland, quickly became one of the Beatles’ most beautiful releases despite troubles with the torturous and crazy Phil Spector who insisted on post-production modifications. Spector actually succeeded with his pestering annoyance and he added into “The Long and Winding Road” an agglomerate of lush, but fake, orchestral sounds that The Beatles had been previously attempting to avoid with their “real” “Get Back” recording campaign. The Beatles broke up soon after proving that maybe it was not just Yoko’s fault but was also the fault of a stark-raving lunatic…that wasn’t Yoko!
The Music Court 