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Looper's Delight
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Paolo says:
>> >But the end result is the same. The solo ends up set in stone, to be
>> >recited in an identical manner with each new performance of the music
>> >whether it be a pop song or a classical piece. With a few exceptions
>> >(there are always exceptions) the solo does not change. This
>contradicts
>> >your earlier assertion that the pop solo always changes.
>>
>> In my experience, the converse is true. Except for things such as the
>> first solo in Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb", solos (and I suppose that
>> I'm speaking of guitar solos at this point, since I haven't been able to
>> recall a significant number of keyboard solos in pop/rock) are winged
>> each time. Maybe they start the same, or there's an ending lick that it
>> moves towards, but usually not. One of the things that I, and the
>> guitarists that I've run into look forward to in a solo is the chance to
>> make something new on the spot.
>
>This is probably more true pop music from the 70s or earlier. More recent
>pop solos that I have heard live are reproductions of the recorded
>versions.
>You might recall a recent complaint by Eric Clapton that not enough
>players
>today in rock are willing to solo in a truly off-the-cuff manner.
I hadn't seen that, but it could be that if what I call the Soviet Theory
of Musical Ego ("The individual is not worthy of individual statement,
only the good of the collective should be considered") is presented as
good (witness the last twenty years of the British music press holding the
anti-solo sentiments of Punk Rock dear to their heart) for long enough,
young musicians may be convinced that soloing is a bad thing, and won't
work on developing the skills necessary to solo well, which generally
involves millions of crap, trite, boring solos.
I live in Austin, and so the "guitar gunslinger" mentality, for better or
worse is still alive and well here. I may have a skewed view of the
Current State Of Guitar, but there's still a lot of SRV articles in the
guitar press--someone's got to be learning this stuff.
Paolo says:
"I too hope a keyboardist will speak up because none of the keyboard
players
I have met were particularly interested in soloing in a pop context.
Maybe in a jazz context but of course we're not talking about jazz here.
Bass players I've met tended to be more impressed by a good bass groove
than ripping bass solos."
¥ That's strange, because if Bass Player magazine is any indicator of the
State of the Bass Union, there's still ample concern for ability to step
out as needed. Reviews of new instruments always have a discussion of
upper register access and playability, and the ability to cut through
during a solo. There's also a preponderance of attention paid to the
traditional, supportive role of the bass player, but try to tell BP that
the bassist shouldn't take a solo, and you'll have a fight on your hands.
Paolo:
"My guess is that because guitar is the featured instrument in rock and
pop (sorry, I can hardly tell the difference), the guitarist is
expected to solo more than the keyboardist."
¥ But why is it featured? Where's the Angry Young Keyboard Player with
something to say? The soloing ability of synthesizers is fearsome,
there's got to be some rebel who says "screw the guitarist, I've got
something to say here".
Travis