Can you help me understand what I am missing in this solo?

**neatomic** · 10-30-2020, 05:05 PM

eric gale was never really a burner...he was a rhythm chops specialist..him and cornell dupree wove some nice guitar lines in stuff...but was never known for blazing solo playing

his distorted lead tone from a full hollowbody doesn't help either

mister magic was not groundbreaking jazz..it was aimed at the dance/disco crowd...very formula nyc cti sound...with that typical of the era steve gadd drum sound...bah

cheers

**GTRMan** · 10-30-2020, 05:06 PM

I thought he did about as well as could be expected, given how repititious the song was. Disco era music.

**greveost** · 10-30-2020, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by christianm77

Sounds like a jazz guy suddenly asked to play a blues solo on a jazz box with flatwounds.

This

**Gabor** · 10-31-2020, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by christianm77

I think it’s an interesting question actually. People hear differently and you can learn a lot from how other people hear.

The way you hear music will be the most important influence on how you play it...

This is probably true, and exactly this is because it should not be a goal. I mean learning too much how others, especially the mainstream hear, points to the direction to a statistical equalization in hearing, then playing. Maybe understanding is overrated. Maybe many artists never understand what others, the listeners "understand into" their creations.

**billv** · 10-31-2020, 10:04 AM

I don't think the OP is missing anything. It's a pretty perfunctory solo. (Then again, who hasn't played a solo that felt like ten blind thumbs in search of a groove!) But Eric Gale could, and did, do better. I always thought his solo on the Grover Washington album version of "Trouble Man" was pretty good. Nothing too fancy, but some very tasty (and spacey) jazz-blues licks -- kind of Kenny Burrell with a side order of psychedelia. Gale's solo starts about 1:45.

**christianm77** · 10-31-2020, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Gabor

This is probably true, and exactly this is because it should not be a goal. I mean learning too much how others, especially the mainstream hear, points to the direction to a statistical equalization in hearing, then playing. Maybe understanding is overrated. Maybe many artists never understand what others, the listeners "understand into" their creations.

Maybe, but I think there’s a typical nature vs nurture element to this. I think I was always drawn to the stuff I was drawn to by temperament.

Most in the ‘mainstream’ don’t hear like musicians anyway. Which is not to say what they hear is worthless (actually I think learning to pop for instance on its own terms has taken me a long time after getting into more ‘complex’ music.)

I agree that understanding is also not just overrated but to some extent essentially impossible. You always place yourself into the act of listening; this is why learning solos etc is actually a process of self discovery, not mere imitation.

**princeplanet** · 10-31-2020, 12:14 PM

Yeah, well you notice this kinda thing a lot, all over the world, and probably for many decades - Smoking hot Jazz players burning it up with their solos until the guitarist's solo, which sometimes is "high school blues jam" level that any rank amateur guitar player would recognise, and yet, the other players, and perhaps much of the audience, probably think it's high level playing or something!

Often wondered why that is, perhaps it's because they expect different sounds and ideas to come from guitar players, you know, those box shaped pentatonic riffs that amateur noodlers love and the same ol' bendy licks you learned in your first month of playing. Sounds embarrassing to guitar players who outgrew that stuff ages ago, but in the 60's and 70's it was a hip new sound to some, which is why you hear a lot of Grant Green doin' the "Boogooloo" even though the dude obviously had some decent hard bop chops.

Oh, and I still notice amazing sax players talk in serious admiration of this kind of rank guitar playing, as though they don't recognise that entry level blues noodling is as common as muck. They also fail to realise that what high level sax playing entails is perhaps a thousand times more interesting, difficult, and compelling when compared to the 3 lick wonders out there

.

Yeah, I know some of you will find this offensive because you feel the Eric Gale solo was fine, but it has long been a pet peeve of mine when I see a hot jazz band with a lame guitar player who is obviously bluffing their way into the gig. The other players are A+ players, but the guitar whacker is a D-, and no one seems to notice or care. If the piano or horn players were only, say, B+ standard, they wouldn't have made it past the audition!. Ya feelin' me?

**christianm77** · 10-31-2020, 12:32 PM

Or another, more respectful way of looking at it is that a pro guitarists job is to play rhythm guitar really really well and anything else is the icing on the cake.

Plenty of burning soloists out there, but great rhythm guitarists? Always in work.

**Hep To The Jive** · 10-31-2020, 12:41 PM

Oh man I absolutely LOVE this solo! Everything about it- the tone, the phrasing, the vibe- even some imperfections sounds great. I love guitarists who attack the instrument, rather than smooth playing. Albert Collins, Frank Zappa, they would totally dig this!

If someone can find that as bad guitar playing I def at odds with the guitar community. I guess what most people like, I don't, and vice versa.

**KirkP** · 10-31-2020, 04:13 PM

On the top posted video and the Montreux concert with Stuff. I felt he was more or less noodling.

He seems much more engaged as a band leader. It’s mostly a bunch of blues licks, but a crowd-pleaser.

**KirkP** · 10-31-2020, 04:24 PM