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OK, I'm just gonna throw this out there--times when guitarists should have said, No mas, enough is enough. Get in and get out, like Eric Clapton in Presence of the Lord or Brian May in Crazy Little Thing Called Love. These are just a few that come to mind:
Lynyrd Skynyrd--Free Bird
Neil Young--Down by the River
Creedence Clearwater Revival--I Heard It Through the Grapevine
The entire 3rd and 4th sides of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass with the "jams"
Most of the guitar soloes on Derek and the Dominoes' live album (without Duane) and Clapton's EC Was Here album
Practically every live version of Dazed and Confused by Led Zepp I've ever heard
These are just the ones that come to mind, that meander, that make me, as a guitarist, think, man, it's about time to wind it up, come on bro...
That Creedence song just kills me. If I had been the producer, I would have pulled the plug.
There are probably some jazz songs with too long guitar solos. I remember hearing a Pat Martino thing recently where I thought, OK Pat, I like repetitive phrases as much as the next guy, but time to move on.
Anyway, these are just the ones that come to mind. Any other guitar solos out there that go on just too dadgum long?
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10-06-2016 10:38 AM
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I'm guessing you aren't a Jerry Garcia fan, huh?
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I guess it comes down to the vibe one's going for, and whether or not the soloist has something to say.
This is coming from a Grateful Dead fan, mind you.
To me, the thing that makes me hold interest in a long solo is collective improvisation. That concept is built into jazz, it's what jazz is, really. So the soloist is soling, but I can listen to any of the instruments and hear them improvising, reacting, pushing. When it's done well, it's a thing of beauty.
In a rock context, it's not always happening. So with my afforementioned Dead, sure, the jam might be only 1-2 chords, but the whole group is improvising...there's ebb and flow, lots to listen to. Take a long Coltrane thing like "Naima" at the Vanguard (again!) Again, the whole group really has something going...you can hear the listening. Awesome stuff. Never feels "long."
Compare that to something where the rhythm section is just playing a "backing track" essentially to a soloist (Like that Stevie Ray Vaughn Little Wing guitar players love sooo much) and it becomes indulgent quickly. Dreadfully boring.
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Pat Martino: too many notes
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I keed, I keed, but sometime he leans on the three note weedly, weedly organ thing too long. But I love Pat!
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Yeah, for every guitar solo that goes on too long, there are hundreds of sax solos that do. Perhaps even thousands. It doesn't take me long to get tired of sax players wanking.
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Are we talking about in a rock guitar context here? Then yes, those 70's endless boring white blues guitar solos were the decline of rocknroll. Thanks God for metal for mighty riffs, and punk rock for speed that revitalized it.
Jazz is the whole different thing, i can't listen to Wes or Sco soloing and never get tired.
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Yeah, when I was young, I loved the noodling, but once I started playing in bands, that affection dropped tremendously. "Free Bird" was the first long solo where I really became aware of how boring fast, repetitive pentatonics really are -- especially when, as in that song, they're based on licks rather than melody.
Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
There are some long solos I still love -- much of the Allman Brothers' oeuvre sits there ("Blue Sky", "Liz Reed", "Les Brers in A Minor" jump to mind immediately). Another one for me is Television's "Marquee Moon" -- the solo is not built on licks, but rather, an unfolding theme, and it's very poetic. But mostly, long soloing gets on my nerves any more -- seems like substituting quantity for quality, to my ears.
I'm very much in the "get in, say it well, get the hell out" school of thought nowadays. The change for me occured when I started listening to Elliot Easton and, ironically considering the above, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd from Television. You've got 16 bars, make it good. Prime example, solo starts around 1:50:
Other examples of too long, too much: "Stranglehold", much of Cream's live stuff, Stevie Ray's version of "Little Wing" (sure, it's an instrumental -- cut the song shorter, it doesn't need all that wheedly-wheedly). Neil Young, you say? Try "Like a Hurricane" -- good song ruined by seven or eight minutes of blather.Last edited by Thumpalumpacus; 10-06-2016 at 04:09 PM.
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Hard to top Jimi and the Allman Brothers for long solos.
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Well it was the 60s\70s once i guess. And let's not talk about drum solos..:/
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Already mentioned by Doctor Jeff, but worth mentioning again :
Dazed and confused - Jimmy Page
Some FZ stuff also, album called Guitar or Shut up'n'play yer guitar, (even if I like the sentence)
I have numerous examples of sax solos, but it's out of topic ! (and I don't wanna get shot ....)
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What did Bird say, something like "more than 3 choruses and I'm not playing, I'm practicing".
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Television's "Marquee Moon" is one of my favorite songs. I loved that band. I'm of the "always leave 'em wanting more" (-which is another way of saying, 'quit while you're ahead!') though I must say the long solo in "Free Bird" doesn't bother. It keeps the groove of the song humming---I don't hear it so much as a solo as a cadenza. Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
Agreed about live Cream---just too much. But the Allmans stuff you mentioned still sounds good. Heck, "Mountain Jam" still sounds good! What is that, 40 minutes?
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I never heard that. Sounds good! Originally Posted by whiskey02
There's a sign in a music store I go to (-which is run by the family of sax-playing founder) that says "Guitar solos will be limited to 16 bars." I'm a guitarist and I get a kick out of that.
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God will forgive me for saying that Jimi, too, got too freakin' noodly sometimes. When he was on his game, let him go ... when he was stoned ... yeah, no. Originally Posted by Stevebol
For my money, his high point in extended soloing happened with his cover of "Sunshine of Your Love" from Radio One. It's a journey, there and back.
I had the three-CD collection of those albums, and to my ear, they're exemplar of what long solos can do. They certainly helped to realign this rock-player's ear for jazz. Originally Posted by 339 in june
Last edited by Thumpalumpacus; 10-06-2016 at 07:50 PM.
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Dude, give a brotha a cigarette break, come on now. Originally Posted by Vic155
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I once had a discussion with a vocalist I was working with, debating the merits of "Free Bird" against "Marquee Moon". Myself, the former brings repetitiveness, while the latter has a build-up that is both subtle and moving. I'm a coffee-drinker, other folks like tea. While I generally don't like long solos, MM delivers the goods in a well-metered, almost classical way. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
About 33, yeah. Back when Internet jukeboxes first became available in bars, I used to have a laugh when I'd go out and shoot some pool -- I'd drop a couple of quarters in the 'box, and pick "Mountain Jam". After about ten minutes, you'd see folks checking the jukebox to see when their song was coming up. "Next", it said, "next" ... in about twenty-five minutes. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
Yeah, I was a jerk at times.
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Alvin Lee on the Woodstock version of "Goin' Home."
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Derek and the Dominos was my favorite Clapton era. I didn't mind the solos on that live album, or the actual studio album. The jams that they included in the box set are a bit much. Jimi, Allmans, Tedeschi Trucks, Gov't Mule....I can dig that kind of stuff. And I like the more composed solos like "Marquee Moon" or "Impossible Germany" from Wilco.
Some of the jam bands get too noodly for me, though. I can't handle the Dead or any of their spinoffs. Or Phish.
Honestly, the long solo is pretty far down on my list of complaints with "Free Bird".
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The DnD studio album is an absolute classic. I think I am remembering the extended jam versions on the live album, where a little bit goes a long way.
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Clapton, et al: none of my biz. Never touch the stuff anyway, though all good. (Given Buzzy Feiten...).
In JAZZ if you can't say it in 2...........................
Go listen again to Pres.
And turn up the f'ing volume...
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I'm a big fan of Stephen Malkmus's guitar work (solo stuff and older work with Pavement). Often he just gets a little melodic bit in or does a riff on the vocal melody. Sometimes he stretches it out but I feel like it's well developed, taking some cues from Television.
I feel like Phish is a tricky one... Often I just get bored, but sometimes they really nail it with the group improv thing. Definitely they had this better in the earlier era. Starting late 90s they shifted toward a more repetitive bass line vamp feel.Last edited by pants; 10-07-2016 at 03:21 AM.
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band in a box jazz solos go on for 6 Choruses..6x32...theyre all exemplary...all a workout..enough mileage for anyone
Last edited by voxss; 10-07-2016 at 03:33 AM.
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Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
I love him as well, but I think he's a good example of a player who sometimes go on a bit long. As much as I admire his inventiveness, his endless lines at wacky tempos, his time, etc I do think he could go for comparative brevity once in a while.
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Well, he does like formats like organ trios where a guitarist can have lots of space to play. Originally Posted by Average Joe
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