Is my guitar solo self indulgent and cheesy?

[honeyiscool]

I'd like some feedback. We do a cover of "Be My Baby" and I thought about doing the thing I never do, which is ask for a long guitar solo. I'm normally against it but it kind of feels like this might work. This is after the song seems to be almost over, where the break comes in, instead of coming back in with vocals, we're hitting people with this:

 

http://soundcloud.com/thursdays-mittens/be-my-baby-solo

 

Obviously I need to be more spot-on with some of the runs, but I'm looking for an overall vibe thing. Thanks!

[BG76]

Can you tab that out for me?

 

:poke:

 

Seriously, sounds cool.

[honeyiscool]

It basically consists of variations on the Conklin scale, if you have mastered "Elvira," it uses that mode.

[fretmonster]

Good solo with some nice melodic hooks. Minor complaint - seemed like your tone was clipping a little in spots.

[honeyiscool]

I think you might be right, I was using my pickups in series and not keeping an eye on the levels. Bad Paul.

[fretmonster]

I think you might be right, I was using my pickups in series and not keeping an eye on the levels. Bad Paul.

 

[jrspencer]

sounds good man! what are you recording with?

[honeyiscool]

The solo track I recorded direct through a Bassman model, I don't often mic my amps when recording.

[Skyforger]

Sounds excellent! Good job, dude.

Personally, I feel there's nothing wrong with sounding self-indulgent. To me, that's the whole point of the solo- to draw attention to the guitarist. Cheesiness... Eh. There's a time and a place for it

[PZERO]

I loved it. If I were in the audience listening to you, I would be thinking "Hey, this is pretty cool".

[Strung_Out]

Sounded pretty good to me. I like that it wasn't over the top and actually fit into the feel of the song rather than sounding like you were trying to push to music with a flurry of notes.

[caveman]

Sweet but a little to extended.

 

I'd break it up, maybe add some band dynamics when resolving at 53 and do a chorus. After the chorus do the last of the solo, possibly to finish. To my ears that's where it sounds like it was heading.

 

Anyway I liked it!

[kit_strong]

Doesn't sound at all self-indulgent to me. Fits the song very nicely

[honeyiscool]

I'd break it up, maybe add some band dynamics when resolving at 53 and do a chorus. After the chorus do the last of the solo, possibly to finish.

Yeah, if I actually were in a place where I can record my band in one sitting (or record the drummer), I think it would help. In general, I've found that to be near impossible when doing one track at a time, building dynamics properly. With fake drums, especially.

[Kid Klash]

Sounds like you've got a little Marty Robbins "El Paso" thing going on there. Nice.

[axegrinder]

If it extends a 2:45 song to almost five minutes then I'd say it MIGHT be perceived as self-indulgent by some of your audience. However, I think your solo is melodic enough without a "look-at-me" attitude that it indeed works...especially if it is a gig where live music may be secondary with people mingling and dancing etc.

 

My two cents.

[axegrinder]

Just the the sound of a young amateur lacking improvisational skills.

Just the words of one grizzled asshole with nothing better to do but {censored} on other people's playing.

[bsman]

Yes and no: -- all solos (by definition) are self-indulgent, and that's OK.

 

 

But, there is nothing cheesy about it. It sounded perfect for the song. Good stuff!

[Thurston]

 

Just the the sound of a young amateur lacking improvisational skills.

 

 

Just the the words of an old washed up has-(never)-been lacking ears.

[Flatspotter]

It sounded great to me. It didn't sound as much like a guitar solo as it did a more "lyrical" part of the song.

[honeyiscool]

Thanks for all the positive responses! I think I'll keep it, even though it does make a 2:45 minute song two minutes longer.

 

Sounds like you've got a little Marty Robbins "El Paso" thing going on there. Nice.

I'm not aware of this track. I sort of copy Dire Straits' "Tunnel of Love" solo pretty blatantly, though, especially the way the solo is built, and then some of the chord stuff is somewhat taken from "Sultans of Swing." It's all semi-conscious on my part, since Mark Knopfler is stylistically pretty different from anything I'm trying to do, but when I want to do guitar solos, I think back to what he would do, mainly because he writes the best guitar solos ever. When I run out of guitar-centric ideas, I tend to go back to melodies, scales, and runs I encountered in classical music.

[PigWings_v2.0]

 

I'd like some feedback. We do a cover of "Be My Baby" and I thought about doing the thing I never do, which is ask for a long guitar solo. I'm normally against it but it kind of feels like this might work. This is after the song seems to be almost over, where the break comes in, instead of coming back in with vocals, we're hitting people with this: http://soundcloud.com/thursdays-mittens/be-my-baby-solo Obviously I need to be more spot-on with some of the runs, but I'm looking for an overall vibe thing. Thanks!

Self indulgent? Naa. That was tasteful!

 

My favorite part was the final note at the very end. It's like the timer going 'ding.' The icing on the cake IMO.

 

I dig it!

[photon9]

It was pretty good.

[Athiest_Peace]

Great solo.. I enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! I hope the band lets you play that!

[Gas Hed]

I think it's damn good. Like the the tone, the break up, and the melodic nature of it. Could be smoother in some parts, but I'm not sure I could have done better. Thanks for sharing!!!