Why is it a guitar solo?

[Bathead]

Quick question,

in Smoke On The Water there's a part in the song referred to as a Guitar "solo" but the bass still plays throughout this "solo" ... so why would it be called a guitar solo?

-Bathead

[Araillac]

so the guitarist can keep his ego

[Oric]

If I stopped playing while my lead guitarist was soloing I think he would at least look at me funny.
Generally the band keeps playing during a solo. Or in the case of jazz, at least the rhythm section does.

[Elrend]

Originally Posted by Oric

If I stopped playing while my lead guitarist was soloing I think he would at least look at me funny.
Generally the band keeps playing during a solo. Or in the case of jazz, at least the rhythm section does.

Unless it's the double bass solo or drum solo of course.

[fenderhutz]

They could just replace solo with wank.

Would that make you feel better about it?

[Bathead]

Well, I was just wondering... I thought it sort of contradicted the word "solo" ...

[bassteban]

A guitarist once told me that an accompanied wankfest is a *lead*, whereas unaccompanied it would be a *solo*. My caveman-like knowledge of proper musical terminology & theory can neither confirm nor deny the validity of this statement.

[The Golden Boy]

For the same reason that people refer to a vibrato bar as a "tremolo" or using the word "vintage" to mean "old."

Misuse of a word that becomes so widespread that it's meaning becomes bastardized.

[SteveC]

A solo can still be a solo with others playing. It's a violin concerto with an orchestra, but the score will likely read solo violin.

Unaccompanied would be a single instrument performing alone, or solo, if you prefer.

[Oric]

Originally Posted by Elrend

Unless it's the double bass solo or drum solo of course.

They get solos?