I like it. I think the idea of doing a lot of solos, well I know it did, came from concerts in the late 1960's and into the 1970's. I saw Freddie King in the 1970's and he played extensive solos, nothing like what is on his records. SRV into the 1980's and 90's was the same way. Include the Allman Brothers in that, and every other blues or blues/rock player. And even now with Bonomassa, Benoit, Trower, etc., etc. So that mindset gets filtered down to weekend warrior bands, too, who thought it was the thing to do.
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Another gig where we quit early because the crowd left.
- Thread starter 51PRI
- Start date
Yup, blues became a big solo vehicle instead of the vocal form it (IMHO) is meant to be.
A solo needs to leave the audience wanting more, not relieved that it's finally over. One 12-bar cycle is usually enough. 99% of bar band guitarists don't have more than that to say, song after song.
edmidlifecrisis
Registered mediocre bass player
THIS is brilliant. Words to live by. All my bands should be like this (working on it)......
I'd blame the Allman Brothers. If you're a couple of genius improvisers who've spent years studying how to build a compelling solo (I've read that Duane Allman pretty much kept Kind of Blue on constant repeat for months), you can probably find a limited market for extended solos in rock music. If you have ordinary musicians, one or two choruses is almost always the maximum over which they can sustain interest.
edmidlifecrisis
Registered mediocre bass player
Funny, we were just discussing this. It has been said that Greg Allman generally disliked long solos and was frequently at odds with the rest of the band over this. He also apparently wasn't crazy about the bass player following the solo players (him or the guitars) up the neck of the bass and wanted the bassist to stay low.
Oh, I should also point out that not only did the Allmans have two genius improvisers on guitars, they were also competing against - well, pretty much no one, at the time. Now 50+ years later, every city has a dozen bands who think they're the Allman Ray Vaughan Band and try to cop the same schtick. There's simply not enough room for that many weedly-weedly guitar marathons, especially when VERY FEW of them can actually do what SRV or Duane and Dickie could do.
That's interesting. I had never read that Gregg thought that about guitar solos. The thing is...long solos are pretty much usually boring to everyone in the band except the one who is doing the soloing. The audience at a live show might be into it but for the band they've heard it all before. I had read that Berry Oakley had been, and still was I guess, a guitar player before he was the Allmans bass player. I love Berry Oakley's bass playing myself.
edmidlifecrisis
Registered mediocre bass player
He also tried to keep his organ solos short. He was including himself in that!!
And yes, Berry was a beast!!!
Gregg wasn't improvising when he played solos. He must have written them or at least worked them out because he's pretty consistent from one live show recording to the next. I really appreciated that. I listened to "At Fillmore East" so many times that I would often listen and concentrate only on Berry Oakley's bass playing. What a killer player! His death affected me a lot.
Don't diminish Clapton's contribution to drawn out solos during Cream.
I saw Berry with ABB in '72. He seemed like the one to watch for what I knew then.
I wonder if, after Cream, Clapton didn't feel he'd said all he had to say in long guitar solos.
Or maybe he was simply still in running-from-fear mode, but he definitely backed way off the guitar solo thing and started concentrating more on the idea of serving the song.
Well, he didn't have all that much to say.
Sorry, but I'm not numbered amongst the Clapton acolytes.
Whether or not he did or didn't can be debated ad infinitum. I don't believe it matters as much as it's an unsustainable proposition.
You either run short on noteworthy ideas to play or come to grips with the unhealthier aspects of the kind of self absorption that kind of thing often comes packaged with, a big part of being an addict BTW, probably by no coincidence.
Yes, I think that's right. I read an online story about Clapton today, actually. In it it was said that Clapton was advised by Delaney Bramlett to concentrate on singing. That's what he did and totally changed and I think extended his career from what it would have been had he stayed in a power trio.
He even said they were the future of rock 'n' roll after he heard it. Or words to that effect.
I saw the ABB for the first time in May after Duane had died the previous October, so 1972. It was "the 5 piece band" and Dickie played all of the guitar solos. They were smokin'. However, now, when I listen to the (bootleg?) CD of that band I think Berry was overplaying big time.
