"There is no improvising in Megadeth"

BluJu

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dave_mustaine_there_is_no_improvising_in_megadeth.html

This article got me thinking.

I love hearing the classic solos but shouldn't a new guitarist add his own flavor.

No one can play Marty quite like Marty, or can they?

If the article were about Metallica I would say a new guitarist should write his own solos. That may be because I am not all that fond of Kirk's solos but Megadeth is a different story.

Bob-Dubery

My impression is that a lot of metal is like classical music. It's all written out and fixed and it's not what notes you select to play but how you play the notes that you're given to play. I think you can't view or judge metal through, say, a jazz or blues player's mentality.

Going on from this, there may be some very good rock players who would not do well in a strictly metal context. There is a story from the recording of the first Television album. The producer wanted Lloyd and Verlaine to double track their solos. Lloyd could do it, but Verlaine couldn't - explaining that he had only a general idea of what he'd played on the previous take so how on earth was he supposed to reproduce it exactly.

studmissile

BluJu wrote: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dave_mustaine_there_is_no_improvising_in_megadeth.html

This article got me thinking.

I love hearing the classic solos but shouldn't a new guitarist add his own flavor.

No one can play Marty quite like Marty, or can they?

If the article were about Metallica I would say a new guitarist should write his own solos. That may be because I am not all that fond of Kirk's solos but Megadeth is a different story.

James actually wrote the solo's (most of them in the early stuff) Kirk would add lib in live situations.

BluJu

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James actually wrote the solo's (most of them in the early stuff) Kirk would add lib in live situations.
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I was more referring to Kirks solos. James's solos I quite like

exsanguinator

nah,hes spot on..dont mess with the original solos,
If you cant play them,..NEXT !
I mean..come on.. theres 20 year olds copying them note for note in their bedrooms...youtube is full of them... bad and good..LOL
I wouldnt expect anything less by a pro on stage..
You could extend the solos a few bars and add wankery stuff live,after the originals done...sure...with a spotlight on LOL..
ive seen Yngwie a few times..he can get away with it no probs...LOL
Also depends what band..
I remember seeing Queensryche live a few times...each song had 6..7 or more, duelling lead breaks,where on the original cd.. one or two tops...I didnt complain...

exsanguinator

I have just watched a Uriah Heep DVD,a 2003 one at that,now thats improvising...LOL
I would have thought since Mick and Lee are still there,it wouldve sounded the same...
In saying that,some bands have been around for decades and members come and go etc etc....
I still prefer the originals from them though...

Bob-Dubery

You know, there is room for making your own stamp on set pieces. I used to go to listen to the JPO fairly often, and you could hear that orchestra and the way they played changing with the conductor and the soloist. I've heard them do Beethoven's 5th piano concerto (AKA "the Emperor" and not to be confused with the 5th symphony) three times and each time was different - even though they were playing off the same score each time. The soloists (pianists) play the same notes but will have different attack or different dynamics. The conductor's stamp is audible in the dynamics and attack of the orchestra. I remember the season that Dutch conductor Arjan Tien was out here: Oh man! That orchestra sounded completely different under him (he even rearranged the physical locations of the various instruments). Potent. Vivid. Passionate.

Bottom line: There are ways other than improvisation to stamp your personality on a piece.

Bob-Dubery

Some talk on FB has led me to some Deep Purple youtubing. What is interesting is that on the classic-era Deep Purple numbers Steve Morse gets quite close to the original solos - sometimes repeating whole passages and often building on Blackmore's foundations. Now, I don't want to be rude but Morse, frankly, can play the pants off of Blackmore and certainly had a reputation as a guitarist when he joined the band, yet he still takes this approach.

So... errr... I dunno, but I was quite struck by it. Morse has the chops and the musical personality to completely rewrite those solos, but he doesn't. He plays plenty of homage to the originals.

Hammeron

X-rated Bob wrote: Some talk on FB has led me to some Deep Purple youtubing. What is interesting is that on the classic-era Deep Purple numbers Steve Morse gets quite close to the original solos - sometimes repeating whole passages and often building on Blackmore's foundations. Now, I don't want to be rude but Morse, frankly, can play the pants off of Blackmore and certainly had a reputation as a guitarist when he joined the band, yet he still takes this approach.

So... errr... I dunno, but I was quite struck by it. Morse has the chops and the musical personality to completely rewrite those solos, but he doesn't. He plays plenty of homage to the originals.

With all due respect Uncle Bob, no-one can play the pants off Blackmore! ?