How long can you last?

Bob-Dubery

I was in Sandton this morning for a meeting. After that I headed for my usual place of work, which meant a run down the freeway. I put on the Songs For Desert Refugees that I've been listening to. The second track that came on (not the second track on the album) was by a guy named Bombino who I've heard about but not actually heard a lot. And this track goes on a bit. The MP3 is 13:01 long. Most of that is guitar playing, and there's a looooong solo.

So, somewhere around Wits I'm thinking two things
1) This has been going on a while now
2) And I'm not bored

I like a guitar solo, but some folks abuse the privilege. Or I have a short attention span or something. I don't find a lot of guys can pull off looooong solos convincingly, can sustain interest over that period of time (that includes, you know, HIM).

So how about you? How long can you last? And when it does last how does that happen? One thing I felt about the aforementioned Bombino track was that it wasn't one solo, but lots of solos strung together. It's like after a verse he takes a breath, so to speak, and starts all over again.

studmissile

X-rated Bob wrote: I was in Sandton this morning for a meeting. After that I headed for my usual place of work, which meant a run down the freeway. I put on the Songs For Desert Refugees that I've been listening to. The second track that came on (not the second track on the album) was by a guy named Bombino who I've heard about but not actually heard a lot. And this track goes on a bit. The MP3 is 13:01 long. Most of that is guitar playing, and there's a looooong solo.

So, somewhere around Wits I'm thinking two things
1) This has been going on a while now
2) And I'm not bored

I like a guitar solo, but some folks abuse the privilege. Or I have a short attention span or something. I don't find a lot of guys can pull off looooong solos convincingly, can sustain interest over that period of time (that includes, you know, HIM).

So how about you? How long can you last? And when it does last how does that happen? One thing I felt about the aforementioned Bombino track was that it wasn't one solo, but lots of solos strung together. It's like after a verse he takes a breath, so to speak, and starts all over again.

Embarrassingly I can’t go very long, but I am melodic.

Bob-Dubery

For the sake of clarity I was talking about being on the receiving end of the solo, not being the soloist. I can barely last 30 seconds as an even mildly enjoyable soloist. I can go a bit longer listening to somebody who knows which end of a guitar is which.

But comments about dishing 'em out would be interesting too.

Squonk

Long!

Jimmy Pages solo on Stairway to Heaven (Song remains the same version) is quite long and he manages to build that solo, takes you from peak to peak until the goosebumps appear.

Gilmour has the same ability.

A lot of good guitarists on the other hand wouldn't quite pull it off, but I wouldn't expect them too!

I can't solo at all, so I won't be dishing them out ?

Doomsower

30 seconds tops. After that it gets a bit excessive.
When I listen to bands like Dragonforce or even Malmsteen I can feel the momentum being sucked out of the song.
I can totally picture the rest of the band getting bored and leaving the stage to get some coffee. ?

Squonk

Doomsower wrote: 30 seconds tops. After that it gets a bit excessive.
When I listen to bands like Dragonforce or even Malmsteen I can feel the momentum being sucked out of the song.
I can totally picture the rest of the band getting bored and leaving the stage to get some coffee. ?

Rick Wakeman from Yes used to actually have Tea and scones served when Chris Squire did his bass solo. ?

AlanRatcliffe

It does depend on both the player and the song.

Generally I prefer them short and sweet - a couple of bars (a la Andy Summers) or once through the chord sequence, but a well developed epic can work (Hotel California) if it's well composed and structured with different parts and lots of tension and release.

Players like Malmsteen wear me out after one or two tracks, but I can listen to Jeff Beck or Vai for an entire album...

Doomsower

Squonk wrote: Rick Wakeman from Yes used to actually have Tea and scones served when Chris Squire did his bass solo. ?

I just looked up one of his solos on Youtube.
Jip I can totally see that happening. :roflmao:

aubs1

I think the "Live" album Alchemy (Dire Straits), Mark does a pretty long, maybe 3minutes or more solo on
"Once Upon A Time In The West" ...... I can never get tired of that one. His playing on that song holds my attention from beginning to end.

Josh-Hayes

I like to think that a guitar solo should usually act as an alternate verse, i.e. giving another idea that fits with the ones already expressed in the lyrics.
I love song in which the lead sounds like a second vocalist filling in the spaces between the lyrics. That is, until the time comes to break out in front and rip through a passionate solo. :yup:

There are far too many guitarists who go on for ages without holding my attention. But there are the few that can craft amazing experiences over a longer period of time.

My 2c. ?

costafonix

Well structured, melodic solo's are great to listen to no matter how long they go for,
but Ego-Filled-50FretsPerSecond-CheckHowFastIplay solos I tend to skip,,, a good example is G3 (Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani) going ballistic at the end of their cover of Little Wing (on Pure Guitar Hero's CD)..
even my favourite guitarist Carlos Santana tends to go off the rails on some of his stuff, where it simply loses direction.

Bob-Dubery

Aubs1 wrote: I think the "Live" album Alchemy (Dire Straits), Mark does a pretty long, maybe 3minutes or more solo on
"Once Upon A Time In The West" ...... I can never get tired of that one. His playing on that song holds my attention from beginning to end.

Interesting. How long is "long". The track that started me thinking about this is 13 minutes long and about 8 of that is the big solo. I have a live Richard Thompson album with a 12.5 minute version of "Hard On Me", which has more singing and a bass solo (fabulous) from Danny Thompson, so almost certainly a shorter main solo but for me it runs out of steam and I start reaching for the fast forward button.

On that live Straits album things are often carefully arranged (this is not a criticism in this case) so that the solo goes through various movements and there is appropriate backing and texture at all times. Thompson just wails with the rhythm section flailing away behind him. But then so does Bombino.

Bah. Can't figure it out. On another live Thompson album there is a big solo on "Tear Stained Letter" and that's one of the best things I ever heard.

Crap question really. If this were QI everybody would be reaching for the "nobody knows" card. There is no answer. Or there is, but duration is only a minor consideration, a red herring.

studmissile

Depends, certain players can go as long as they want (for me that is), but a solo must drive the song along, hate it's excessive showing off that sticks out like a sore thumb and irritating as hell. Even blues can get like that some times with a whole bunch of cliche riffs.

V8

Josh Hayes wrote: There are far too many guitarists who go on for ages without holding my attention. But there are the few that can craft amazing experiences over a longer period of time.

+1

The solo's that really grab me are often on live tracks - SRV - "Life without you (live)" on In Step is an all time favourite. There a few Jimi studio and live tracks that keep me listening too. Zakk Wylde and Eric Schenkman have done some perfectly crafted (imho) examples of 16 bar rock/blues solo's that are short and oh-so-sweet ?

What I think attracts me to a solo is that it evokes an emotional response without lyrical content, kinda like a Bobby Mcferrin scat style melody - it sticks in my head after Ive heard it.

Me, I'm lucky to crank out 10s of interesting ?

Ray

I dont like long guitar solos.

DonRoos

I enjoy a good solo, but only if the guitarist knows what they are doing and is not just playing somebody elses solo that they have learned note for note and repeat without feeling.

I have played with a few guitarists and have experienced both extreames. One of them could hardly manage a bar or two of carefully memorised solo and this was painful. We actually REMOVED solos from songs to make them sound good.

Now I have the priveledge of playing with a proper guitarist who playes his own solo's and changes them up so even the band have never heard the same solo twice. He is fantastic and I enjoy giving up a few minutes to him to entertain the people with his antics - playing with his teeth and all! He knows all his scales and all sorts of techniques including tapping and is blindingly fast. It gives my voice a break and makes the songs unique to our band and not just a straight cover.

My son-in-law in Australia is just such a great guitarists who played in an international band and when he came to visit earlier this year I could sit and listen to him till he got bored.

I now want to get my guitarist and my son-in-law together and watch the magic happen. It should be awesome. I could let them do a complete song without singing at all!

MrFacepalm

It all depends on what is being done and said. If it is your standard Hard Rock or Metal screaming affair, 8 bars is enough. Some absolute masters need nothing more than 8 bars. If you go listen to Brian May he usually took an 8 bar solo, but it felt like so much more happened. That is pretty epic.

Then you get guys like Dickie... The Allman Brothers' extended jams are the stuff of legends. I have the most unreal video footage of improvised jams they did, a 16 minute version of One Way Out is amongst them and it does everything but become boring.

Back to the opposite end, if Kirk Hammett blasted me with 13 minutes of improv I think my head would explode. No thank you.

Then again there is Steve Vai, who's instrumental works are nothing short of genius. Building The Church is pretty much one long solo, including 64th note tapping riffs that threaten to set fire to his fretboard. It took me 3 weeks of working 3 hours a day to manage just the opening tap riff, and the 'lotus feet' ending for the tap riff in the 'solo section'. So much creative energy in one song wow.

So it really all depends. Some guys can do it and hold attention for 13 minutes. But the rest of us are mortals and personal feelings here is we should just stick to 8 bars. It is enough lol. Guys like Vai and Betts and Gilmore etc are not exactly common to find.

IceCreamMan

Until Eruption basically...about 1:43 ..anything longer is wankery