Learning Guitar World's top 100 solos

klaasvakie · 2018-05-31T12:29:39+00:00

Not sure how many of you read r/Guitar on reddit, but this guy has a cool thing going where he is learning Guitar World's top 100 guitar solos in order from...

Learning Guitar World's top 100 solos

NorioDS

klaasvakie For the last two weeks or so I've been starting my practice routine with these exercises from steve stine:

This is useful. Very similar to what @Satriani taught me all those years ago but I eventually stopped practising. (Stupid me.)

klaasvakie My pinky is such a lazy bastard.

I have the same issue!

klaasvakie

And so is No 92:

klaasvakie

No 91 is up:

klaasvakie

No 90:
I'm putting these up in the hope that you find them interesting (I do), but if this is too spammy, let me know.

V8

klaasvakie but if this is too spammy, let me know.

Not at all! I dig the explanations of each - some good tips n insights there. ?

NorioDS

This is great, keep 'em coming.

Would also be interesting to hear from you what YOU think of each performance.

klaasvakie

Next one is up - not on the list of 100 but an honourable mention. I haven't given it a listen yet, but I know the solo well (but can't play it yet), and it is also one of my favourites. I'll be at a good set of headphones tomorrow morning and then I'll give it a spin.

Perhaps my second favourite version (first is obviously the Gilmour one) is the one in the Martin Miller Medley:

@NorioDS Off topic, looks like the forum ate my post about Yousician, I get 404.

NorioDS

klaasvakie Off topic, looks like the forum ate my post about Yousician, I get 404.

Working for me:
https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/26723-thoughts-on-yousician

klaasvakie

NorioDS This is what I get when I click on that link:

NorioDS

klaasvakie thanks for that! I think I know what's wrong and I'll sort it out today. Thanks again!

NorioDS

klaasvakie Fixed, thanks again! (The issue was the the tag "Editor's Pick" was read-only by administrators.)

klaasvakie

So I just gave this a listen --- a very clean playthrough. Two things stood out:

Bending accuracy, these were spot on. Also, this is one of the few songs I know that has double-bends (Check, 4:03, 6:05, 6:15, 6:33). I haven't tried to do this yet, but I think its hard getting these right.
Unless he has a clicktrack going in the headphones, this guy's counting is phenomenal. There is a 50-second stretch from 2:00 to 2:50 where the backing track has no indication of the beat and then he merges flawlessly after that much dead time.

NorioDS

klaasvakie Great feedback.

I gotta agree with you. His bends are great and when you're playing Gilmour... well you just can't without flawless bending. The double bends sound great, for sure. Definitely something I'd like to introduce to my playing.

The gap between 2:00 and 2:50... it does look like he's counting. Would be interesting to know if he's just counting or if there's a clicktrack. Don't suppose you could ask him? ? Would be keen to see how he's dealing with that.

With the 2 songs I tried learning recently, I found counting in my head to be far too unreliable. I'm sure it's a skill that can be developed but I imagine it takes years.

klaasvakie

NorioDS Thanks for fixing this! O wait, I can see the thread now, but can't reply

klaasvakie

NorioDS

NorioDS With the 2 songs I tried learning recently, I found counting in my head to be far too unreliable. I'm sure it's a skill that can be developed but I imagine it takes years.

The previous song I spent a bunch of time on was Brothers in Arms which also has a couple of fairly dead stretches in the beginning, not surprisingly I found my counting ability severely lacking. It is never completely dead though (like on Shine on you), so in the end I think I learned to listen for subtle changes in the synths in order to decide when to drop in. I am still not happy with my timing on that.

klaasvakie

NorioDS The gap between 2:00 and 2:50... it does look like he's counting. Would be interesting to know if he's just counting or if there's a clicktrack. Don't suppose you could ask him? ? Would be keen to see how he's dealing with that.

So here is his reply:

I totally missed the little hidden click the first time around ? The more you know ...

NorioDS

Ha! Awesome! Thanks for asking ? Such a simple answer and I would've overcomplicated it myself ?

klaasvakie

No. 89 is up. Some Rage Against ? ? ?
This looks super fun to play, and possibly easy enough that I have a shot at nailing it. I must give it a try when I get home.

klaasvakie

MMM, while I was out of town two posts came up, No 88 and No 87

Man, that Living Colour solo has some fast stretches in it ?

klaasvakie

No 86 is up:

I really liked the chromatic run at about 4:00. Another interesting thing is how the song progresses from being very rock at the start to almost BB-King-type blues at the end. I like it.