No coffee in a few days

[Rob Maerz]

In a message dated 95-11-29 11:46:04 EST, you write:

>One of the things that impresses me most about Buck's live playing is
>that on some songs the solos seem to be very spontaneous -- though I
>guess it's possible he actually rehearses different solos (unlikely I'd
>have thought).

well, they probly are spontaneous...most solos have there signature lick (eg
Reaper - at the beginning of the solo he does the trill and then slides up to
the 19th fret, does the bend and then slides back down....at the end of the
solo, he knows that he wants to get to that G <where Eric then takes the Ebow
and holds that note thruout the next verse> so whatever happens in between,
Buck is pretty much free to do whatever he wants, and as long as its not
out-of-key, its not gonna sound bad...)...

there are several reasons why Buck's solos are spontaneous -
1) in a case where he's playing a song such as Cities on Flame, (a song that
he's played for almost 25 yrs), it sure would be boring to play the same solo
over and over again...

2) he forgot (willingly or unwillingly) how to play the solo...Buck's not
gonna remember every solo from every song in the BOC catalogue...

when BOC covered Slow Down in Reading a few weeks ago, I'll be willing to bet
that Buck just threw a solo in with minimal rehearsal time...when you're a
guitarist of Buck's caliber, it isn't hard to do...when you know the rhythm
and the chord progression, you can pretty much hear the solo in your head
before you play it...

when you go to a show and say "hmmm, never heard 'em play it like that", its
probly cuz they forgot how to play it...someone told me the other day that
Michael Stipe from REM brings the lyrics onstage with him cuz he forgets the
lyrics...some even have telestrators onstage...

perhaps one of the lists' more experienced guitarists could expound on
this...

ROBO