Off: Is Rock Guitar Dead?

[BREVARD, Adrian R.]

Got a real intersting response from a lurker who also happens to play
lead guitar.  Some of his thoughts I'll share here.

>It seems that the punk attitude has once again become popular--little or no
>solos. They are thought to be self-indulgent, I think, and not sincere. I
>don't know why. I think solos (leads) can be just as moving for the
>listener as for the musician. Never understood that.
>C

Thats the thing that bothers me.  The new music seems to frown on the
solo, seeing them as unnecesarry or self indulgent.  I tend to look at a
great solo as an ingredient that helps define a song.  What would Reaper
be like without Buck's solo?  A good song maybe, but it certainly would
not have the same feeling.

DW> "So they say. But this is hardly a *new* phenomena -this has been
the way of playing rockmusic since Nirvana's big break-through in -91. I
think it's good that the bands dare to question what is a essential a
part of the music and what that is not.

Well the beginning of the article pointed the arrow directly between
Cobain's eyes.  He started this no real solo's movement and of course a
lot of other artist picked up on it.  Seems like we can't blame Steve
Swann for this one. 8>)

>Solos happened to be excluded. (...and some of you will say the same thing
happened to the melodies... but I will not.) I don't think this has
anything to do with if the musicians were better in the past, it's just
an interresting development and attitude towards music.

Agreed that its not the musicians.  The aforementioned Cobain was a very
good axeman.  Ty Tabor of King's X has wonderful skills yet his solos,
when he does, fit neatly into KX's musical tapestry.  Could Ty just go
out there and shred?  Sure, but he tends to do it to add to the song,
not to be the song. Yeah the quality of the muscians hasn't really
changed just the emphasis.  The Galactic Cowboys new album is a great
example.  This group comes across like they were born with metal in
their boots, yet most of the songs, even the heavier ones are pretty
much devoid of guitar solo's.  On the song Ribbon (sort of a power
ballad) it screams for a nice solo, yet there is none.  Lack of a solo
stops it from being a truly awesome tune as opposed to just a great one.

>And honestly, do any of you miss the exposure of guitarrists like Yngwie
Malmsteen..?

I for one do not as I never cared for this guy's music anyway.  Overall
I do miss the brilliance displayed by guys like Marino, Trower, Rik
Emmit and others.  Its not that the younger axemen do not have the skill
its just no longer the emphasis.  However, the guitar will always be an
essential element of rock music so why not take advantage of all the
things it has to offer.  Guys like Rik and Frank always augumented a
song.  Yngwie seemed to create a solo and throw melodies around it to
complete a song.  Theo talked about this Yngwie trend a while back.

Maybe this is the recording business today.  Record companies are
looking for instant money makers and continue to try and hit a moving
target, peoples taste.  Perhaps rock music has become too corporate,
find the market and penetrate it as opposed to allowing the music to be
what it is, an art form.  Maybe the 80's are to blame for this.  I
missed most of the big bands from the 80's.  Not talking Aerosmith,
Kiss, Sabbath etc, that started in the 70's and continued to move on.
More like your Warrants, Poisons, Anthrax's Y&T's the (gulp) hairbands.
When I listen to some of this stuff (Y&T and exception, though they are
guilty of it too I just love 'em so much) you can predict when the solo
will commence and how it would sound.  Maybe, just maybe the 80's are
the real culprit; younger muscians who are at center stage today perhaps
got there fill of uninspiring predictable guitar solo's.  Just a
thought.

I hope the monster solo does return to rock music at some point.  I
don't want to imply that it be mandatory for every song to have a
gratuitous solo thrown in, but at least allow guitar players to express
themselves as something more than rythym men.

Quick somebody clone Buck a couple dozen times.

C'ya
lil' ab

****Q: What was the first obscenity ever heard on T.V.?
   A: "Ward, weren't you a little hard on the Beaver last night?"****

OBCD - On Your Feet or On Your Knees <---real guitar solos for the
taking.