What makes a good instrumental album?

[sixstringking713]

What makes a good instrumental album?

What are some of your favorite instrumental albums/songs?

 

[JimmyBlind]

Tribal Tech & Spastic Ink spring to mind.

I wish all Dream Theater songs were instrumental.

 

[godgrinder]

 

[Badronald]

For me it's a horn of some kind. Davis, Coltrane.
Or classical.

Guitar instrumental music does little for me anymore unless it's early Satriani, Vai, Johnson, Beck or Malmsteen.

 

[James Lugo]

What makes a good instrumental album?

Not make it sound generic or dated. IMO the instrumental market is probably one of the least creative genres of music I've ever heard. People's influences are to obvious and overt. Most everything I have heard in the last 10 years sounds like a cross between Satch and Eric Johnson. My advice is to avoid those cliche' and over cooked stylings and find your own thing. That would be a great place to start. Find inspiration in things other then guitar music.

 

[stanbog]

A lot of instrumental albums tend to get boring after a song or two. I guess the difficulty is to enthrall the listener for a long period of time. Acutally the same goes for albums with songs, but on an instrumental album you have one "instrument" less so your melodies must compensate for that.

Good examples imo: Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn, Vai - Passion and Warfare. Some years ago a RT member gave his first album for free - BlackStratBlues "Nights in Shining Karma" (dunno if he's still around). That was a hell of an album!

 

[just42dave]

black strat blues is a friend of mine,, I like the laid back feeling of that stuff,,, chris polands OHM is good to

 

[stanbog]

Very cool, i was listening to that album 24/7 for a long time. Imo his second release was not on the same level, unfortunately.

 

[Tone Zone]

For me, it's being able to write something interesting enough to take someone on a musical journey. I feel that Joe Satriani has a real knack for this...especially his earlier work. Here's a list of some of my fave instrumental albums:

Satriani: Surfing With The Alien, Flying In A Blue Dream, The Extremist, Crystal Planet

Liquid Tension: 1 & 2

Malmsteen: Rising Force

Morse: Southern Steel, Coast To Coast, Split Decision

Eric Johnson: Venus Isle

Vai: Passion & Warfare, Fire Garden

Andy Timmons: Resolution

Petrucci: Suspended Animation

Added to the list - GG: Erotic Cakes

*Keep in mind, while some of these might have some vocal performances on them....it's the vast amount of instrumentals on them, that I really go for.

 

[rupe]

Regardless of genre, the songs need to stand on their own and not sound like they're crying out for vocals. A standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/solo/chorus with a guitar playing what would have been the vocal melody doesn't work for me in most cases.
Beyond that, if the composition takes you on a journey of sorts, all the better.

A few great ones that come to mind:

Cliffs of Dover
The Loner
For the Love of God
I Will Remember

 

[Bob Savage]

Don't shred all over the thing. There may not be lyrics but there should be a "voice."

 

[Jdguitar]

Listen to Steve Morse's entire collection and it's diversity.

 

[Ventura]

A good instrumental?

It's gotta swing, punch, groove and flow... Void of lyrical content, it still has to have a voice. It has to speak, specifically to me or the audience, it's got to tell its story.

 

[Zap]

I would say variety.

I recommend listening to the song, "Beck's Bolero", the albums, "Blow by Blow", "Wired", and "There and Back" by Jeff Beck, then listen to the tracks "Soulful Terrain", "Zap", "Cliffs of Dover", "East Wes", "S.R.V.", "Manhattan", "Song for Lynette", "Rain", "The Boogie King", "Hesitant", "Magnetized", "Ciel", "Beck's Bolero", "Fatdaddy", "Gem", "Vortexan", and "Tidal", by Eric Johnson.

 

[glassjaw7]

For me, if it's gonna be more of the same, it has to have song structure and great melodies (just like great songs with vocalists have) Pete Thorn is great at this.

Or, in the case of some newer, more experimental acts like Animals As Leaders, it just has to be interesting and unique to where I want to keep listening.

 

[Chubtone]

Vocals

 

[Anonymous]

Vocals

As soon as I saw the thread title I wanted to say "lyrics and a singer"... Well done.

Oh... and my fav Instrumental album is "Erotic Cakes" by Guthrie Govan. In general, I don't like them though...

Steve

 

[Bob Savage]

As soon as I saw the thread title I wanted to say "lyrics and a singer"... Well done.

Oh... and my fav Instrumental album is "Erotic Cakes" by Guthrie Govan. In general, I don't like them though...

Steve

Gotta say, I've grown tired of instrumentals myself except for "drum jams" and mini-tunes for demos and such.

 

[Tone Zone]

Oh... and my fav Instrumental album is "Erotic Cakes" by Guthrie Govan.

Wow, how did I forget to add that to my list up above.

 

[Mailman1971]

Not much a fan of the instrumental albums.....
but I really enjoyed Surfing with the Alien. Great songs that had "voice"
Always with you....Always with me was a great track. Still listen to it these days.