mentoneman
Well-known member
i've been listening to my traditional rock heroes from the 80s a bunch lately...not the freaks like lane, holdsworth, gambale, govan, but more common man guys; gary moore, schenker, lynch, meniketti, yngwie, eddie, randy, ej, schon, john james sykes, and all of them have some common denominators:
1) tone. all of them have some extra measure of primal heat to their primarily marshallesque tone, and delay or verb or both to make the tone seem larger than life, coming at you from an arena-like space. heroic sound is a great place to start!
i rank eddie, ej, and yngwie the top 3 for this area in that order.
2) technique. all these guys can obviously play impressively enough that they're not tripping over themselves while ripping on scales and lines, and able to separate themselves from mere mortals with their facility and melodic musicality.
ej, yngwie, then maybe randy.
3) rhythm. this is where it gets interesting. all my faves have a killer sense of time, from the cadence of their vibrato to phrasing with syncopation and able to play odd note grouping across the bars, but lock back in to the drums perfectly going from leads to rhythm playing. that is the first place i hear weakness in the average player, like me
eddie, yngwie, gary (ej and lynch are a bit messy rhythmically)
4) harmony and melody. these guys vocalize on their instruments. they sing with it, and it makes them uniquely recognizable, and the more harmonically hip they are the more melodically interesting and complex the solo.
ej, schon, yngwie
5) expression. this is the main thing i've been hearing and focusing on lately. dramatic, climactic, and universally cool!
hard to choose, but gary is incredible with his war torn irish angst, schon probably played the most memorable solos of all time, eddie redefined rock solos with classical roots, jazz clarinet dad phrasing, and boogie swinging bro bro beats, and meniketti and yngwie are most honorable mentions!
1) tone. all of them have some extra measure of primal heat to their primarily marshallesque tone, and delay or verb or both to make the tone seem larger than life, coming at you from an arena-like space. heroic sound is a great place to start!
i rank eddie, ej, and yngwie the top 3 for this area in that order.
2) technique. all these guys can obviously play impressively enough that they're not tripping over themselves while ripping on scales and lines, and able to separate themselves from mere mortals with their facility and melodic musicality.
ej, yngwie, then maybe randy.
3) rhythm. this is where it gets interesting. all my faves have a killer sense of time, from the cadence of their vibrato to phrasing with syncopation and able to play odd note grouping across the bars, but lock back in to the drums perfectly going from leads to rhythm playing. that is the first place i hear weakness in the average player, like me
eddie, yngwie, gary (ej and lynch are a bit messy rhythmically)
4) harmony and melody. these guys vocalize on their instruments. they sing with it, and it makes them uniquely recognizable, and the more harmonically hip they are the more melodically interesting and complex the solo.
ej, schon, yngwie
5) expression. this is the main thing i've been hearing and focusing on lately. dramatic, climactic, and universally cool!
hard to choose, but gary is incredible with his war torn irish angst, schon probably played the most memorable solos of all time, eddie redefined rock solos with classical roots, jazz clarinet dad phrasing, and boogie swinging bro bro beats, and meniketti and yngwie are most honorable mentions!
I prefer guys that keep it simple & do not over play. Most song do not need any solo from any instrument & really never need more than 20 seconds. Can you imagine a drum or bass solo, etc in songs.... why should the rules be any different for any instrument ~ guitar included. It's all about emotion for me, technique is only boring for 99% of the listeners ....
