I listened to A Bigger Bang a few days ago and it astounded me that there were fewer and fewer guitar solos in the middle of the song. On ABB there was only one lengthy solo (a very good one) on Dangerous Beauty, while the rest of the tracks were rhythm and singing. The Stones used to regualrly have solos in the middle or near the start of the song, but not now. This seems to be a trend which I personally do not like. Why is this? Could it be that...

The current musicians of pop and rock songs lack the skills to pull it off

The guitar solo is considered to be old-fashioned and more typical of sixties music

The newer songs are so simple-minded that a solo would not fit in

I saw the Eagles a few years ago and the musicianship of Walsh and the other Eagles was superb. I love listening to some of Wood's songs with the extended solo, such as I Don't Think So. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were and are still noted for their guitar work in the middlle of the piece.

Am I the only person who misses this?

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flilflam
I listened to A Bigger Bang a few days ago and it astounded me that there were fewer and fewer guitar solos in the middle of the song. On ABB there was only one lengthy solo (a very good one) on Dangerous Beauty, while the rest of the tracks were rhythm and singing. The Stones used to regualrly have solos in the middle or near the start of the song, but not now. This seems to be a trend which I personally do not like. Why is this? Could it be that...

The current musicians of pop and rock songs lack the skills to pull it off

The guitar solo is considered to be old-fashioned and more typical of sixties music

The newer songs are so simple-minded that a solo would not fit in

I saw the Eagles a few years ago and the musicianship of Walsh and the other Eagles was superb. I love listening to some of Wood's songs with the extended solo, such as I Don't Think So. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were and are still noted for their guitar work in the middlle of the piece.

Am I the only person who misses this?

There wasn't guitar solos in several of The Stones big 60s hits as far as I can recall.

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Sleepy City

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flilflam
I listened to A Bigger Bang a few days ago and it astounded me that there were fewer and fewer guitar solos in the middle of the song. On ABB there was only one lengthy solo (a very good one) on Dangerous Beauty, while the rest of the tracks were rhythm and singing. The Stones used to regualrly have solos in the middle or near the start of the song, but not now. This seems to be a trend which I personally do not like. Why is this? Could it be that...

The current musicians of pop and rock songs lack the skills to pull it off

The guitar solo is considered to be old-fashioned and more typical of sixties music

The newer songs are so simple-minded that a solo would not fit in

I saw the Eagles a few years ago and the musicianship of Walsh and the other Eagles was superb. I love listening to some of Wood's songs with the extended solo, such as I Don't Think So. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were and are still noted for their guitar work in the middlle of the piece.

Am I the only person who misses this?

There wasn't guitar solos in several of The Stones big 60s hits as far as I can recall.

"The Last Time" had one.

~Ben

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flilflam
Am I the only person who misses this?

No. Hence the legion of fans who believe the Mick Taylor years contained the best Stones music.

Greetings from the Jersey Shore.

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misterfrias

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flilflam
Am I the only person who misses this?

No. Hence the legion of fans who believe the Mick Taylor years contained the best Stones music.

As one of this "legion" you mention, please allow me to correct your statement: The reason people believe the Mick Taylor years were the best was because:

1. The quality of material written when Taylor was in the group.

2. The overall quality of the musicianship of Taylor while he was in the band.

To suggest it is because of the quantity of guitar solos or emphasis on guitar solos misses the point completely, imo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-19 04:36 by 71Tele.

The classic guitar solo in the middle of the song is something you don't hear as much today as you did in the 60s and 70s (in any popular music, not just the Stones), and I think perhaps it is felt to be a bit old-fashioned now.

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BrianJones1969

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Sleepy City

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flilflam
I listened to A Bigger Bang a few days ago and it astounded me that there were fewer and fewer guitar solos in the middle of the song. On ABB there was only one lengthy solo (a very good one) on Dangerous Beauty, while the rest of the tracks were rhythm and singing. The Stones used to regualrly have solos in the middle or near the start of the song, but not now. This seems to be a trend which I personally do not like. Why is this? Could it be that...

The current musicians of pop and rock songs lack the skills to pull it off

The guitar solo is considered to be old-fashioned and more typical of sixties music

The newer songs are so simple-minded that a solo would not fit in

I saw the Eagles a few years ago and the musicianship of Walsh and the other Eagles was superb. I love listening to some of Wood's songs with the extended solo, such as I Don't Think So. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were and are still noted for their guitar work in the middlle of the piece.

Am I the only person who misses this?

There wasn't guitar solos in several of The Stones big 60s hits as far as I can recall.

"The Last Time" had one.

~Ben

I don't think Satisfaction, Get Off Of My Cloud, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Mother's Little Helper, Have You Seen Your Mother Baby & Let's Spend The Night Together had guitar solos though...

If the song is good enough, you won't miss the guitar solo. As a guitar player it breaks my heart to acknowledge it, but I think it's true

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Green Lady
The classic guitar solo in the middle of the song is something you don't hear as much today as you did in the 60s and 70s (in any popular music, not just the Stones), and I think perhaps it is felt to be a bit old-fashioned now.

I consider it more of a 50s thing myself. It seemed to disappear to a large extent (at least on hit singles) once The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers & all those other Merseybeat groups came along.

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DandelionPowderman
If the song is good enough, you won't miss the guitar solo. As a guitar player it breaks my heart to acknowledge it, but I think it's true

It depends on the song, but I agree that many songs are better without solos.

I don't remember a song that had too long solo for me - I always crave for more...
and I really, really appreciate Satisfaction solo when it's played live, no matter if it's 1969 or 2003. it just rocks. and when I hear the studio version, it always reminds me of the live version somehow

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Amused
I don't remember a song that had too long solo for me - I always crave for more...
and I really, really appreciate Satisfaction solo when it's played live, no matter if it's 1969 or 2003. it just rocks. and when I hear the studio version, it always reminds me of the live version somehow

I agree that hearing a guitar solo in the song live is great, but I also think it was right NOT to have a solo in the studio version. Live shows (to me) aren't about recreating studio recordings note-for-note, nor is it to the Stones (we'll leave that to people like Macca).

Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

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Sleepy City

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

Examples?

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DandelionPowderman

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Sleepy City

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

Examples?

Oasis - Live Forever

You could always listen to Clapton if you miss guitarsolo's

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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Sleepy City

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

Examples?

Oasis - Live Forever

Yep, there's a solo in there.

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

The whole hair band thing in the 80's was embarrassing. In fact the whole 80's was embarrassing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-19 13:35 by More Hot Rocks.

Just listen to Chuck Berry songs. They all have great solo's!

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NedKelly
Just listen to Chuck Berry songs. They all have great solo's!

Even in the 90s:

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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Sleepy City

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

Examples?

Oasis - Live Forever

And this one (sort of):

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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Sleepy City

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Mathijs
Ever since the American hair bands of the 80's no guitarist dares to play a solo anymore. It's just too embarrassing.

Mathijs

A lot of the 90s Brit pop stuff had guitar solos.

Examples?

Oasis - Live Forever

But they have been stuck forever in the 60's of course.

Mathijs

Since lots of people seem to dig guitar solos, let's have some proper ones here:

that's not what I consider a great solo...
technically surely, but that's my music:

Scotty's solos with Elvis were nearly always memorable:

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Amused
that's not what I consider a great solo...
technically surely, but that's my music:

You're not considering Santana's and Schon's solo as great solos?

Some of Santanas feel and use of scales is definitely very similar to that of Taylor's.

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flilflam
The current musicians of pop and rock songs lack the skills to pull it off

The guitar solo is considered to be old-fashioned and more typical of sixties music

The newer songs are so simple-minded that a solo would not fit in

I saw the Eagles a few years ago and the musicianship of Walsh and the other Eagles was superb. I love listening to some of Wood's songs with the extended solo, such as I Don't Think So. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were and are still noted for their guitar work in the middlle of the piece.

I agree with nearly everything you've written, musical and songwriting skills in rock, pop and r&b have all fallen off a cliff. Also, the latter two bands you mention are famous for their wonderful vocal harmonies. A producer told me that young bands nowadays consider harmony to be "old-fashioned." Cripes. Paul Simon said a long time ago that the art of writing melodies would completely disappear in pop music and he was right.

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Sleepy City

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Amused
I don't remember a song that had too long solo for me - I always crave for more...
and I really, really appreciate Satisfaction solo when it's played live, no matter if it's 1969 or 2003. it just rocks. and when I hear the studio version, it always reminds me of the live version somehow

I agree that hearing a guitar solo in the song live is great, but I also think it was right NOT to have a solo in the studio version. Live shows (to me) aren't about recreating studio recordings note-for-note, nor is it to the Stones (we'll leave that to people like Macca).

Start Me Up on the Steel Wheels tour was incredibly improved with Woody's solo as well as the tempo. Since then the song has sucked live more and more with each tour and it doesn't matter. But that 1989-90 version, and the one on Flashpoint and Atlantic City, made listening/hearing the LP version a drag.

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DragonSky

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Sleepy City

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Amused
I don't remember a song that had too long solo for me - I always crave for more...
and I really, really appreciate Satisfaction solo when it's played live, no matter if it's 1969 or 2003. it just rocks. and when I hear the studio version, it always reminds me of the live version somehow

I agree that hearing a guitar solo in the song live is great, but I also think it was right NOT to have a solo in the studio version. Live shows (to me) aren't about recreating studio recordings note-for-note, nor is it to the Stones (we'll leave that to people like Macca).

Start Me Up on the Steel Wheels tour was incredibly improved with Woody's solo as well as the tempo. Since then the song has sucked live more and more with each tour and it doesn't matter. But that 1989-90 version, and the one on Flashpoint and Atlantic City, made listening/hearing the LP version a drag.

I also like that live version a lot. However I do not experience the studio version as a drag...