Solo of the Month (SotM) #77 - Challenge

stratman3142 · December 2021

This is the 77th solo of the Month (SotM) Challenge.

The challenge is now open and ends at midnight 24th December 2021.

Discussion:

This backing track was kindly provided by @maharg101, and also happens to be the winning entry to Riff of the Month #69.

I've reduced the level a bit to allow headroom for the solos.

You can download backing track from Soundcloud below:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sotm77-2021-12-maharg101-cruise-control?si=a51f1503dba1465c94159772c2d048c4

Record your solo over the top of it and then submit it (ideally in mp3 format) to solos@theFB.co.uk

Also, feel free to comment on how you approached the solo, which will add a bit more interest and maybe we can learn something from each other.

Title: Cruise Control

Tempo: 77

Chords:

E (with sus4 trill) - E9 - A - C - Dma(add4)

There should be headroom to record your solo. Try to set a level without excessive master limiting, because we want to avoid loudness wars.

Voting will start soon after the submission deadline, with each voter selecting their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice.

First choice gets 5 points - Second choice gets 3 points - Third choice gets 1 point

The order and scores of the top three entries will be announced soon after the voting ends.

No prizes. It's just for fun.

As people submit their entries, I'll post them below to hopefully promote some discussion on approaches used for the solo:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm77-2021-12?si=8abb23ff1883498dbfed0b03cd713955

stratman3142 · December 2021

Done mine. Trying to play slowly this time (hence the spin on the backing track title)

Here's a warts and all video.

Habanero · December 2021

@stratman3142 ;

Please tell me that wasn't the first take!!!

stratman3142 · December 2021

Habanero said:

@stratman3142 ; Please tell me that wasn't the first take!!!

Definitely not. I spent quite a while developing ideas first. There are places where it didn't quite go to plan and one obvious fluff, but I decided to leave it.

DrCornelius · December 2021

Just sent mine in after a few hours dicking around with GarageBand. I tried to play something bit different from my usual vanilla smooth jazz / blues ..:::I tried to channel a bit of the Zappa cranked fuzz live feel where he does that random open string pull offs out of nowhere thing but listening back it probably sounds more like a Neil Young solo that didn't make the final cut :-)

It was the trusty Strat again into a Garageband cranked Vox model with a virtual flanger, fuzz and a phaser

Bennyboy-UK · December 2021

The backing track reminds me of the Bluetones of you remember them from the 90s?

DrCornelius · December 2021

Bennyboy-UK said:

The backing track reminds me of the Bluetones of you remember them from the 90s?

Never really got into them although in hindsight I probably would have liked them. Was more of a Blur man really despite thinking Damon a tad nobbish

Bennyboy-UK · December 2021

DrCornelius said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

The backing track reminds me of the Bluetones of you remember them from the 90s?

Never really got into them although in hindsight I probably would have liked them. Was more of a Blur man really despite thinking Damon a tad nobbish

Ah yes I loved blur getting into them a bit late, my younger sister was way ahead of me on that stuff - in 92-93 I was totally absorbed in 80s metal

stratman3142 · December 2021

DrCornelius said:

Just sent mine...

It's in the playlist. That makes 2.

maharg101 · December 2021

Sent one in.

Telecaster bridge with the tone rolled off
VFE Standout > VFE Fiery Red Horse Fuzz / VFE The Scream (one section).
MJW Electra
Ox Big Deez 2x12 with a bit of plate reverb
EQ, delay, touch of chorus in Reaper

stratman3142 · December 2021

maharg101 said:

Sent one in.

That makes 3 in the playlist.

maharg101 · December 2021

DrCornelius said:

Just sent mine in after a few hours dicking around with GarageBand. I tried to play something bit different from my usual vanilla smooth jazz / blues ..:::I tried to channel a bit of the Zappa cranked fuzz live feel where he does that random open string pull offs out of nowhere thing but listening back it probably sounds more like a Neil Young solo that didn't make the final cut :-)

It was the trusty Strat again into a Garageband cranked Vox model with a virtual flanger, fuzz and a phaser

Definitely getting the FZ vibe there and the tone is very fitting for that style. Very nice !

stratman3142 · December 2021

As @marhag101 posted some details, here are mine just in case anyone is interested.

Ibanez AZ2204 bridge pickup
Then, the following plugins in Reaper:
Neural DSP SLO-100 using the 'SLO Lead' preset. I just raised the gate level a bit.
Valhalla Room reverb on the default setting

Springywheel · December 2021

DrCornelius said:

Just sent mine in after a few hours dicking around with GarageBand. I tried to play something bit different from my usual vanilla smooth jazz / blues ..:::I tried to channel a bit of the Zappa cranked fuzz live feel where he does that random open string pull offs out of nowhere thing but listening back it probably sounds more like a Neil Young solo that didn't make the final cut :-)

It was the trusty Strat again into a Garageband cranked Vox model with a virtual flanger, fuzz and a phaser

Love the sound of fuzz with flanger/phaser...I find a modulated clean tone doesn’t always work well for leads, but give a phaser or flanger some extra fuzzy harmonic goodness to work with = instant psychedelia

even better, place the fuzz after the modulation fx...

edit: I edited this post but somehow ended up deleting my message to @stratman3142 ;; ;
Great playing....I have an irrational hatred of Ibanez but have to admit you got some good tones out of that one.

Bennyboy-UK · December 2021

Excellent! @maharg101 ;

The Brian May feel was something I picked out of the backing as well - I’m enjoying building the solo along those lines as it’s so feel good and majestic!

Mind you, you wrote the thing so I’d be interested to know if that was how you envisioned it when you wrote the riff?

maharg101 · December 2021

Bennyboy-UK said:

Excellent! @maharg101 ;

The Brian May feel was something I picked out of the backing as well - I’m enjoying building the solo along those lines as it’s so feel good and majestic!

Mind you, you wrote the thing so I’d be interested to know if that was how you envisioned it when you wrote the riff?

Thanks - to begin with I just had the chord progression without the Dadd at the end. As I added the drums and bass it started to feel like something Pearl Jam might do, I could envisage an Eddie Vedder vocal over it. I think I lucked out with the drum pattern as this was pretty much my first go with power drum thingamabob in Reaper, but I love the feel of it.

Bennyboy-UK · December 2021

maharg101 said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Excellent! @maharg101 ;

The Brian May feel was something I picked out of the backing as well - I’m enjoying building the solo along those lines as it’s so feel good and majestic!

Mind you, you wrote the thing so I’d be interested to know if that was how you envisioned it when you wrote the riff?

Thanks - to begin with I just had the chord progression without the Dadd at the end. As I added the drums and bass it started to feel like something Pearl Jam might do, I could envisage an Eddie Vedder vocal over it. I think I lucked out with the drum pattern as this was pretty much my first go with power drum thingamabob in Reaper, but I love the feel of it.

I can see that Pearl Jam thing, loping along with that vocal.

maybe I need a rethink!

DrCornelius · December 2021

loving these so far - @maharg101 , you had me hooked from that first lick and the lovely decay of the delay afterwords. @stratman3142 , just absolute quality throughout. Really well constructed

maharg101 · December 2021

DrCornelius said:

loving these so far - @maharg101 , you had me hooked from that first lick and the lovely decay of the delay afterwords. @stratman3142 , just absolute quality throughout. Really well constructed

Thanks Con. Agree that Stratman's entry is fabulous !

fastonebaz · December 2021

Splendid backing track. I even broke a string getting into the "feels". Doh.

Bellycaster · December 2021

Managed to send mine last night.

stratman3142 · December 2021

Bellycaster said:

Managed to send mine last night.

It's in the playlist.

DrCornelius · December 2021

Bellycaster said:

Managed to send mine last night.

Love it !

Bennyboy-UK · December 2021

OMG - this is going to be a bloodbath - fantastic entries - loads of harmony stuff - all the toanz, and whammy stuff.

I'd better get the Hamer Ukulele out...

How long have I got to do this thing?? - not long enough by half, thats how long!

maharg101 · December 2021

Niiiice @Bellycaster

Bellycaster · December 2021

Cheers, lads. I blush with modesty

Bloody fingers hurt after doing that one.

Springywheel · December 2021

Sent mine in. Great backing track maharg, I had fun with this.

fastonebaz said:
I even broke a string getting into the "feels". Doh.

You and me both....you'll probably hear on mine the moment I switched from Jag to Strat towards the end

stratman3142 · December 2021

Springywheel said:

Sent mine in. Great backing track maharg, I had fun with this.

fastonebaz said:
I even broke a string getting into the "feels". Doh.

You and me both....you'll probably hear on mine the moment I switched from Jag to Strat towards the end

It's in the playlist.

I can't remember when I last broke a string. It must be years ago. I obviously need to put a bit more effort in.

fastonebaz · December 2021

stratman3142 said:

Done mine. Trying to play slowly this time (hence the spin on the backing track title)

Here's a warts and all video.

That geetar has such a juicy tone I love it.

fastonebaz · December 2021

Sent one in.

My approach:

I wanted to focus on riding the volume with as least gain as poss, playing as cleanly as I could, and initially pinching the string between pick and thumb to twang it and build up the intensity across the track

Once I'd worked out the structure of my piece I decided to start with neck pup volume on about 1.5.

As I got to half way through I nudged neck volume up to 5 and flipped to the mid position hastily but incrementally upping the neck volume to 10 with the playing getting more frantic until I reached the end at which point I wanted to select the neck pup again and wind the volume down to 1.5 for the final E major chord strum but in the excitement I only made it down to about 3 so the final chord isn't quite as clean as I was aiming for.

Practised it loads but this was the first and only recording I took.

Overall quite pleased with the feel of it but there are a couple of bits that could've been a bit neater.

fastonebaz · December 2021

stratman3142 said:

Springywheel said:

Sent mine in. Great backing track maharg, I had fun with this.

fastonebaz said:
I even broke a string getting into the "feels". Doh.

You and me both....you'll probably hear on mine the moment I switched from Jag to Strat towards the end

It's in the playlist.

I can't remember when I last broke a string. It must be years ago. I obviously need to put a bit more effort in.

My high E unwound at the bridge, I reckon it must've been a faulty one.

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Solo of the Month (SotM) #77 - Challenge

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