Did guitar solos for two songs last night. I always put those off until the last minute. Luckily my "opportunities" for
guitar solos is limited on this album. The last one it seems like every other song had 16 bars of blank space for me to fill. Big intimidating blank space, like a wall-sized chalkboard in 8th grade math. "Live My Life" was the last solo I recorded for that album and by that point I felt I had exhausted all my ideas and just let it rip... every crazy jam riff I could think off (and some I made up on the spot) went into that solo and it ended up being, by far, my favorite. Typically those solos don't work out too well for me though... I prefer a guitar solo that you can sing - that adds another level to the melodic content of the song. Dave Gregory of XTC is excellent at this. His solos on "Oranges & Lemons" are short but incredibly sweet and memorable. Weezer solos are strong and simple, little blues riffs sifted into chiming pop scales - they sound so integrated into the song that to remove the guitar solo would shatter the entire structure.
Bottom line is I like a guitar solo to be singable, along with the vocal melody, and a vitally important component of the song - not a moment when the spotlight shifts, but a break in the lyrics that is still going to give you some emotional content. The guitar solo has to carry the story another step and set it up for it's final punch... It's like a break in the dialogue in a movie, but the plot is still driven forward (think the music-only moment in Say Anything where Cusack holds the ghetto blaster over his head). How do you drive the plot forward with 8 bars and six strings?
I think "It's Not Me" is a guitar solo from the previous album that achieves this. It has a clear tone and some catchy licks and propels the song towards it's final verse. I wrote it at the same time I did the demo and it hasn't changed (unless I mess it up). It feels as much a part of the song as the lyrics!
"
There You Go" was not as successful and is a good example of desperate "riffing" trying to move the emotions along... but in retrospect not entirely successful. It comes off as a bunch of wanking in the end. I tried to write/perform a solo that would appease all the fellow guitarists out there and lost sight of any sort of melody... although the sliding octave bit worked out okay.
"
The Big Show" has one of my favorite solos because I had just cracked this riff from another guitarist that I love - so it's built many on that! Still, it sounds great, it's short and sweet, and it picks up the frantic energy of the song and runs with it... until dropping the ball for the breakdown (intentionally).
So... worked on "Superdave" last night. Several months ago I split the time in half for the guitar by recording a Cars-influenced keyboard solo over the second part. So something had to get the song to that point. I'd avoided this guitar solo like the plague for months... live it was a very difficult song for me to solo over - for some reason the key change and the simple vamping over the key of A really brought out the worst in the old reliable "crutch" riffs from my early days. Nothing was sticking, though... so last night it was crunch time. Little melodies had been fermenting for a while now, so I spent an hour working them out on the guitar, practicing them and making them fluid. Eventually I had an odd little intro into the guitar solo worked out by taping and sliding up the neck. I seemed a bit Belew-ish, but not nearly as accomplished! From there a chiming chord high on the neck brought me into the "trouble area" but from there I was able to do a nice high riff that led to a callous splitting bent "E" at the top of the neck. Somehow the sustain worked perfectly on the first pass... but there was still this trouble area. On the second pass I kept the structure of the first solo but played a frantic scale that I always used live in the song for the middle... it fit and I stitched the two together. Hmmm... sounds nice! Did I play that? How will it sound when it hits the keyboard solo?
Next I cracked open "Suddenly". This is a song that is very different for us - lots of heavy rhythm and jam band vibe. The guitar solo live is a real treat because I lapse into this Brian May guitar sound and just let the notes flow... my first couple of passes in the studio lacked the same vibe. That self-consciousness really overwelms when I play guitar - how will the everyone judge this? Screaming Mimes has never been a big indulgent solo band, and suddenly (pun intended) the gap in this song seemed like the Grand Canyon.
I broke the guitar solo down into three sections. The solo starts of low with lots of blues scales and popped harmonics... a rapid hit and pull riff on the E & B string... then some trusty finger tapping. Then the Queen flag really flies - harmonized scale that echos the verse melody. A strange arabian harmony (F & B over a G chord, bent?)builds the tension to the final chorus. Whew! Inspiration seemed to strike. Hopefully I'll still feel good about it when we mix.
Tonight we're doing to work on some vocal harmonys - just need to get my throat in shape. It's raining here and leaves are just beginning to fall, so I'm sure my annual cold is on it's way.
Remember to cross your arms when you hear these guitar solos for the first time, shake your head and smuggly remark "I could do that."
