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[TrueNeutral]

You know what's weird? I've been hearing this stupid freebird joke for a couple of years now, but I've never heard it and I don't know who did it.

[Patrick]

It's good the first 8 billion times. It's by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

[E. Spaceman]

E. Spaceman, heh, isn't that a Jimmy Page solo from his pre-Yardbirds session work days?

There is some discussion on whether Page even appears on the final version. But even if he does he only plays the main riff along with Dave Davies. The solo was stolen by Dave Davies from Louie Louie.

[Patrick]

Yeah, that's a pain, that is. Ah well, we might never no, why dwell on it.

Anyways, if you want a badass guitar line, check out "Verdamp Lang Her" by BAP. The guy's not on an overdrive channel, he's putting an SG through an all-tube amp (either a Marshall 1959SPLX head or a Vox AC30, I can't tell in this case) on the clear channel, but he has it turned WAY THE FUCK UP. Required listening.

[Mr. Oysterhead]

Is that like Higher Ground replacing Roundabout as the standard bass song? :/

I've never learned either to this day!  My first bass song was...um...*looks at the floor and mumbles* "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Hah! That was definintely one of my first five.

The first song I actually learned was Only In Dreams by Weezer.

[Misereatur]

Is that like Higher Ground replacing Roundabout as the standard bass song? :/

I've never learned either to this day!

I think that if you want to be qualifide as a good bass player, you should at least try to learn Jaco's stuff. I mean, after you nail his version of Donna Lee I'll bet your penis will just get bigger.
Godamnit, I'm having trubble even nailing his basic modes and harmonics exercises:(

[Diomedes]

Why has nobody mentioned Jimmy Page (during the Led Zeppelin years) yet?  I'm no guitar player, so I don't know if playing some of that stuff is possible for mere mortals, but most Led Zeppelin songs will have good guitar parts.  If anyone here could play the solo from Achilles' Last Stand in its entirety, I would love them forever.

[Patrick]

Heh, half the time people just say "Stairway to Heaven" or "Black Dog," and everybody else is sick of them.

But yeah, Pagey's a badass, I love his live "Heartbreaker" solos, especially the bits where he goes into a traditional harpsichord tune on his guitar.

[onewheelwizzard]

Queens of the Stone Age - "God is On the Radio" or "Better Living Through Chemistry"
Black Sabbath - "Wheels of Confusion"

[Bastardous Bassist]

I think that if you want to be qualifide as a good bass player, you should at least try to learn Jaco's stuff. I mean, after you nail his version of Donna Lee I'll bet your penis will just get bigger.
Godamnit, I'm having trubble even nailing his basic modes and harmonics exercises:(

I haven't played electric in about four months.  Though, my band is thinking about playing some Weather Report.  "Teen Town" specifically came up.  I did get the first half of "Portrait of Tracy" down rather tight at a point.  I think it was shortly before I came to college.

[Patrick]

Stand-up bass is so much cooler than electric bass. So very chill, but it can be so very rockin' when necessary. Think Glenn Miller Orchestra.

[Misereatur]

I think that if you want to be qualifide as a good bass player, you should at least try to learn Jaco's stuff. I mean, after you nail his version of Donna Lee I'll bet your penis will just get bigger.
Godamnit, I'm having trubble even nailing his basic modes and harmonics exercises:(

I haven't played electric in about four months.  Though, my band is thinking about playing some Weather Report.  "Teen Town" specifically came up.  I did get the first half of "Portrait of Tracy" down rather tight at a point.  I think it was shortly before I came to college.

Teen Town is a great choise. I playd Birdland with the music department's fusion/rock band last year, and for a bunch of 15 year olds it turned out rather nice. We even recorded it for our music department's annual CD.

I have the notes for Portrait of Tracy and once all the school's "STUDY GODAMNIT!" shit ends I'll start working on it and on Donna Lee.

[Bastardous Bassist]

The problem with "Teen Town" is that I'd actually have to practice it.  I haven't yet practiced any of the stuff I'm playing with my band, and I'm already busy enough (I've got a recital coming up in less than two weeks!).  It would also mean bringing my electric to gigs, which is one more thing I have to set up and tune.  Plus I'd have to work out levels for that sucker, and I just plain don't want to play electric.  I don't find it fun.

[Misereatur]

So maybe you guys should find somthing easier to play, so you wont have to actually practice on?
Thinking back, Birdland has an easy bass line, should'nt be too hard to pull off by ear.


By the way, I'm going a little of topic with this, but what are you playing for your recital?
Interesting to know, I need to start deciding for mine although its a year away.

[Narr]

I don't think anyone that's ever played Birdland did it by actually knowing the notes.  The entire song is meant to be played by ear (and might I add, kicks major amounts of ass).

[Bastardous Bassist]

So maybe you guys should find somthing easier to play, so you wont have to actually practice on?
Thinking back, Birdland has an easy bass line, should'nt be too hard to pull off by ear.

By the way, I'm going a little of topic with this, but what are you playing for your recital?
Interesting to know, I need to start deciding for mine although its a year away.

Well, I can sight read quite well, and wouldn't need to practice the line.  However, the bass intro has the artificial harmonics, which are bitch to get on upright.  Plus all the sliding he does sounds really bad on fretted electric (my fretless is at my parents' house).

I'm playing four tunes:
-Stella by Starlight (medium swing, you'll see why I'm not doing it as a ballad)
-My Funny Valentine (arco on the melody)
-Alone Together, in 7/4 (yes, it's originally written in 4/4.  Soloing in 7/4 is hard, which is why I want to learn to do it well)
-Groovin' High at quarter note=300bpm

[Storm Rider]

300 BPM? Are you joking?

[Kai]

Black Sabbath - "Wheels of Confusion"

I can totally play this and it is lotsa fun.

[Misereatur]

I don't think anyone that's ever played Birdland did it by actually knowing the notes.  The entire song is meant to be played by ear (and might I add, kicks major amounts of ass).

I didnt play it with notes or learnd it from notes, just with a little help from my teacher.


Anyway, Bastardous, good list. Lots and lots of luck!
300 BPM is'nt that bad, its the 7/4 part which is tricky, or probably just annoying.

[Bastardous Bassist]

300bpm can be rough to play a walking line under for about five minutes or so.  Definitely trying on my right hand, on upright at least.  It's rediculously easy for electric.  7/4 is annoying, because I've gotten into the habit of playing on beat 1 every single measure.  I had even gotten to where I'd loose count if I didn't (at least I'm better, but frequently when I'm playing something complicated, I'll go back into my habit and I just land on beat one).  My teacher doesn't help because when he's comping for me (in lessons, he plays piano, but he's not playing at my recital), he won't accent anything that helps me know where I am, and then he yells at me when I turn the beat around.  Honestly, the hardest part was learning to count to seven.  I'm getting it recorded, so I'll hopefully be able to post the results later.

300 BPM? Are you joking?

Nope.  However, I'm not playing the melody (except a bit of it at the very end), and I'm taking a walking solo (rather than trying to play eighth notes, or something).

[Misereatur]

The best way to nail something like that is just to sit with a metronome and count beats at a very low tempo, and then try to play it while counting.
But that is probably so annoying it hurts.

Why are you playing it in 7/4 anyway?

[Bastardous Bassist]

Oh, don't I know it.  I would just be counting and playing.  I'd go "1...2...3...4...1-DAMNIT!"  I'm playing it in 7/4 because 1) it works really well and 2) I need to learn how to play in "odd" time signatures, especially these days when "odd" times are much less, well, odd.

[Patrick]

For those of you with difficulty soloing in 7/4, take a listen to the sax solo in "Money" by Pink Floyd. It has a lot of good rhythmic examples to play around with.

[nescience]

Then the song turns into fucking 4/4 for the guitar solo because Gilmour was too fuckin' pussy to write a solo in 7/4!

[Patrick]

Yeah, but the whole 7/4-to-4/4 switch is well-executed, and a lot of musicians have trouble doing that. Props to the band for that.

[nescience]

Still.  PUSSIES.

[Bastardous Bassist]

I would also like to point out another advantage with learning to solo in odd meters.  You get to work on cool new rhythmic ideas.  In 4/4, one can get stuck in a rhythmic rut.  I know I have been.  By doing tunes in a different meter, it forces one to work on different ideas and think about one's rhythmic content.  Which helps to some degree to get one out of any ruts one might have been stuck in with 4/4.  Learning to solo in 7/4 has helped some, plusI know over the summer I'm definitely working on some polyrhythm exercises that my combo director gave me.

[Misereatur]

Yeah, I was going to say that learning to play in odd time sig's could set the basics for polyrhythmic playing. Which is terribly hard to pull off.

[The Thrill]

unfortunately kids these days don't know who Deep Purple are. truly a sad sad day

Hey I'm only 18 and I know who Deep Purple is, Ritchie Blackmore is my lord and master for all time. Mk II was the greatest band to ever exist, Machine Head, Made in Japan and the 1972 live Copenhagen DVD are some of the most incredible musical pieces of history you will ever find. No guitar player has influenced me as much as Blackmore, I had started to stagnate in my playing until I picked up a copy of Machine Head, I learned from that to use scales all across the neck and that the whammy bar needs some love every once in awhile.

Pretty much any solo by Blackmore is bound to be brilliant, but to specify I'm going to say the guitar solo in Never Before is goddamned incredible. Unfortunately it is utterly outshined by Jon Lords' piano solo at the end, the most awesome keyboardist in the universe.

So, Never Before from Deep Purple, guitar and keyboard

Midnight by Joe Satriani (well anything from him, but I just love good tapping, let's face it: Van Halen was horrible at it)

The shredding at the start of "Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?" from Zappa

The bass solo from "I'm the Hell Outta Here" from Steve Vai (Billy Sheehan plays bass better than most people play guitar)

Comfortably Numb, from Floyd solely on merit of incredible tone

EDIT: Dammit I just can't keep myself from saying it. Page wasn't that good. He was incredibly sloppy and was usually too drunk to figure out what he was doing wrong. Fairly decent tone though. I just don't like people talking about him like he was some god.

[E. Spaceman]

I don't think people praise Page that much for his soloing, rather they praise his riffs. In my opinion riff > solo everytime.

[Kai]

Thrill, you win for mentioning Zappa. That song is ace. Also, Joe's Garage's "little miny almost-but-not-really-a-solo-Oh look you can play it on a saxophone" thing is pretty charming.

[Bastardous Bassist]

(Billy Sheehan plays bass better than most people play guitar)

QFT, and to mention that Mr. Big was a rediculously awesome band that far too few people have heard of, aside from that hilariously bad "To Be With You" (for which Paul Gilbert actually had to purchase an acoustic guitar because he didn't own one!).  Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert having a solo battle is absolutely incredible.  Plus Paul Gilbert's guitar solos are fucking incredible.  Flawless technique plus amazing taste plus rocking the hell out!

[Patrick]

In my opinion riff > solo everytime.

Second. Example: Steve Vai. Great guitarist, but I fucking HATE his music and I just want to damage his head every time I hear a song like his. They seriously all sound the same, it's always, "Oh, look, here's an impressive tapping solo I'm playing, using a fucking obscure scale or mode! LOL!"

[SpacemanSpiff]

Yeah, that's a pain, that is. Ah well, we might never no, why dwell on it.

Anyways, if you want a badass guitar line, check out "Verdamp Lang Her" by BAP. The guy's not on an overdrive channel, he's putting an SG through an all-tube amp (either a Marshall 1959SPLX head or a Vox AC30, I can't tell in this case) on the clear channel, but he has it turned WAY THE FUCK UP. Required listening.

It's amazing that another person actually knows BAP, and liking it ... yeah, that's rare. w00t for BAP!
By the way, if you like Niedecken's lyrics, you should check out Wolfgang Niedecken & Komplizen, he's got some pretty good stuff there. And also, in case you don't have the album, I can have a look at my dad's LP copy of Für Usszeschnigge, I think they have most of their equipment somewhere on that cover.

Also:
Drive Like Jehu - Luau
Pure dissonant brilliance.

edit: And because I've seen it live yesterday:
31 Knots - Darling, I
Guitar tapping + bass tapping = awesome. (not technically a solo, the song doesn't have one, but it's still impressive)

[Patrick]

Hawt, so I'm not the only one on earth who has heard of BAP! Thanks, I'll definitely check out Niedecken's other work now that I have a recommendation.

Also, "Jessica" by the Allman Brothers. I guess that doesn't count as a guitar solo, because of the 4 tracks of Gibson Les Paul that Duane has stuck on there. It's still one hot little piece.

[Bastardous Bassist]

Second. Example: Steve Vai. Great guitarist, but I fucking HATE his music and I just want to damage his head every time I hear a song like his. They seriously all sound the same, it's always, "Oh, look, here's an impressive tapping solo I'm playing, using a fucking obscure scale or mode! LOL!"

But what about his stuff with Zappa?  Also, I think a lot of his stuff is actually pretty awesome, though it is rather similar.  I think it sounds cool and has plenty of emotion (nobody can tell me that "Tender Surrender" is just him trying to show of his chops).

[Patrick]

Yeah, I've just heard the 2-disc "Greatest Hits" or whatever, and I couldn't get past the first disc. I always just kinda figured the song itself should come before the solo, y'know?

[Bastardous Bassist]

Well, the way I see it is that a well-constructed solo constitutes a song in itself.  I mean, we don't look at concerti and say, "Oh man, I wish there were more of an orchestral introduction of the theme before the soloist came in."  I mean, maybe being from a different background (classical) has allowed me not to be trained to expect certain things from songs.

[Misereatur]

Plus, like I mentioned in the Forced Listening Thread, guitar soloists are very masterbatury.
As in "YO! I'M PLAYING FAST! I AM TEH AWSOM!!1!". But Steve Vai actually manage to pull off the whole thing without sounding like he's exaggerating the size of his dong.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Hawt, so I'm not the only one on earth who has heard of BAP! Thanks, I'll definitely check out Niedecken's other work now that I have a recommendation.

Most of my family is from Cologne, so I can't not have heard of them.
Hammering out more random recommendations: I prefer the older BAP stuff, if you're interested, try the following albums: Für Usszeschnigge, Affjetaut, Von drinne noh drusse.

Also, because I'm totally on topic:
The D4 - Exit to the City
That solo is so damn cliché it's fun again.

[E. Spaceman]

But what about his stuff with Zappa?  Also, I think a lot of his stuff is actually pretty awesome, though it is rather similar.  I think it sounds cool and has plenty of emotion (nobody can tell me that "Tender Surrender" is just him trying to show of his chops).

Zappa treated his musicians like employees so Vai probably had to show more restrain. Anyway, the best song Vai has played in is "Let's Dance" by Bowie.

[Kai]

Well, that and Zappa was writing it all anyways, so it's not exactly HIS music per say.