Melodic Guitar Solos - a dying art?

SimonC

Been thinking lately that there seems to be more and more emphasis on ripping out off the cuff solos, playing over changes etc, rather than creating melodic solos which actually contribute to a song.

Has the art of carefully crafted, composed guitar solos been lost?

One of my favourites is Paul Chapman with UFO (solo at 2:15):




Scott Gorham was also a master of this and very underrated compared to his fellow Thin Lizzy guitarists (solo at 2:00)

StefB

Two fine examples there and yes, I would like to hear more of it these days too. 

Nicely crafted solos do still exist if you go wide of the norm, cult melodic rock bands such as Harem Scarem, Eclipse etc...

Barney

A lot of guitarists these days are so techically advanced with music ECT sometimes they forget it's about the music and not the technique ...

guitarfishbay

That Thin Lizzy solo sounds like a series of generic pentatonic licks strung together to me, fits the song but I'm not sure I'd agree it is an example of a composed/crafted guitar solo, it sounds more like something that was initially improvised.

The UFO solo was great though, hadn't heard that before.

The art has not been lost by any stretch, but it depends where you are looking.  I've been really enjoying Andy James' stuff lately.  He's got a good ear for a melody and can shred like a beast when necessary.  Great feel to his playing.

Gassage

I could post Gilmour's entire catalogue here...if he farted it would be in perfect pitch.

However, for a change, try this - it's quite stunning at the end- just so wonderfully melodic.

SimonC

That Andy James stuff is very nice indeed @guitarfishbay, thanks, reminds me of Andy Timmons a bit.
Although I was thinking more of guitar solos which fit into and embellish a song, rather than instrumental guitar music.

Modulus_Amps

I think this is related to the fact that most popular music does not have guitar solo's, to generalize just a bit, most guitar solo's are metal,blues,instrumental or jazz. Metal = focus on technique, Blues = Pentatonic licks, Instrumental = trying to impress, Jazz = trying to be a clever arse.

Of course there are exceptions, I loved Dave Brons first Album as he had a strong focus on melody lines with emotion, there is some flash but the song comes first.