Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #69

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #69. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

The backing track for this one was kindly provided by @imalrightjack ;

Vote for your top 3 entries. If you're an entrant you can't vote for yourself.

1st choice gets 5 points

2nd choice gets 3 points

3rd choice gets 1 point

Voting will end at midnight 30th April 2021.

The top three will be announced after the voting closes. No prizes. It's just for fun.

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm69-2021-04

Logie

@Vibetronic ; 5 pts   Scarily good although I think he missed the opportunity to put a few more notes in there

@digitalkettle ; 3 pts  Really liked this and only beaten due to me being bludgeoned into submission by Vibetronic's technique.

@fastonebaz ;  1 pt   Fit the music really nicely 

Bezzer

Right ... first off, all bloody good solos. And some of you I've never heard play like that before so nice one!

5 points : I think you know, it's @Vibetronic because that was nuts and I fucking LOVED it.

3 points :  @digitalkettle because I enjoyed the Dokken vibe it had going on at the start and right at the end.

1 point : @poopot for the Hammet love!

Vibetronic

This was tough as they were all good!

5 points: @digitalkettle - I thought it was really really well phrased and mature-sounding playing, in particular the first third where you mixed up some nice slow bent notes with some tasty medium-paced licks. I loved that you held on until the end for that little burst of speed, it really finished it off nicely and was very polished. Perfect end note too. 

3 points: @Bezzer - really well thought out imo; some nice shreddy bits and some great bends with a very nice feel and tone to them. 

1 point: @stratman3142 - your playing is always tasty. Nice bit of tapping on the first slow bit, and I love the melodic soloing after that. As usual you have a great touch and lovely vibrato. Again, a nice bit of the shred to round things off!

fastonebaz

5pts @digitalkettle ; I enjoyed this melodic piece alot,  great phrasing and structure.  Very smooth as usual. 

3pts @Vibetronic loved the harmonies especially the sections where there was just a tiny harmony accent popped in. Amazingly impressive but for overall melodic pleasure was pipped into 2nd for me.  This piece could be your new advert for teaching "wanna play like me kids, sign up here! " wish I could play so clean  

1pt @Bezzer this I enjoyed and in fact to me it was the musical version of Jack Nicholson going insane in the Shining. Well played. 

stratman3142

5 points : @Vibetronic : Blown away. Amazing technique. Speed with incredible clarity. Very imaginative. An assault on the senses - in a good way.

3 points : @digitalkettle: Very melodic. Really nice phrasing and feel. Great ideas. Nicely articulated fast picking at the end.

Now it gets incredibly difficult to choose. There isn't a hair between them. 

Going with gut instinct I'll go for:

1 point : @fastonebaz : For 'in-your-face' sheer rock attitude.

Habanero

This was a tough choice, as they're all waaaay beyond my abilities!

5pts: @Vibetronic ;

3pts: @Bezzer ;

1pt: @digitalkettle ;

digitalkettle

Cripes...how many notes have I just listened to?!!

5pts: @Vibetronic - wow...what an assault! On second listen, there's actually more space than you originally think. Love the little harmonies that pop up here and there. A healthy dose of various Vai eras: opening like Jack Butler and ending like something from 'I would love to'. I want to see a vid of the technique at 00:18! Well done.
3pts: @stratman3142 - continuing your pinched harmonics phase in the opening A strong second half...the drone around 0:33 puts me in mind of 'Mindcrime' era Queensryche. Thoughtful as ever, ending with some nippy stuff.
1pt: @fastonebaz - thematic opening with the full bag of whammy tricks followed by a 'feel the burn' tremolo etude ending with legato shreddage. I kinda wanted the tremolo section to break out into something else but, to be fair, it was always building without repetition...maybe I my ear wanted to hear some rhythmic variation within it. Striking tonez as usual.

Close run stuff from everybody else...well played!

Now, everybody pop a valium for next month's backing track

Springywheel

You’re all a bunch of show offs (jk ). They're all world class entries. 

5pts @digitalkettle ;;;;; 

3pts @Bezzer

1pt @Vibetronic

joeW

I was initially disappointed that I didn't get round to submitting an entry.  Then I heard the entries - thank Christ I swerved it - all technically awesome and so most of my voting will be based on melodic content.  I think the duplicated B section (rising progression) made it very tricky.

5pts @digitalkettle (again from me). Tasteful melodic phrasing - light and shade

3pts @Vibetronic - just wow.  Love to see the transcription of that - probably easier to start with black paper and add the white in.  An assault on the senses.

1pt @stratman3142 - built very well into the end phrasing from 40 sec onwards.

Well done to everyone who posted this month.

Bennyboy-UK

Hope it's OK to vote without having contributed a solo?

5pts @Vibetronic ;; - This was superb end to end - fantastic playing - lots of contrast in tones  (fat/scratchy/ harmonised) and - it was like a showcase of rock techniques - and the melodic section with a theme - really liked that too - bravo!

...One day I'll put in the extra 1,000,000 hours to play like that!

3pts @digitalkettle - This one had me feeling some Jason Becker/Marty Friedman with the note choices and timing - and that last ascending picked lick.... can I nick that off you please?!!

1pt @fastonebaz - I loved the tone in this which was a great choice - it was the kind of thing that I could imagine being used behind a high tech action scene in a movie or computer game - really cool!

I'm really impressed with all of these - and all the others had stuff in there I would love to learn

digitalkettle

Bennyboy-UK said:

Hope it's OK to vote without having contributed a solo?

Absolutely!

digitalkettle

Bennyboy-UK said:

3pts @digitalkettle - This one had me feeling some Jason Becker/Marty Friedman with the note choices and timing - and that last ascending picked lick.... can I nick that off you please?!!

I'll take that It started out with the intention of being Chris Poland meets Jake E Lee!

Vibetronic

digitalkettle said:

 I want to see a vid of the technique at 00:18! Well done.

Cheers mate! It's my patented method of combining alternate picking with legato and muting to conceal the fact I can't alternate pick that well!! If you do it quickly enough people will think you're picking everything. I did pick a few more notes in this one to get that Nuno sound, but it's still the same idea. 

Vibetronic

joeW said:

3pts @Vibetronic - just wow.  Love to see the transcription of that - probably easier to start with black paper and add the white in.  An assault on the senses.

Thanks I can certainly do that...took me long enough to figure out so I still remember it!!

stratman3142

Vibetronic said:

digitalkettle said:

 I want to see a vid of the technique at 00:18! Well done.

Cheers mate! It's my patented method of combining alternate picking with legato and muting to conceal the fact I can't alternate pick that well!! If you do it quickly enough people will think you're picking everything. I did pick a few more notes in this one to get that Nuno sound, but it's still the same idea. 

When you use legato do you use pull-offs, or are they all hammers like the Allan Holdsworth approach.

Also, do you lift the other fingers off, at each hammer or pull off? For example, in the past I've always left my first finger planted in place when executing hammers and pull-offs with the other fingers. Now I'm trying to get used to lifting my first finger off the fretboard when using the other fingers, as I've seen a few recommending this and it seems to create less tension.

Vibetronic

stratman3142 said:

Vibetronic said:

digitalkettle said:

 I want to see a vid of the technique at 00:18! Well done.

Cheers mate! It's my patented method of combining alternate picking with legato and muting to conceal the fact I can't alternate pick that well!! If you do it quickly enough people will think you're picking everything. I did pick a few more notes in this one to get that Nuno sound, but it's still the same idea. 

When you use legato do you use pull-offs, or are they all hammers like the Allan Holdsworth approach.

Also, do you lift the other fingers off, at each hammer or pull off? For example, in the past I've always left my first finger planted in place when executing hammers and pull-offs with the other fingers. Now I'm trying to get used to lifting my first finger off the fretboard when using the other fingers, as I've seen a few recommending this and it seems to create less tension.

Pull-offs for me - I find the AH way a bit unnatural to me. I do hammer back from high-low a lot, and occasionally the other way, but only between strings. I don't lift the fingers off - I saw a Tom Quayle thing with him demonstrating it, but again I find it really odd and can't do it with legato. He's obviously very good at it, but I can't see a massive benefit. I do do it when I'm picking sometimes though.

My legato/pick thing is legato on one string, pick on the next...ie if you were going to play C major on the 3-n-p-s shape from the 8th fret on low E with a doubling-up pattern. I'd pick the 8, hammer 10, hammer 12, then pick all 8-10-12 on A. I'd then pick the 8 on A again, hammer 10 and 12, then pick 9-10-12 on D...and so on. If you do it quickly enough it gives the illusion you're picking the lot unless you're really paying attention. It's total cheating - the hammers give you the time to move the pick to the next string and quickly pick 4 notes, hammer, move pick to next string etc. Essentially you're just picking on one string all the time without any tricky crossing

stratman3142

@Vibtronic thanks for that insight. If I've understood correctly, you're effectively alternating between legato and picking in speed bursts.

stratman3142

Voting closes tonight at midnight.

Vibetronic

stratman3142 said:

@Vibtronic thanks for that insight. If I've understood correctly, you're effectively alternating between legato and picking in speed bursts.

yep Picking on one string is the way forward!! (I don't always do this, but it works for me!)

stratman3142

@Vibetronic one more (nerdy) question.

Is the pattern:
Down, hammer, hammer
Upstroke, downstroke, upstroke
Down, hammer, hammer
Upstroke, downstroke, upstroke
etc
Which would suit a USX (upstroke escape) approach.

Or is it:
Down, hammer, hammer
Down, up, down
Down, hammer, hammer
Down, up, down
etc
With would suit an economy picking technique (i.e. no escape needed)