Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #77

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #77. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Thanks to @maharg101 for providing the backing track to this one.

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 31st December 2021.

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

You can find all the entries the playlist below:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/sotm77-2021-12?si=a462af411fa147658da50931c26af1c3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Cordite50

My votes.

Bennyboy.  5
Stratman     3
Digital kettle 1

Very difficult to separate my favourite tracks. Impressive technical abilities across all the entries which I find quite inspirational.
Happy new year to all !

stratman3142

Good to have so many entries and very difficult to choose.

5 points : @digitalkettle ; : Rich tone. Lovely lines, phrasing and articulation. Inventive. Great combination of techniques.

3 points : @Bennyboy-UK ; : Juicy rich tone. Expressive bluesy and melodic lines. Nice bends.

1 point : @DrHungry ; : Another great combination of techniques. Nice expressive bends. Sweet sparse harmony.

DrCornelius

Blimey that was tough - really good ‘open’ feeling backing track by @maharg101 that brought up some great rock playing from everyone.

My voting has changed throughout but today it feels I’ve decided on -

Bellycaster. 5 points   - lovely melodic tasteful playing , controlled bends and great phrasing

Stratman 3 - great melody brilliant use of trem and timing spot on , even the widdly bit !

Bennybioy 1 - fantastic warm chewy tone and lovely defending/ascending run in the middle . 

digitalkettle

@Bellycaster - 5 points - melodic, well executed, nice touches of harmony

@maharg101 - 3 points - plenty of space…and i love a bit of delay

@DrHungry - 1 point - i was thinking of the track as a pearl jam thing but this got me all nostalgic for some suede…don’t know why but i liked it (i’m going to overlook the carol bit )

DrHungry

- 5 points: @digitalkettle . Despite clearly being a massive Scrooge when it comes to festive tunes, this was a great solo, really clean technique despite the challenging licks but it still felt tasteful and restrained. If only there had been sleigh bells included it would have been perfect.

- 3 points: @fastonebaz . The length and slow tempo of the backing made me struggle to create something purposeful that didn't just meander around aimlessly. Baz' clean to dirty progression gave it a good arc and the solo really felt it was going somewhere, plus that clean intro stood out against a crop of otherwise driven tones.

- 1 point: @MagicPigDetective 's tremolo probably just clinches my favourite tone of the bunch, but I also really enjoyed the weird fuzz, chorus and delay of @DrCornelius , @Bennyboy-UK and @maharg101 respectively, which made for a very enjoyable listen through the playlist (even if I have to allocate half a day for scoring this nowadays with so many entries!).

Thanks again to @stratman3142 for curating the competition (and fixing the volume levels on my entry) and maharg101 for an excellent backing.

digitalkettle

DrHungry said:

- 5 points: @digitalkettle . Despite clearly being a massive Scrooge when it comes to festive tunes, this was a great solo, really clean technique despite the challenging licks but it still felt tasteful and restrained. If only there had been sleigh bells included it would have been perfect.

Lol and thanks

Bellycaster

5 Points @stratman3142 - Nice blend of subtle and technical, spot on vibrato on the bends and nice trem work.

3 Points @digitalkettle - Very nice fluid playing, very melodic and inventive. Nice syrupy tone.

Was a very difficult choice for 1st and 2nd place, I think I preferred Stratman's ending by a Whisker, but both great solos.

1 Point @Bennyboy-UK - Great unrestrained delivery, tone was a great fit for the retro vibe. Nice mix of phrasing and styles.

fastonebaz

5 pts @Springywheel I enjoyed how the picked notes specifically didn't always fall on the chord changes giving it a much more interesting texture.  I like the wild bends which seemed initially like they'd be totally out of control but the more I listened the more it seemed they were precisely deliberate.  I ended up with a picture of someone playing a gigantic Gretch hollow body,  struggling to tame it, to even to wrap their arms around it and it wasn't clear who was most in control, the guitar or the man.  Great visual feast and some novel ideas.

3pts @digitalkettle great inventive quintet cycles making for a hook laden opener to keep the interest from the get go.  The playing technique and tone reminded me of Eric's Cliffs of Dover.  Very nice, superb playing, interesting throughout.  Would have liked to had more of a definitive ending. 

1 pt @stratman3142 my favourite tone of the bunch,  in fact my favourite opener too, bold and grand, full of promises of an adventure, but I felt the 2nd half didn't quite build on the epicness of the first half in terms of a story line. Excellent technique and tone. 

Lots of other very creative pieces and juicy tones.   Tricky to choose,  had to listen so many times to decide. 

stratman3142

Voting ends tomorrow (31st December 2021) at midnight.

maharg101

Hard one to decide again ! I liked all of the entries, even the festive ones

5 pts @digitalkettle - the technique and tone sat really well with the riff
3 pts @DrHungry - love the harmonics and trem
1 pt @MagicPigDetective - great overall vibe

stratman3142

Voting closes tonight at midnight.

PickNick

Yes, definitely very hard to choose - lots of great playing. After repeated listenings and narrowing it down, my votes go to:

• 5pts @Bellycaster  - nice, well paced solo which kept my interest throughout
• 3pts @digitalkettle -  lovely tone and shades of Eric Johnson in places
  
• 1pt @Bennyboy-UK  - meaty sound and some really tasty bends

Happy New Year

MagicPigDetective

5 @digitalkettle ;
3 @Bennyboy-UK ;
1 @Bellycaster ;

Bennyboy-UK

Quickly in before I forget (fall asleep!), more comments later chaps

5 pts @digitalkettle ;
3 pts @Bellycaster ;
1 pt @maharg101 ; 

great playing all round and such variety - this is so much fun to have a go at

stratman3142

Voting closed. Happy New Year.