Voting for Solo of the Month (SotM) #126

stratman3142

Welcome to the voting thread for Solo of the Month (SotM) #126. Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Thanks to @flying_pie for this backing track.

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 2026

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/sotm126-2026-04?si=fb1f5bcc3d7d48ec84365571f3fdf5ec&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Benz3ne

1. @CoffeeAndTV - beautiful, jazzy take which deviates massively from the 'obvious' take for this sort of backing track. Really gently and nicely done. Only light suggestion would be to pop the instrument level up a smidge so it pokes it's head a little more over the backing track.
2. @stratman3142 ; - Really impressed with the out-of-the-box notes throughout this solo. Really enriches the blues vibes and gives a more unique flavour than straight up 12-bar blues.
3. @Bennyboy-UK - super slinky, sweet bends right the way up the neck. It's so easy to over or under bend and this is perfect middle ground in terms of intonation in my opinion. It's very 'fun'.

Thanks to whomever could stomach giving me ear-time, too. And thanks Stratman for organising the SOTM pages.

fastonebaz

5pts @Bennyboy-UK ; super inventive,  great playing and phrasing
3pts @Benz3ne the tone was superb, no matter what Knobs amd buttons I fiddle with i could never get this tone with my rig.  Splendid.
1pts @CoffeeAndTV always supersonic impressed with Jazzy licks, I never seem to be able to play any, great stuff  

Over all every entry was inspired and fun to listen to. 

CoffeeAndTV

1. 5 points to @Benz3ne there’s some really nuanced lines like the one at 0:43 and there’s another line at about 0:57/58 sounds like a minor pentatonic.  Very soulfully played.
2. 3 points to @Bellycaster Hit all the changes perfectly, loved how it started in the lower register and moved.  My favourite guitar sound too.
3. 1 point to @Bennyboy-UK Liked the phrasing and the side-stepping at the end was brill.   

And I’d like to repeat the thank you for the backing track @flying_pie ;and the organising of SOTM @stratman It gives me a reason to try and record something a little more musical than when I practice. 

Bellycaster

5 Points @Bennyboy-UK - Lovely tone, melody and such great variation on attack. Subtle but strong with some fantastic bends.
3 Points @CoffeeAndTV - Love that Jazzy feel, impressed with the chromatic skills. Dig the mellow tone, too.

1 Point @Benz3ne - Beautifully played, some nice lines and I think that tone gives a great ambience to it.

stratman3142

5 points : @Benz3ne : Great feel and expression. Authentic 'Blues Jam' sound . Sounds true to another song I once heard. What was the guy's name. Peter G (something or other).

3 points : @CoffeeAndTV : Mellow. Nice phrasing, lines and note choices.

1 point : @Bennyboy-UK : A bending bonanza and a nice tone.

Bennyboy-UK

5 points - @Benz3ne ; - 100% on it for this - I liked the stinging tone a lot, and in exchange for the 5 points, I would love to cop that last run you played!
3 points - @stratman3142 - the arpeggios at around 45 and then again at 54ish were really interesting to get the outside feel - especially over the more major tones - thats right up my street
1 point @CoffeeAndTV - authentic proper Jazz stuff with the lines and uncomfortable feeling notes in places - really engaging. My highlight were the licks at 24 seconds - they fitted just that bit more comfortably in my brain loved it.

What a turn out from everyone really inventive stuff covering almost anything I could think of

stratman3142

Bennyboy-UK said:

 @stratman3142 - the arpeggios at around 45 and then again at 54ish were really interesting to get the outside feel - especially over the more major tones - thats right up my street

The lick at 45s is an A half-step whole-step scale, descending. I nicked that one from Robben Ford.
The arpeggio at 58s is an E augmented arpeggio descending (from the E altered scale).
Then there's an E altered scale at the end of the solo.

I'm watching loads of Jack Ruch Youtube tutorials at the moment, and also subscribe to his Patreon.

I've learned from him that this stuff works in the bar before the chord shifts by a fourth. So on the bar of the A chord before the chord changes to D, or on the bar of the E chord before the chord changes to A.

Bennyboy-UK

Fanks! I have dipped into some of his videos - but I was in a car park at the time so couldn't try anything out - I'll absolutely take your recommendation on that and spend some time on it!

flying_pie

5 points @Bennyboy-UK - loved it, in particular the overbends around 25 seconds in and again later on - was that all in the one position or was there a quick change?

3 points @Benz3ne - very authentic approach and great playing

1 point @CoffeeAndTV - engages John Thomson voice - "nice"

Honourable mention to @stratman3142 for a strong second part. I have no idea why anytime would have played what you did for the first 12 bars....

Bennyboy-UK

flying_pie said:

5 points @Bennyboy-UK - loved it, in particular the overbends around 25 seconds in and again later on - was that all in the one position or was there a quick change?

Thats very kind of you to say, those were bend and slide into a rebend in three ascending pentatonic/blues positions on the same string - all A stuff and I think alternating a major and minor?

It’s not tricky stuff or anything a knack really. With such a dry an clean tone, the hardest thing is to get it all done without the note decaying off. I did stick in a repick I think on the first one to make sure it made a noise!

A bit wanky I know - but I shot a quick vid to demo the two different licks used on the track:




…and this quicky was other uses of that idea in boggo A
minor Pentatonic/blues stuff: - it’s a great device to get up the neck and add a bit of drama

These are un amplified so totally dry - hope it’s helpful!

I normally enjoy playing with excessive (the correct amount of) gain, and that just makes it all really easy to do, and sound better

Bennyboy-UK

Link buggeration sorry if it’s not working.

stratman3142

Voting closes tonight at midnight.

flying_pie

Thanks for that @Bennyboy-UK ;; Very slickly executed. The lack of drop off did confuse me but I see you've got it down to a tee

I'll need to give that a try.

maharg101

Well played everyone, tough one to call. 

5 pts @Benz3ne ;
3 pts @stratman3142 ;
1 pt @Bennyboy-UK ;

Benz3ne

Bennyboy-UK said:

5 points - @Benz3ne ; - 100% on it for this - I liked the stinging tone a lot, and in exchange for the 5 points, I would love to cop that last run you played!
3 points - @stratman3142 - the arpeggios at around 45 and then again at 54ish were really interesting to get the outside feel - especially over the more major tones - thats right up my street
1 point @CoffeeAndTV - authentic proper Jazz stuff with the lines and uncomfortable feeling notes in places - really engaging. My highlight were the licks at 24 seconds - they fitted just that bit more comfortably in my brain loved it.

What a turn out from everyone really inventive stuff covering almost anything I could think of

Super kind of you to pop me in the top spot. Absolutely, you're welcome to it - the whole thing was fingerpicked, and it's a fairly simple descending 'run', so I'm sure someone of your calibre can work it out!

Bennyboy-UK

Benz3ne said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

5 points - @Benz3ne ; - 100% on it for this - I liked the stinging tone a lot, and in exchange for the 5 points, I would love to cop that last run you played!
3 points - @stratman3142 - the arpeggios at around 45 and then again at 54ish were really interesting to get the outside feel - especially over the more major tones - thats right up my street
1 point @CoffeeAndTV - authentic proper Jazz stuff with the lines and uncomfortable feeling notes in places - really engaging. My highlight were the licks at 24 seconds - they fitted just that bit more comfortably in my brain loved it.

What a turn out from everyone really inventive stuff covering almost anything I could think of

Super kind of you to pop me in the top spot. Absolutely, you're welcome to it - the whole thing was fingerpicked, and it's a fairly simple descending 'run', so I'm sure someone of your calibre can work it out!

..... Cheers! it was tasty note choices, but... I'm not messing with any of of that blue-grass shredding - fingerpicking danger