Songs with awesome guitar solos--ideas for my dd?

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whatevergirl said:
So…please, we could use your help! I told her Journey, but she told me it’s too ‘old school.’ 😊😊 :rolleyes:.***
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Tell your daughter that everything old is new again - the young men she hears thrashing away today came from guys from the 80s who came from guys from the 60s who came from bebop of the late 40s and 50s who came from big band music of the 30s and 40s. When I began learning guitar at the age of 11 I thought “Act Naturally” was a Beatles song when, in fact, it had been cut by Buck Owens years earlier. I thought “It’s All Over Now” was a Stones tune when it had actually been cut by Bobby and Shirley Womak and the Stones’ version was just a cover.

We’re all influenced by the masters. She needs to go back to the masters to see how it was done before ProTools could correct the pitch in the studio. Guys made mistakes that are classics. I still play at age 57, and my heroes are Freddie Green, who played with the Count Basie Orchestra for over 50 years; Charlie Christian (Benny Goodman) and Eddie Lang, the two original electric guitar players, and Django Reinhardt, the gypsy guitarist who played gorgeous Maccaferri/Selmer guitars for his entire career.

Once she learns to play “Nuages” she will have accomplished something.

By the way, I’m a woman who toured with a large band across the U.S., Canada and Europe for 15 years and free-lanced for an additional 15 years. I’ve been featured in “Guitar Player” magazine and, as a band member in 1978, won a Grammy award as an instrumentalist.

The serious student always looks to the past to excavate the progression of styles, tones, attitudes. If she listens to Danny Gatton she will hear his sense of humor shining through in his solos - he was a brilliant guitarist.

I wish her well and I hope she doesn’t fall into the “I’m bored with the old guys” trap. If she doesn’t do her homework she will have forfeited the legacy that is hers for the taking - and that would be a foolish sacrifice.

Limerick
 
limerick said:
Tell your daughter that everything old is new again - the young men she hears thrashing away today came from guys from the 80s who came from guys from the 60s who came from bebop of the late 40s and 50s who came from big band music of the 30s and 40s. When I began learning guitar at the age of 11 I thought “Act Naturally” was a Beatles song when, in fact, it had been cut by Buck Owens years earlier. I thought “It’s All Over Now” was a Stones tune when it had actually been cut by Bobby and Shirley Womak and the Stones’ version was just a cover.

We’re all influenced by the masters. She needs to go back to the masters to see how it was done before ProTools could correct the pitch in the studio. Guys made mistakes that are classics. I still play at age 57, and my heroes are Freddie Green, who played with the Count Basie Orchestra for over 50 years; Charlie Christian (Benny Goodman) and Eddie Lang, the two original electric guitar players, and Django Reinhardt, the gypsy guitarist who played gorgeous Maccaferri/Selmer guitars for his entire career.

Once she learns to play “Nuages” she will have accomplished something.

By the way, I’m a woman who toured with a large band across the U.S., Canada and Europe for 15 years and free-lanced for an additional 15 years. I’ve been featured in “Guitar Player” magazine and, as a band member in 1978, won a Grammy award as an instrumentalist.

The serious student always looks to the past to excavate the progression of styles, tones, attitudes. If she listens to Danny Gatton she will hear his sense of humor shining through in his solos - he was a brilliant guitarist.

I wish her well and I hope she doesn’t fall into the “I’m bored with the old guys” trap. If she doesn’t do her homework she will have forfeited the legacy that is hers for the taking - and that would be a foolish sacrifice.

Limerick
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I can’t thank you enough for this post, and she WILL be reading it once she is done with her homework. She is coming around…but, her comment was…when her teacher picked her to play at a Catholic school festival, and I can’t recall the song he wanted her to play…but her reply was…‘no offense, but I don’t want the audience to think I listen to 50 yr old men music.’ It was funny, if you knew her, you’d think it’s funny. I said, somewhat of what you are saying here, without the experience to back it up! I played piano for years, but guitar is a mystery to me, I can’t help her much. But, I loved the classics, and I think she is coming around to realizing that ALLLLLLL those modern day ‘heros’ of hers, listened to and learned from…the classics.

The nice thing about her, is that she is humble. She has made big strides, and I have been telling her to always, above all, thank God for your talents…and stay humble. So far she is listening!

Now…you have been featured in Guitar Player magazine…??? You deserve this then. :bowdown: That’s great!!

You are a neat woman to talk to…if I could pick your brain when the feeling strikes me, I’d be forever grateful to you. :o I agree wholeheartedly…the world is her oyster with this right now, I pray she doesn’t overlook the classics.

PS–Thoughts on Bullet for my Valentine? She went to bed last night, I listened to them on youtube…oh my gosh, I had to shut it off…that throaty screeching. Bleck! But, they are talented musicians. She just loves them! :o

PSS–I was driving home from work, flipping the radio channels…and landed on Hotel California…you know, that would be a good solo for her. She doesn’t like ‘slow’ songs, per se, but I listened closely to the solo, and I think she’d enjoy it. Plus it isn’t so complicated, that she couldn’t learn it by her next concert, which is in a few weeks. ***
 
Don’t know anything about Bullet for my Valentine - but sometimes if one wants to absorb the melodic aspects of a tune they just have to shut out the peripheral stuff.

I trained myself to learn fast because when I was just starting out there was no YouTube or iPods or any of that. I carried quarters in my pocket and when I went to the General Store, where they had a jukebox, I’d put in a quarter and scribble out the lyrics to the song in shorthand while memorizing the chord changes at the same time. Learned a lot of Merle Haggard tunes this way.

The most important thing your daughter can get is the supportive structure of understanding chord progressions and theory. This is why the blues is so easy to learn, because it’s usually an 8-bar or 12-bar piece with three chords (and variations, of course). If she knows that in the key of E, the E is the tonic, the fourth is the A and the fifth is the B, she can transpose this theory to any key.

For blues I love the guys I used to pal around with and dance to when they played live, and they did almost every weekend in the 70s - Stevie Ray, Jimmie Vaughan (Fabulous Thunderbirds), Duke Robillard (Roomful of Blues), Ronnie Earl, Johnny Nicholas - these were guys my age who were one generation away from the originals (Freddie King, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, Clifton Chenier). They gave me days I will cherish forever: the conviviality, the soul-stirring performances, the common reverence for authentic music. Time has changed things for all of us, but back then we were golden.

Have her check out Steve Cropper. She can’t go wrong with him.

Best,

Limerick
 
A GREAT guitar song is Do You Feel Like I Do by Peter Frampton. Not sure if it has cuss words but the guitar playing, especially the solo is awesome.
 
Actually, isn’t Free Bird performed by “boring old guys” as well? 😛

Yeah, the way I learned how to play the guitar is similar to how limerick did, playing along with a recording and listening to a lot of blues and blues rock. Except I had the convenience of CDs. And I’m not quite as famous. 😃 From the way I learned, I can follow along with the chord changes and riffs in a song by ear, but I don’t read guitar sheet music that quickly.
 
She could try “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams. No need to worry about the lyrics there ;)!

This also reminds me of a story I once heard about a young guitarist… this young man very excited to tell George Harrison that he had finally, after much work, learneded to play the lead guitar part from “And Your Bird Can Sing”- very challenging, required very quick and nimble fingers, but he got it to sound just like the track on the record. So George Harrison looks at him and says, “But lead part on the record is two guitars!”

That said, it would be a cool guitar piece to learn, and the lyrics are pretty much meaningless as far as I can tell.
 
CTA1967 said:
Actually, isn’t Free Bird performed by “boring old guys” as well? 😛

Yeah, the way I learned how to play the guitar is similar to how limerick did, playing along with a recording and listening to a lot of blues and blues rock. Except I had the convenience of CDs. And I’m not quite as famous. 😃 From the way I learned, I can follow along with the chord changes and riffs in a song by ear, but I don’t read guitar sheet music that quickly.
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I play by ear as well. The old joke around Nashville used to be, “Do you read music, Bob?” and Bob says, “Not enough to hurt me.” I read number charts as I learned in Nashville sessions, denoting the progression but not individual notes, which was perfect for me since I am a rhythm guitarist and don’t play take-off.

I think ear training is critical. Otherwise we’re doing what monkeys can be taught to do: mimic. That’s why foundation in theory is so important.

And the Grammy? That and $1.25 will buy me a newspaper.

Limerick
 
***Hi Bobby and limerick–

I told my dd last night about this thread, it was kinda late when we chatted, so she plans to read through it today. Thanks for your thoughtful (name removed by moderator)ut.

She doesn’t read music either…her current teacher has taught her by ear, and also teaches her chord progressions, and methods of changing the sounds of the guitar. I can’t believe how she has taken off…I kind of hope she forms a band, to me, it would be a shame for her to learn all of this, and then just let it go when she becomes an adult. :o***
 
CTA1967 said:
Actually, isn’t Free Bird performed by “boring old guys” as well? 😛

Yeah, the way I learned how to play the guitar is similar to how limerick did, playing along with a recording and listening to a lot of blues and blues rock. Except I had the convenience of CDs. And I’m not quite as famous. 😃 From the way I learned, I can follow along with the chord changes and riffs in a song by ear, but I don’t read guitar sheet music that quickly.
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She likes those old guys, though. 😃

I think she is coming around…she realizes that the classics are where it all began. 👍 Sadly, our society places a lot of value on age, instead of accomplishment. Look at our President. :cool:

Kids often times think that someone who is young is somehow ‘better’ than someone who has been around the block a few times, and KNOWS what they are talking about. There are MANY talented young guitarists out there right now, but the classics are where she needs to build from. And the lyrics nowadays? Degrading to women, swearing up a storm, screaming at the tops of their lungs…this is talent? :rolleyes:***
 
The_Catholic said:
Wow, your twelve year old daughter can play solos similar to “bullet for my valentine?” wow! bows 🙂

I play guitar too, well, not so much lately. But see if she’d like to learn “powerslave” by Iron Maiden, one of the funnest solos to play 😃

Though that too might be “old school” 🙂
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👍 Those are very fun solos to play because of the different styles. Actually pretty much any Iron Maiden would good. I use to play lead guitar back in HS and Maiden is what kept up my skills. The only song that might not be appropriate is Number of the Beast. If you read the lyrics it’s about a dream but most people hear the name and freak.

Anything off the Powerslave or Piece of Mind disc would be good. However the “Live After Death” has many of the good songs from those as well and here is the fun part. They recorded each guitarist in their own speaker. Thus once you learn the harmonies you can turn off one of your speakers and play the other part, very fun. Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is quite a fun one to play along with as well.

While it’s older than Journey (Neil Schon is fantastic) she might consider some old Santana. My teacher use to make me learn Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughn songs to teach me that 1 note could say a lot more than 50 🙂

Joe
 
Whatevergirl,

I went to your profile to thank you for your prayers and saw that you posted this thread (I was scanning your posts to see what made me look you up in the first place. I know we’ve contributed to the same threads in the past). I really wanted to contribute here but it would seem that I am way way out of the contemporary music scene. My son is approaching his 3rd birthday, and he’s only really interested in Sesame Street, but I *long *for the day when he gets older and I can get back into the contemporary scene, listening to his music and giving him lectures about how great **Rush **was.

It is no mean feat to be pulling off Freebird at 12, I can tell you (as others have already). I was once a great guitar player until carpul tunnel got me (my chops haven’t been the same since :(). And I’m not exaggerating when I say I was great; I had *worshippers *(not famous, just on the local level). No offense to all those that just listed names of bands, but you got me thinking about some of my favorite solos; solos that I loved based on their virtue alone, and not just the songs they happened to be in.

CTA1967 mentioned Terry Kath of Chicago. There is one solo that I’m thinking of: “If You Leave Me Now.” Not a fast solo, but one with great depth of character. It accomplishes in 8measures (even with one measure of rest) what many lesser guitarists cannot accomplish on an entire album (I won’t name names like C.C. DeVille. That would be uncharitable :D).

Thinking purely of solos, I would also recommend Elvis Costello’s “Sweet Pear” from his Mighty Like A Rose album (:eek: I know! Elvis Costello! Not usually associated with great guitar solos). Not a lot of radio play, but one of the best formulated solos I’ve ever heard. If you haven’t heard it before, get it. It’s one of those solos that doesn’t even need the backup music.

Something faster, but also with considerable character, Dire Strait’s “Sultans of Swing.”

As a Rush fan, (lots to choose from there), I would say “No One At The Bridge” off of Caress of Steel. Obscure, even for modern Rush fans, but it was a solo I learned when I was beginning, and it taught me some tricks. That’s the key with picking specific solos–not only to learn “the fast stuff,” but the solos that will expand her fretboard repetoire, allowing her to create combinations and colors outside of just chaotic scale runs.

“Little Wing” the Stevie Ray Vaughn version, is not only an excellent piece, but a virtual comprehensive study in blues solos. He incorporates so many, many different styles; pull offs, hammer ons, octave jumps, that quick twangy picking on the lower frets that I never learned when I was young. “Little Wing is a MUST.” Thinking about it, I would even suggest buying the sheet music with guitar tab; even if she doesn’t get it up to speed any time soon, just learning the licks, even slowly, would be a great repetoire builder.

Once she gets older, there is the pinnacle (for me) of great electric guitar solos: Eric Johnson’s “Cliffs of Dover” off of Ah Via Musicom. It’s a religous experience (my brother and sister guitarists, you know of what I speak). Once I learned “Cliffs of Dover” note for note and up to speed (oh yes) my status as a local guitar guru jumped exponetially.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai (whom invented, I believe, the seven string electric guitar) are both excellent advanced studies.

I only meant to make a quick post but I’ve written an essay 😊.
 
***I will reply more to you tomorrow Nom, I’m a little sleepy, but thank you for these suggestions…excellent.

She loves Cliffs of Dover, and the nice thing about youtube is that you can click ‘cover’ after the song, and regular joes (and janes) can be seen playing the songs, so you can learn from them…some teach it, they slow down the tempo. Pretty cool, that youtube is.

You could play that note for note??? :bowdown:

What an underplayed artist, you know? 🤷

You lost me on Elvis Costello…I never saw the appeal with him. ***
 
whatevergirl said:
You lost me on Elvis Costello…I never saw the appeal with him.
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I know what you mean. I *hated *him when he first came out (Oliver’s Army–yikes! His singing seemed like a parody of actual singing. I didn’t take him seriously) but after Spike, I became interested (songs like “Veronica” and “God’s Comic”). He’s really grown as a songwriter.
 
Ok, maybe I’ll youtube him and give him another chance. Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut. 🙂
 
Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson.

Don’t know if that was mentioned already, since I didn’t read the entire thread. It’s just an instrumental, but really cool.
 
msugeotech said:
Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson.

Don’t know if that was mentioned already, since I didn’t read the entire thread. It’s just an instrumental, but really cool.
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Yes, he was mentioned, Shane…and I agree–he is amazing.
 
Did show this thread to DS, he was in a “all commercial radio stuff is junk” mood, so, your DD will have heard of nothing he named 🙂
 
kage_ar said:
Did show this thread to DS, he was in a “all commercial radio stuff is junk” mood, so, your DD will have heard of nothing he named 🙂
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She is broadening her horizons…so feel free to list a few if you wouldn’t mind? 🙂
 
I told my son to stretch out and start playing different types of music after hearing Crazytrain for the umpteenth millionth time. This is a song he is currently working on. The Doors covered it and it has an interesting history of rediscovery. Tim
youtube.com/watch?v=SEPLCxvaVZ4
 
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