Blues, R&B and rock and roll in 2009 The term "guitar solo" often refers to
electric guitar solos played in
blues and in
rock. The use of a guitar solo as an instrumental interlude was developed by blues musicians such as
Lonnie Johnson,
John Lee Hooker,
Muddy Waters, and
T-Bone Walker, and
jazz like
Charlie Christian.
Ernest Tubb's 1940
honky tonk classic, "
Walking the Floor over You" was the first "hit" recording to feature and highlight a solo by a standard electric guitar—though earlier hits featured electric
lap steel guitars.
Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters,
Willie Dixon, and
Jimmy Reed played in Chicago in a style characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes
slide guitar,
harmonica, and a
rhythm section of bass and drums. In the late 1950s, a new blues style emerged on Chicago's
West Side pioneered by
Magic Sam,
Buddy Guy and
Otis Rush on
Cobra Records. The 'West Side Sound' had strong rhythmic support from a rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums and as perfected by Guy,
Freddie King,
Magic Slim and
Luther Allison was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar. Other blues artists, such as John Lee Hooker had influences not directly related to the Chicago style. John Lee Hooker's blues is more "personal," based on Hooker's deep rough voice accompanied by a single electric guitar. These and other blues guitarists as well as the fast-picking techniques derived from
country and
bluegrass inspired the appearance of many virtuoso
blues rock fusion soloists, beginning in 1963 with
Lonnie Mack's first major recordings.
Jimi Hendrix was a psychedelic guitarist, and a pioneer in the use of
distortion and
audio feedback in his music. Through these artists and others, blues music influenced the development of rock music. Another important blues rock guitar soloist in the 1960s and 1970s was
Eric Clapton. In the early 1970s, the
Texas rock-blues style emerged, which used guitars in both solo and rhythm roles (e.g.,
Stevie Ray Vaughan).
Rock The earliest rock guitar solos, as exemplified by popular recordings of
Duane Eddy and
Link Wray in the late 1950s, were relatively simple instrumental melodies. In the early 1960s, instrumental
surf music represented a step forward in the sonic complexity of rock guitar melodies. In 1963, the dramatic, technically advanced electric guitar solo rose to the fore with Lonnie Mack's hit records, "Memphis" and "Wham!" (later covered by
The Ventures, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others), and soon, with the advent of blues rock and
psychedelic rock in the mid-late 1960s, became a characteristic part of rock music. Later still, guitar solos became a defining feature of the rock genre of
heavy metal, in which most songs feature a solo. Metal solos often showcase the virtuosity of the guitarists, especially in metal styles that use
shred guitar techniques for rapid playing of scales and arpeggios. Since the 1960s, electric guitarists have often altered the
timbre of their guitar adding electronic
guitar effects such as
reverb,
distortion,
delay, and
chorus to make the sound fuller and add harmonic overtones. Other effects used in solos include the
wah-wah pedal and the
talk box. Rock bands often have two guitarists, designated "
lead" and "
rhythm", with the lead player performing the solos and instrumental melody lines while the rhythm player accompanies with chords or
riffs. In some cases, two guitarists share the lead role. Most rock music is based around songs in traditional
forms. The main formal features are
verses,
choruses, and
bridges. The guitar solo is usually the most significant
instrumental section of a mainstream rock song. In other rock-related genres, such as pop and dance music, the
synthesizer usually plays this role. in 1977 In classic
verse–chorus form, it often falls between the second chorus and third verse. Extended guitar solos are sometimes used as a song's outro, such as
Christopher Cross' "
Ride Like the Wind",
Radiohead's "
Paranoid Android",
Lynyrd Skynyrd's "
Free Bird",
The Stooges' "
I Wanna Be Your Dog",
Pink Floyd's "
Comfortably Numb",
Guns N' Roses' "
November Rain",
Metallica's "
Fade to Black",
Led Zeppelin's "
Black Dog",
Journey's "
Who's Crying Now",
The Cult's "
Love Removal Machine",
The Beatles' "
While My Guitar Gently Weeps",
.38 Special's "
Hold On Loosely",
The Rolling Stones' "
Sway",
Pearl Jam's "
Alive",
Red Hot Chili Peppers' "
Dani California",
Cream's "
White Room",
AC/DC's "
Let There Be Rock",
Outlaws' "
Green Grass and High Tides",
The Alan Parsons Project's "
Eye in the Sky" and
Eagles' "
Hotel California". Solos can take place in the intro, such as "
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by
Jimi Hendrix, "
Since I've Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin, "
One" by Metallica, "
Lazy" by
Deep Purple, "
I Want It All" by
Queen, "
Johnny B. Goode" by
Chuck Berry, "
Don't Take Me Alive" by
Steely Dan, "
Sails of Charon" by
Scorpions and "
Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. In rarer cases, the guitar solo may come after the first chorus as opposed to the second, such as "
Beast and the Harlot" by
Avenged Sevenfold, "
The Importance of Being Idle" by
Oasis and "
Black Summer" by
Red Hot Chili Peppers. The use of guitar solos in
hard rock and heavy metal was notable during the 1980s, when rapid-fire "shredding" solos were common; a virtuoso lead guitarist of a band might be more well-known than the singer (although in a few cases one artist held both roles). During this time, players began to use advanced
harmonics techniques more widely. Later, guitarists who had developed considerable technical facility began to release albums with instrumental-only guitar
compositions. Guitar solos in popular music waned in fashion in the middle 1990s, coinciding with the rise in popularity of
nu metal and
grunge. Nu metal differed significantly from previous sub-genres of metal and abandoned guitar solos altogether, except for a few rare lead fills here and there, whilst grunge did not wholly abandon solos and included them from time to time. Guitar solos likewise became less prominent in many
pop and popular rock music styles; either being trimmed down to a short four-bar transition or omitted entirely, in a vast departure from the heavy usage of solos in classic rock music from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. Classic rock revival music heavily features soloing, along with classic rock bands that are still active as of 2018. Occasionally, a song contains a two-part guitar solo with both rhythm and lead guitar taking solos (e.g., "
Master of Puppets" by Metallica), or dual solos with both lead and rhythm playing complementary solos—such as with
Twisted Sister's "30", Iron Maiden's "
Hallowed Be Thy Name", "
The Trooper",
Megadeth's "
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" or
Deep Purple’s "
Highway Star". Some rock bands use harmonized dual lead guitar solos as part of their signature sound, such as
Wishbone Ash and
Lovebites. This was first popularized by
the Allman Brothers Band in their album
At Fillmore East.
Bass guitar solos The bass guitar is played through a
specialized amplifier to make the instrument louder and provided control over tone. The bass guitar came into use in popular music in the 1950s. While
bass guitar solos are not common in popular music, some bands include bass solos in some songs, particularly heavy metal,
funk, and
progressive rock bands. Some genres use bass guitar solos in most songs, such as jazz bands or
jazz fusion groups. Bass solos are also common in certain styles of punk music. In a rock context, bass guitar solos are structured and performed in a similar fashion as rock guitar solos, often with the musical accompaniment from the verse or chorus sections. While bass guitar solos appear on few studio albums from rock or pop bands, genres such as progressive rock,
fusion-influenced rock, and some types of heavy metal are more likely to include bass solos, both in studio albums and in live performances. Players perform bass solos with a range of techniques, such as plucking or finger picking. In the 1960s,
The Who's bassist,
John Entwistle, performed a
bass break on the song "
My Generation" using a
plectrum, though he intended to use his fingers—he simply could not drop the plectrum quickly enough. Many consider this one of the first bass solos in rock music, and one of the most recognizable.
John Paul Jones of
Led Zeppelin, on "
Good Times Bad Times", the first song on their
first album, uses two bass solos in an influentially dynamic way, as a bridge (when the band drops out after the choruses) to the next verse (after the first chorus) and the guitar solo-driven coda (after the third chorus).
Queen's bassist,
John Deacon, occasionally played bass solos, notably in "
Under Pressure" and "
Liar". In the 1970s,
Aerosmith's bassist,
Tom Hamilton, played a bass intro on the song "
Sweet Emotion" from their album
Toys in the Attic. Thrash metal group
Metallica's 1983 debut album ''
Kill 'Em All features a solo by bassist Cliff Burton on "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth", which some consider his greatest work. John McVie of Fleetwood Mac performed a notable bass solo on "The Chain" from the record-setting 1977 album Rumours''.
Manowar's bassist
Joey DeMaio uses special piccolo bass for his extremely fast bass solos like "Sting of the Bumblebee" and "William's Tale".
Green Day bassist
Mike Dirnt played a bass solo on the song "No One Knows" from the 1992 album
Kerplunk! and on the song "Makeout Party" from the 2012 album
¡Dos!.
U2 includes a bass solo most notably on "
Gloria", in which
Adam Clayton utilizes several techniques. Bassist Matt Freeman of
Rancid has a very speedy, guitar-like bass solo in the song '"Maxwell Murder".
Blink-182's "Voyeur" has a bass solo on both their studio album
Dude Ranch and their live album
The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!), in which they must "prepare for the bass solo." Heavy metal bass players such as
Geezer Butler (
Black Sabbath),
Alex Webster (
Cannibal Corpse), Cliff Burton (Metallica), jazz fusion bassist
Jaco Pastorius (
Weather Report), and
Les Claypool (
Primus,
Blind Illusion) used chime-like harmonics and rapid plucking techniques in their bass solos.
Geddy Lee of
Rush performed a number of solos, most notably in "
YYZ". Also, in both published
Van Halen concert videos,
Michael Anthony performs unique maneuvers and actions during his solos. Funk bassists, such as
Larry Graham, began using slapping and popping techniques for their bass solos, which coupled a percussive thumb-slapping technique of the lower strings with an aggressive finger-snap of the higher strings, often in rhythmic alternation. The
slapping and popping technique incorporates a large number of muted (or 'ghost' tones) to normal notes to add to the rhythmic effect. Slapping and popping solos were prominent in 1980s pop and R&B, and they are still used by some 2000s-era funk and Latin bands.
Bass effects such as
fuzz bass or wah-wah pedals to produce a more pronounced sound can be used when playing bass solos, hard rock and heavy metal bassists. Notably, Cliff Burton of Metallica used both distortion and wah-wah. Bass guitar solos have a much lighter accompaniment than solos for other instruments due to the lower range of the bass. The bass guitar solo can also be unaccompanied or accompanied only by the drums. ==See also==