Boss TU-2 chromatic tuner....

[vandeleur]

On the last occasion I did any time in the studio I left all the solos till the weekend I had on my own . Played all Saturday they were ok , and took the engineers advice to come in late Sunday ,have a couple of beers bring some cans and get dropped off .
The solos were a million times better and more fluid ( no pun. Intended)
Now you could put it down to the fact I already captured then the previous day so the pressure was off but it's more like being a big more loose helped .

[ELVIS]

Just don't take it to the EVH master level...

[ELVIS]

[jhale667]

We all do!

Of course... everybody does. The trick (I'm told) is not to over-think it. Ash has a point - out, have an adult beverage, meditate - whatever it is you do to relax - and go for it. Hell, open up a pic of a hot girl and state at her while tracking the solo if it will insprire you - whatever works! Plus, there's a school of thought that says all the spontenaity is gone after the first few dozen takes, and it's better to step away for a few and comeback rather than get burnt out and frustrated doing a zillion tracks if your're not getting what you want right away. Better they say to take a mini-breather and come back to it.


I've yet to comp a solo together for anything I've done. Don't think my editing skills are THAT great yet. But my buddy has told me stories of sessions with well-known guitarists where he's had to go through 2 hours worth of takes to cull a 20-second solo...then he's seen the artist play the tune live, and they've had to go back and learn the version of their solo HE assembled for them. He says you'd be amazed at the amount of "guitar heroes" that actually CAN'T whip out a jaw-dropping solo on the first take every time... slightly encouraging if you think about it...!

[Seshmeister]

I've yet to comp a solo together for anything I've done. Don't think my editing skills are THAT great yet. But my buddy has told me stories of sessions with well-known guitarists where he's had to go through 2 hours worth of takes to cull a 20-second solo...then he's seen the artist play the tune live, and they've had to go back and learn the version of their solo HE assembled for them. He says you'd be amazed at the amount of "guitar heroes" that actually CAN'T whip out a jaw-dropping solo on the first take every time... slightly encouraging if you think about it...!

I'm no guitar hero but I have a solo on our album thing like that.

I'm still haven't been able to play it exactly right in front of an audience...

[vandeleur]

Can you play it right in rehearsal ?

[ELVIS]

I've yet to comp a solo together for anything...

Nothing like honesty...

[jhale667]

Nothing like honesty...

"Comp" meaning edit one together from parts, hammerhead.



My "spastic" solos are one-take...in tune...in time...

[Seshmeister]

Can you play it right in rehearsal ?

Only if they all turn their backs and don't look at me.

[Hardrock69]

Owning my own recording gear, aside from time being no object, yes, I can experiment doing solos under the influence of whatever mind-altering substances I want, though in my case it is mostly weed, and occasionally beer.

Amazing how you can set the guitar in it's stand, shut the recording setup off, and go crash, then the next day you turn everything back on, and having touched NOTHING since you shut it off the night before, it sounds totally different.

And there is all the apprehension about making it to the end.....say you are doing a full guitar track where you are playing rhythm, then doing the solo, then playing rhythm until the end.

Say you play a solo that is astonishingly incredible. It makes it that much more difficult to make it to the end of the song without fucking up because you know you have played a great solo and want it to be a keeper.

Call it performance anxiety in the studio. And you have to love the happy accidents that occur once in awhile.

[ashstralia]

yep! i learned years ago that my 'keepers' often have little clunkers in 'em.

i just leave them in, and later i love the fact it's not quite perfect.

[jhale667]

yep! i learned years ago that my 'keepers' often have little clunkers in 'em.

i just leave them in, and later i love the fact it's not quite perfect.

Hell, if you listen to the isolated VH 1 guitar tracks, there are little clunkers in the solos we all grew up worshipping. That's proof that if it's not a glaring error, chances are it won't stand out in context with the rest of the tracks going...

[ashstralia]

very true jay, all my favorite stuff is a little bit loosey goosey like that. even vai, who is a noted perfectionist, is all over the place on parts of EEAS... his best playing imho (flex able aside)

[jhale667]

Agree...like the hammer-on blow-out that closes out the solo in "Big Trouble"...organized chaos.

[kwame k]

Owning my own recording gear, aside from time being no object, yes, I can experiment doing solos under the influence of whatever mind-altering substances I want, though in my case it is mostly weed, and occasionally beer.

Amazing how you can set the guitar in it's stand, shut the recording setup off, and go crash, then the next day you turn everything back on, and having touched NOTHING since you shut it off the night before, it sounds totally different.

And there is all the apprehension about making it to the end.....say you are doing a full guitar track where you are playing rhythm, then doing the solo, then playing rhythm until the end.

Say you play a solo that is astonishingly incredible. It makes it that much more difficult to make it to the end of the song without fucking up because you know you have played a great solo and want it to be a keeper.

Call it performance anxiety in the studio. And you have to love the happy accidents that occur once in awhile.

I chalk it up to ear fatigue......what else can explain having a killer sounding track one evening and the next day it sounds like shit........I mean, it couldn't be the booze or dope, right