craigb

sharke


Yep love 'em all. Great stuff. My second favorite Zappa solo is the one on Montana. It's one of the best one-chord solos ever recorded. 

Have you ever noticed, Zappa barely ever used vibrato, if at all? It just wasn't in his style. His trademark was a very vocal sense of phrasing that almost sounded like speech. 

He also hated the quack you could get with Strat pickups in certain positions.  Heh...

Zappa had the most awesome single coil tone. Thinking of Watermelon In Easter Hay as a prime example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rdkucr3zqI

Here is a tasteful solo from my old friend Frank Gambale:

Check from about 1.30 into the vid onwards. The first part is some sweep picking technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzChwBD-R8

Frank can play very fast but when he holds back he is truly tasteful and amazing. I used to play in a band with him in Canberra in the early 80's and it was like listening to this all night. We played a lot of country then. He is a very tasteful country lead player too. He learns pedal steel solos and plays those on guitar. It is quite something.  Was playing a Tele then too. Although I do like that lovely big fat guitar in the vid. 

This Blues lesson is pretty cool too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KUhADOESHY&feature=related

Jeff Evans


Here is a tasteful solo from my old friend Frank Gambale:

Check from about 1.30 into the vid onwards. The first part is some sweep picking technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzChwBD-R8

Frank can play very fast but when he holds back he is truly tasteful and amazing. I used to play in a band with him in Canberra in the early 80's and it was like listening to this all night. We played a lot of country then. He is a very tasteful country lead player too. He learns pedal steel solos and plays those on guitar. It is quite something.  Was playing a Tele then too. Although I do like that lovely big fat guitar in the vid. 

This Blues lesson is pretty cool too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KUhADOESHY&feature=related

Ha, Frank Gambale! I haven't seen him since the 80's, when he was featured in guitar mags quite a lot. He sure looks different from the last time I saw him, with spiky hair and a bright yellow Ibanez! You know, back then I didn't rate him very highly (probably because the only track I ever heard was on a guitar mag flexidisc and it was more a showcase of his sweep picking technique) but I will have to check him out now because that is some very tasteful playing. 

Hi sharke, I think it might be a case as the older you get the more tasteful you should get. I think playing with Chick Corea for 7 or 8 years might have sorted him out and quietened him down a bit !! He played great in Return to Forever as well on their recent tour. He also played with Jean Luc Ponty for a while before Chick Corea and that music would have encouraged very melodic and tasteful solos too.

Yeah and with Jean Luc Ponty you're getting someone who was undoubtedly shaped by his time in the Zappa band. What a fantastic learning experience it would be to play with Ponty. 

Ponty was amazing on the Return to Forever tour. He was not in the band originally but Chick wanted to bring him on this last tour. At times the music was very full on and might have contained a lot of angst but then out of the blue Ponty would come in and do the most beautiful solo. The whole band just quietened down and just went with it. He just soured into the heavens. The all acoustic set was incredible too. I met him afterwards. He is very short compared to Stanley Clarke. They were next to each other on the stage. But anyway sorry back to tasteful guitar solos......

I think Mark Knopfler might be in the running for some pretty nice tasty playing.

Yes Knopfler can teach a thing or two about tasteful phrasing. Plus I went to the same school as him!

I love this from Gary Moore. The Messiah will come again

What a guitarist

I remember when guitar solos used to drive me mad with enthusiasm.

Then I figured out that, my personal favorite, guitar solos were inspired by the great horn players and then I started discovering, for myself, the great horn players.




I have to say, the solo on that Zappa cut was great, for me, to listen to. There was a keen sensitivity for the song that made it seem special and especially appropriate for the moment.


Thanks for sharing.


 

best regards,
mike