Short Solos— Keeping it Concise!

Bricksnbeatles

Bricksnbeatles

Member known well
Inspired by @peccary’s long-running “Now Playing” thread which many of us regularly participate in, I thought it might be fun to recognize an overlooked aspect of guitar solos in particular— Conciseness.

So often guitar solos are used as a vehicle for self-indulgence— they’re showy and meandering, and frankly they frequently do nothing to improve the song as a whole other than being kinda cool in the moment.

Other times, solos are able to serve the song, having a clear direction that furthers the progression of the song— take the iconic Comfortably Numb solos for example, or any of the other solos that are regularly ranked as the “greatest of all time” by various polls and publications. They all tend to be pretty long, usually contributing at least a minute or two, which in many cases is a very sizable chunk of the song

What’s really special is when a solo manages to take the elements of what makes a great solo, and distills it down into a fulfilling musical statement with a beginning, a middle, and an end, all in the span of just a few bars. This is where we’re gonna celebrate those solos.

In this thread, post some of your favorite solos that are less than 30 seconds long.

I’ll start with a real quick one from Eric Stewart— ringing in at just 14 seconds:
10cc’s The Things We Do For Love (@1:40)
 
jjjimi84 said:
Everything Elliot Easton has done.

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Funny you should mention that— I actually made a list of my favorite short solos a year or two ago, and Elliot makes the cut on at least 10-15 different songs on it. I’ve modeled a lot of my soloing philosophy around asking the question “is this how Elliot would play it” even though stylistically I’m nothing like him.
this is a favorite of mine as far as his solo go. his tone all over the Candy-O album is incredibly out there in the best way imaginable— especially the weird smooth-yet-buzzy tone in “It’s all I can do”, which sounds halfway between Robert Fripp’s sustained fuzz tone, and a minimoog’s with all oscillators set to sawtooth!
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Funny you should mention that— I actually made a list of my favorite short solos a year or two ago, and Elliot makes the cut on at least 10-15 different songs on it. I’ve modeled a lot of my soloing philosophy around asking the question “is this how Elliot would play it” even though stylistically I’m nothing like him.
this is a favorite of mine as far as his solo go. his tone all over the Candy-O album is incredibly out there in the best way imaginable— especially the weird smooth-yet-buzzy tone in “It’s all I can do”, which sounds halfway between Robert Fripp’s sustained fuzz tone, and a minimoog’s with all oscillators set to sawtooth!
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I always loved his playing and grew up with his sounds in my head. When writing songs my solo approach is try to make it as musical as EE would and keep it short. I leave the long leads for when I am noodling around the house all day.
 
Big Monk said:

Bonus points for anyone who knows who is singing backup on this sing (and much of the album)...
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Of course, it’s none other than Mark, the Phlorescent Leech and Howard “Eddie” Kalyan. You’ve also got King Crimson’s very own Ian McDonald, hot off the tracks of his McDonald & Giles LP from the prior year!
 
Great thread !

I’m not a country fan, but this song and solo I like:
Pete Anderson’s onq Yoakam’s “Guitars & Cadillacs”


First time I heard the song it made me laugh, the twangy hook & nod to Duane Eddy.
 
Well, I was going to post this based on my recollection. But after listening to it again, it was longer than I remembered, so I was going to refrain because I don't know if it qualifies as concise enough.

But then I scrolled though the comments and somebody posted "My favourite guitar solo. Does just what it should do in the time it requires."

I guess that fits the bill. I also like this solo because it serves the song just right, isn't showy (and is easy enough even I can play it).

 
jjjimi84 said:
I think she is one of the best out there. The new album is killer
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Oh absolutely. It quickly became my favorite album of hers (no doubt that the extreme over-abundance of electric sitar on the album is partially to blame for my obsession with it), and hearing her live was on another whole level! Easily in my top-5 favorite concerts of the 85 (86 tonight) I’ve been to over the years.
I’m super thankful that her uncle told me to check her music out years ago, because I may have missed out on years of listening to her if I only found out about her after she got her EBMM signature model.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Oh absolutely. It quickly became my favorite album of hers (no doubt that the extreme over-abundance of electric sitar on the album is partially to blame for my obsession with it), and hearing her live was on another whole level! Easily in my top-5 favorite concerts of the 85 (86 tonight) I’ve been to over the years.
I’m super thankful that her uncle told me to check her music out years ago, because I may have missed out on years of listening to her if I only found out about her after she got her EBMM signature model.
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Tuck Andress told you about her?
 
jjjimi84 said:
Tuck Andress told you about her?
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Yup. My parents are longtime fans (since the 80s) of Tuck and Patti, and when I was in middle school my mom took me to see them. After the show I was talking to Tuck for a while about guitar, and while we were discussing the gear we use at home, I mentioned that I liked making weird effects pedals and that I’m a big Adrian Belew fan, and he said in that case I should check out his Niece because she uses a lot of crazy pedals and Belew is a big influence on her, or something along those lines.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Yup. My parents are longtime fans (since the 80s) of Tuck and Patti, and when I was in middle school my mom took me to see them. After the show I was talking to Tuck for a while about guitar, and while we were discussing the gear we use at home, I mentioned that I liked making weird effects pedals and that I’m a big Adrian Belew fan, and he said in that case I should check out his Niece because she uses a lot of crazy pedals and Belew is a big influence on her, or something along those lines.
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That is about the coolest shit I have heard, what a great experience.
 
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