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Which 10 Solos should I learn?


osoz

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Hi to all,

Not wishing to resurrect the thread with the embarrassing spelling mistake in the title, my studies of Jimmy's techniques continue. Been working hard on the solos.

So far have Stairway almost up to full speed, I can do all the phrasing but still looking for that 'perfect' run on it, some day soon I hope.

Whole Lotta Love, known it for a while

Working on Black Dog, about 2/3rds through it so hope to have it going at half speed within the next few days as the remaining bits are easier than the middle!

I want to learn at least 10 solos so I really get an insight into JImmy's solo techniques (The three above have far more in common with each other than I ever would have guessed without taking the time to learn them, so I feel I'm getting plenty out of the effort I'm putting in).

I think I have to do NFBM - mostly 'cos I just learnt all the riffs and the rhythm parts because I couldn't get the song out of my head one afternoon!

So that leaves 6 more solos. Would love some suggestions of the 'essential' Page solos to learn that also function to give a good insight to his lead techniques and structure. So the list so far

Stairway - almost there

WLL - up to speed

BD - work in progress

NFBM - next on my 'to do' list

Six more please!

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I would suggest You Shook Me for good slide technique.

SIBLY for blues phrasing

TSRTS for excellent structure and tension control release

The Ocean for those clean, 50's style boogie runs

NQ for the jazz feel and the use of the Lydian Dominant scale off of the 7th.

The Rover for what I believe is one of the first uses of what would become the standard for hard rock / metal guitar solos in the 80's just slower and more tasteful.

Royal Orleans for the New Orleans jazzy run (I would add Fool In the Rain as well as a better example).

Hots on for Nowhere for what is my opinion the craziest solo Page ever did. Sounds like Adrian Belew used this solo as a template for his own style.

Finally, I'm Gonna Crawl for what I believe is the ultimate blues solo, combining amazing phrasing with tension & release as I have never heard before or since.

Sorry, that's nine but those really stand out as examples to me.

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Thanks IpMan that is a great selection to be getting on with. I didn't know the tracks from Presence so gave them a listen last night. Not sure really why I let that album pass me by as there is some interesting stuff on it, only knew the songs from Presence that appeared on Mothership up to now.

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The Rover seems most popular, will put that on the list after NFBM, love the song. BIGLU is a no-brainer too, been getting my finger picking back up to speed with that song for the past month.

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As an aside, when I learn to play solos, I take my time, play the solo very very slow and work up to speed over weeks, sometimes months. Once I have the solo nailed town tight as a ducks ass it's MY TURN!!! I never play anyones solo note for note, as far as I am concerned that was THIER solo, so, it's time for me to put my 2 cents in and re-invent the thing so to speak. I typically keep the overall feel and a majority of the structure but the rest is all me as I like to make a song my own.

Thats just my thing, I don't go after other peoples sound, I developed my own and play the songs as if they were mine.

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That's similar to what I've been doing, I'll work out the phrasing real slow, but what I want to know is things like, 'were they holding that bend then releasing' what makes that vibrato work just there? Can I get it exactly like it? This process continues for weeks or months. Once I've got the notes I will play along with the recording and really at that stage I'm looking for note for note replication. Then when it is up to speed I will play with just a backing track, I only feel I can play it when I can pull that off without it sounding like a car crash. I find this process squeezes out all I can get from learning about someone else's solos.

After that I just let it evolve, I would find it hard now to do WLL exactly like the recording but there was I time I could. It's been a while now since I learnt it and it has my timing added to it, though I would for example hit the same notes in the bends, things like the timing in the fast run in the second phrase just become my own. I noticed Jimmy himself would do this live, often playing the phrases in a different order live for example and changing them all the time from the studio recordings.

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Just for fun here is Stairway emerging from car crash status, probably the third or fourth run through at full speed, I can hear I'm apprehensive as it still seems a bit of a battle and my brain in not quite keeping up, lost the timing in the repeated bends and had to rush to get the next bit in lol. Posted as recording and listening back is all part of the process at this stage, going to give it 3 out of 10 and try to relax with it a bit more in the next session or perhaps go back for a few more goes at around 70% full tempo and get it more polished.

https://soundcloud.com/osoz/stairway-solo-early-full-speed

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Hey thanks, I can hear some goofs that are not there when I play it slower, but I'll get it soon! I'm on hand rest from cramp for a few days as not played for a couple of years and been overdoing it, but will get back on it later in the week.

I wouldn't laugh, we've all been there in the process of learning. If you are stopping often though, slow it right down, I discovered this a few years back, it all happens much quicker if you can get through it without stopping, even if you are playing it at like 30% full speed to begin with.

Speeding it up after that is almost like an automatic thing your hands and brain just do for you, but only when they know exactly what it is you want from them first.

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