← Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
Janda and Christian talk guitar solos! (Part 1)
00:27:32
From George Harrison to Jimmy Page, listen to this conversation about what really makes a guitar hero.
Loading summary
Transcript53 lines
- [00:00]
Christian Lane
97.1Fm.
- [00:02]
Janda
The drive presents the behind the Song.
- [00:04]
Christian Lane
Podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes.
- [00:09]
Janda
Here's your host, Janda.
- [00:11]
Christian Lane
I'm Janda here with Christian Lane for this bonus episode of the behind the Song Podcast to talk about notable guitar solos. And, Christian, you have some criteria for this handy dandy list that you've put together, so let's jump right in.
- [00:26]
It's criteria of sort. I wanted to do a broad spectrum. Also. One of my main things, my main criteria for a guitar solo is is it memorable? Can you hum it? Can you sing it?
- [00:40]
Kind of the melodic quality of it.
- [00:42]
Yeah. And also, I should say, I am also a songwriter, so I can't help but think for the. The whole of the song, the good of the song. And so I think of, like, does it reinforce the melody of the chorus or the verse, you know, that the singer is singing? So that's something that's kind of in the back of my head, too, always. You know, if I were to, you know, say, evaluate the success of a solo, part of it would have to be, does it serve the song and does it make the song better by being there?
- [01:16]
And there are some. Some instances in which, you know, that that could be true. In both cases, it can serve the song, and then it can also be a showpiece. I'll just give you one that I think of right off the top of my head, you know, opening of Laila, Dwayne Allman and that amazing guitar riff. I will tell you this. In the years that I've been a DJ on the radio, not once, not ever, have I ever talked over the opening of the song, Layla, because I don't think that you should. I think it's wrong to talk over it, and I just won't ever do it.
- [01:54]
I'm very proud of you.
- [01:57]
But it also, it. It also serves the song very well. And of course, you know, Dwayne Allman with his amazing slide work throughout the song Layla, you know, in a room full of guitar players clapped in, you.
- [02:09]
Know, it sets the stage for that song really, really effectively. That opening riff is a hook. Musicians often talk about the hook, and the hook is usually the chorus. You know, the thing that you want to sing, the. The crowd sings with or whatever you want to say. But sometimes a guitar solo is the hook, and Layla's a perfect example of that. It's just. God, it sets the stage of that song.
- [02:39]
A really effective way to use the guitar in a song, which is what you're talking about here. Today, make your next move with American Express Business Platinum. You'll get five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com plus enjoy access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection. And with a welcome offer of 150,000 points, your business can soar to all new heights. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com Business Platinum AmEx Business Platinum Built for business by American Express.
- [03:16]
Janda
This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. It's tax season, and we're all a bit tired of numbers, but here's one you need to hear. $16.5 billion. That's how much the IRS flagged for possible identity fraud last year. Now here's a good number. 100 million. That's how many data points Lifelock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first year@lifelock.com podcast terms apply.
- [03:45]
Christian Lane
You have a couple of songs that you mentioned that were a little bit surprising to me.
- [03:51]
Well, let's do this. Let's start with you. Give me one that you were surprised with and let's. Let's talk about it.
- [03:58]
Well, when you mentioned Octopus's Garden by the Beatles, I was like, okay, wow. You know, it doesn't stand out like certain other songs like, say, Alela. So I found that to be really interesting that you would put. Put this one on your list of notable guitar solos.
- [04:22]
So. Ye. It's not. It doesn't jump out the way, like, say, A Sweet Child of Mine does, the way that slash comes slashing in. No. The reason I picked Octopus's Garden is okay. It's twofold. First of all, it is genuinely one of George's best solos. It's very, very beautifully crafted. To me, it's a lot of the things that George loves about lead guitar, which is slide, which is country, which is whimsy. He was usually reinforcing the melody of the song, literally just playing the same notes that John and Paul were just singing. To do a solo, which is a. Is an approach that has served many guitar players. Kurt Cobain, I think of immediately think it smells like Teen Spirit. His guitar solo is just the verse. He's just mimicking the verse there. He completely got that from George Harrison. And it's an extremely effective way to reinforce the hook. So in the context of the Beatles, it makes perfect sense. They're so memorable. And part of what reinforces that is having a solo that's playing the same thing as the chorus or the verse. Octopus's Garden goes off book. He completely goes off book. And for me, he elevates what could have easily just been a novelty song to somewhere else. That you don't expect a song about an octopus's lair under the sea. To have this beautiful solo that's, I don't know, reminiscent of Clapton, of Carl Perkins. I just love it. And it is one that guitar players will talk about when George comes up. So that's why that oddball made it there. George was going to make it to my list of notable solos because I love him. It is kind of how I learned how to craft solos. Was just growing up, listening to the Beatles and doing what George did.
- [06:35]
As a guitar player, if you had one or two people to pick up from, George Harrison would certainly be a good place to start. If you're starting out.
- [06:46]
It's pretty safe.
- [06:47]
It's pretty safe. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Yeah. That was the one that surprised me when you mentioned another song, though. It really didn't surprise me. But the reasoning for it, I think, is pretty cool. And I'm talking about Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. The great David Gilmore.
- [07:11]
Gilmore, yeah, man. So the thing about Comfortably Numb solo is it's not that hard to play, but it's very hard to write. And that's the secret of David Gilmore. He. I don't want to get too far technically in the weeds here, but if you learn one scale as a guitar player, it's the pentatonic scale. It's the rock and roll scale. A lot of people start with it and then maybe branch out from there. Gilmore has kind of stayed with this pentatonic scale. Not too difficult, but it's the beauty of what he does with it. And to me, it sounds like a singer. The way he plays, but almost like an opera singer. The way he uses vibrato. The way he hangs a note and holds it for a long time. But then goes up even higher when you don't expect it. A lot of writing a good guitar solo or playing one is subverting the expectation of what's going to come next. So Gilmore is like. To me, he's like a master of hanging these long notes forever. He kind of reinforces the melody, but he kind of goes around it, too, and circles back through it. It's very interesting. His approach is very interesting. It's in his fingers, certainly his vibrato and everything. But also he's one of those guys where his sound, just the sound of his guitar is immediately recognizable. Incredibly, to me, for as recognized and monolithic as Pink Floyd are. He's still underrated you, like, you know what I mean? I don't know. I don't know if that's just me.
- [08:54]
But I think that's because, you know, when you said the word monolithic. Pink Floyd have become, as a result of having, you know, one of the world's best selling albums, decade in and decade out in Dark side of the Moon. And they've become so ubiquitous that, you know, you every now and again have to go back and listen to their music and really sit down and understand all over again how to a man, it mattered very much. Every single note that was on every single record that they ever, ever produced, you know, they are so, so big and so huge that you kind of forget that. And I think that's probably a reason why we would say that David Gilmour, of all things could be somewhat underrated. Just for the, the voice and the taste, you know, that he, that he shows on his guitar. Which is, which is what you're talking about, right? Like he's a tasty. He's got that taste, you know, that's, that's so hard. You can't teach that.
- [09:52]
So that's, I guess what I'm saying when I say not too difficult to play, but really hard to write because you have. You'd have to have his taste. And that is really a different. I mean, that's a big difference. Sets a lot of great bands apart from, let's be honest, from average bands is taste is being tasty and knowing what's cool. Gilmore's got such a classy sound. It doesn't necessarily always beat you over the head.
- [10:23]
That's it.
- [10:24]
Maybe that's part of why he doesn't get mentioned in the same way. Let's talk about the next one now. Someone who gets mentioned a lot, Jimi Hendrix.
- [10:34]
Something about the way that Jimi Hendrix approached and attacked his guitar is to me unlike any others. And I'm talking about even in league with like Peter Green and, you know, Eric Clapton and all those guys. Jimi Hendrix, I believe, to me, to my ear, he stands apart from just about anyone else.
- [10:58]
I think he's probably God's favorite guitar player. Hendrix will beat you over the head with a guitar solo.
- [11:06]
Yeah.
- [11:06]
He's also capable of great restraint. But what we think of him for is the pyrotechnics. You know, I think a lot of people will immediately think Star Spangled Banner or something like that. I picked Watchtower all along the Watchtower, the Bob Dylan cover. I don't Know if there's a better cover in rock, I just, it's, I'm very hard pressed to think of a better cover that, that surpassed its original by so much that Dylan said, you know, once he heard Jimi Hendrix version, his band just kind of morphed into playing Jimi Hendrix.
- [11:49]
That's right.
- [11:50]
And it's my favorite rock cover. It sounds like Jimmy thought he had one chance to show the world everything he could do on guitar, and he did it. In all along the Watchtower, there's actually three sections for him to do solos.
- [12:08]
Okay.
- [12:09]
And again, I, I, you know, at the risk of getting too far into the woods, he is naturally a blues guitar player. I think most people would say he showcases his blues. He showcases his psychedelic guitar cases, his ability to play wah wah the way I think the inventor of the Wah wah could only have hoped someone would use it for. He, he does octaves on the guitar, which is just two strings, same note, but running up and down the fretboard real fast. He does bends, incredible, you know, string bends. So bending from one note up to the next note is pretty typical. He does a note and a half. So he's going, he's bending his strings more than any guitar player ever had up until then. At one point, he has the guitar solo pan from left to right, from right to left. I mean, he's literally, maybe not everything he can do, but he's sort of showing you everything he can do. Not to mention acoustic guitar is, is what powers the whole rhythm of the song, just pushing that thing through. So he's showing you acoustic blues. Psych. Wawa octaves, bends, pans. It's a masterclass in what you can do with six strings in electricity. It's phenomenal. So that's why I pick Watchtower. You think of Hendrix. Guitar players especially will think of Hendrix as like, you know, he was the first person to really figure out how to use distortion and use feedback as its own sound. Yeah, right, Right. Overtone. And so he actually, on Watchtower, it's an extremely clean sound that he's using to solo on, which is a little outside of what he normally does. But again, it's in keeping with the idea that he was like, I got one chance to show the world. He wanted to make sure you could hear every note he played. And sometimes distortion has a tendency to smear things together. And as great as it sounds and as effective as it is, and I love it and more, please. I, I, I do know that it, it, it kind of washes things together and A cleaner sound really kind of showcases the individual notes. And I, I, I don't, I don't know if that was purposeful on his part, but I feel like it was, I feel like he really wanted you to hear every, the detail in every note. So, yeah, I mean, look, I could go on and on about Hendrix, so I'm just gonna have to stop myself here.
- [14:58]
Well, one thing that I think is interesting and what I think you've outlined pretty well talking about this particular song from a guitar player's standpoint, is that while he has covered off on so many basses and as you said, put everything together, basically that was available to him at the time to make a song, to make sounds out of wood string and plugged into an amplifier, it doesn't sound like somebody who was showing off or putting everything into the cake just to see if it would taste good. There's a point to it all, and it all makes sense. I think what we're coming to here is that in lesser hands than Jimi Hendrix and from his production mind as well, you know, because he was a producer too, it would not have sounded like that.
- [15:55]
Yeah, that's a great point.
- [15:56]
Yeah. You know, the guitar is such an important instrument in this genre of music, in rock and roll. So this next one on your list, Christian, was kind of interesting and important, and I understand why you've said it was notable to you to talk about, and that is Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young.
- [16:22]
I mean, first of all, it's just the bop, you know, Cinnamon Girls, it's a slapper. Neil Young is known for wailing on one note or playing the solo on one string. And that sounds really boring. But Neil has a feel when he plays solos, it feels like he's getting everything out in doing that. And in playing like that, he inspired a lot of people to be able to think that they could play solos. And whether they stayed with that style or moved on, I would say, you know, there's a thousand bar bands that started because they were like, well, I can play Cinnamon Girl. Neil Young dropped the. So I'm gonna just pick up my guitar for a second. There's a low E and a high E. Okay. So six strings, six, however you wanna number it. Six and one are both E. One is low, one is high. Neil Young drops both of those, tunes them down to a D. It dramatically affects the sound. It's a lower, beefier sound. You can play bar chords, which again, for guitar players, for non guitar players, that's a chord that you can play with, basically. Two fingers. Well, now when you tune that way, you can play it with one. So it's an approach that was picked up by the grunge guys almost to a band. Soundgarden tuned down to D, Nirvana tuned down to D. Pearl Jam, you name it. In the Alice in Chains, I think they tuned down to C. I'm not sure about that. But I think that's part of why Neil Young was known as the godfather of grunge. It's the tuning. It was dropping his E string, both his E strings down to D. And I'll tell you something, when I did that, when I learned that that's what he did, the heavens opened up. I was like, oh my gosh, there it is. I, I, it's just such a great sound. It feels like nothing else. So he, he just changed a lot and he, he did it by kind of simplifying everything. So Neil Young, godfather of grunge, Gibson guitar, Marshall amp. What more do you need?
- [18:42]
To me what he did, the magic that you just described in particular with that song hits what I like to call the reptile brain. It's one of the great things about the release of rock and roll is unlocking that primordial thing within us from when we crawled out of the mud or whatever happened that we all got here, popped out of a star, whatever it is that we respond to when it's done that well. And I think Cinnamon Girl is a great example of that reptile brain getting triggered in a beautiful way.
- [19:22]
Right? Yeah. I think that's one of the most important things rock and roll does, is trigger that lizard brain, as you say. I'm going to segue and say, speaking of primal, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin.
- [19:37]
Oh, yeah.
- [19:38]
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
- [20:05]
Janda
Oh, oh, oh. O'Reilly, you need parts. O'Reilly Auto Parts has parts. Need them fast. We've got fast. No matter what you need. We have thousands of professional parts people doing their part to make sure you have it. Product availability. Just one part that makes O'Reilly stand apart. The professional parts people. O'Reilly Auto Parts.
- [20:36]
Christian Lane
I feel like Zeppelin kind of as a whole hits you in that lizard brain. They have the, you know, going to California's and their soft beautiful moments. But I think Jimmy Page, I mean, the way he plays to me is just confidence.
- [20:53]
Sure.
- [20:54]
So I went, you know, as far as solos. Again, there's so many Stairway. It's absolutely iconic and it's long and it's. It's got a lot of hummable parts. I went with something earlier. I went with Heartbreaker. Amongst guitar players, there is some. I'm not. I. I won't say who. There are some that think Jimmy Page is a bit sloppy. When you hear the solo for Heartbreaker, it's very hard to deny that case. It's. But he charges through that thing. If a lesser guitar player banged at it like he does, it would not work. It would sound like trash. He turns it into moments of Chuck Berry. He's another one that loves that 50s feel. He. I don't think he ever got over his love for what first ignited his love for electric guitar in the 50s. Some of those classic riffs, and he transforms them into hard rock and into something completely unheard before. And again, to some guitar players, it's not technically very proficient, but to me, the confidence that he plays that with makes it sound like, yeah, that's how it's supposed to be. What are you talking about? Well, how would it be any other way? And, like, why would you clean it up? It sounds perfect the way it is. And that you get Jack White.
- [22:34]
The.
- [22:34]
Way he approaches it with passion and confidence. Again, are there guys that graduated from Berkeley School of Music that play rings around Jack White and Jimmy Page? Technically? Probably. Do they have the taste that we've talked about? No. Heartbreaker solo for me is absolute belief in what you're doing. And that's. That's why I made my list.
- [23:01]
And as part of the criteria that you sort of set forth for this list, it's notable guitar solos that are memorable and melodic. And Heartbreaker is certainly one of those. I mean, yeah, there. There are tons of guitar players who are very technically proficient and who also have taste. I would. I would say a guy like Steve Lukather, you know, from Toto, he could probably play anything that you put in front of him and. And also have. Have a certain taste, you know, to his playing. So it's not taken away from anything that. From those guys that, you know, are able to do sort of the technical stuff too. It's just there's a small group who take it to another level without having all of those little technical boxes checked. And I think what you're talking about with Heartbreaker, with Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin completely falls into that category. And I'm realizing something about your list here, Christian. Jimmy Page, Neil Young and Cinnamon Girl. Jimi Hendrix, cover of all along the Watchtower Gilmore, Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb, and George Harrison in the Beatles, Octopus's Garden. This is all tasty blues based rock guitar, you know, And I think that that is foundational for so much of what the genre of rock and classic rock is. You could throw in other guys that fall into these categories. Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. You know, obviously we can't talk about guitar without talking about the great Joe Walsh, who is as tasty as they come. But maybe we, we. Maybe we part two. This.
- [24:47]
We have to have a part two. Because, I mean, we're talking and I'm thinking, you know, we didn't talk about Brian May in Bohemian. I mean, come on, you know, there's just like. So, yeah, definitely, I see a part two in the future.
- [25:01]
We are. We're off to a good start with this anyway. So with that, I will say, Christian, thanks so much. I'm a fan. You're a musician and a fan. So I always appreciate your perspective and looking at these songs through the lens of someone who can play every instrument pretty much in the genre. So thank you for that.
- [25:22]
You're very welcome. It was a fun talk.
- [25:24]
And on the way, much more classic rock and roll.