Epic guitar solos

Oh yesā€¦ He knows his way arounf the fret board :grin:

Derek Trucks is related to the whole Allman Brothers Clan of musicians. His uncle, Butch Trucks. was the original Allman Brothersā€™ drummer and Derek kind of grew up idolising (an already passed on) Duane Allman who was an accomplished slide player himself. There are clips on the internet of Derek at 13 playing and itā€™s just incredible.

In an interveiw with Beato a year or so ago he mentioned how he learned to play by ear at an early age and that slide playing is really all about ear training.

Anyway, Derekā€™s one of the best around today IMHuO.

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Aha!!
I am embarrassed to say i know very little of Truck or the Allman brothersā€¦
Thanks for the heads up, have to check it out now :grin:

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Ohhhh, thank you so much, Deborah @MacOneill :star_struck: :guitar:

I take EPIC to mean that the solos being shared are those which stand in their own right, are events existing alongside yet slightly separate to any song they are found in. As big as, or bigger, than the song itself.

I am a fan of solos that serve the song, that enhance it, that bring the songā€™s melodic sensibilities and take them in a new, perhaps unexpected, direction. But fleetingly. I like them to be short - no longer than a verse or chorus say. Even better if played with emotion and you can imagine a voice singing it.

The slide solo by Derek Trucks is new to me. It is so expressive. Iā€™m not a big fan of slide playing but that one has richness and is beautiful.


So, EPIC then.

Jimmy Page - Stairway To Heaven
David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb

Both are, imho, EPIC.
You could argue that the songs they dominate are little more than vehicles to deliver the solos - although that is unfair on two songs that could and would be great even without the solos. Both are rich with melodic phrases. They are not show-off-shred for the sake of speed and bravado. They are musical moments of grandeur and the emotional pinnacle of each songā€™s meaning.

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Derek Trucks is an excellent guitarist, and a pretty good band with his good lady too.

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A good questionā€¦ i guess i meant Epic more as what it means as a slang expression, something that is great,awsome and so on.
Original or played by othersā€¦ should not matter.
But of course. Jimmy Page and David Gilmoure. Can not be many that could do those any better :rofl:

I think comfortably numb and Stairway to heaven absolutly belongs in this company :grin:

Hmmā€¦ I guess, you could call this epic in its own right as well: Tina Å etkić and her take on some Beethoven :waning_crescent_moon:

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Excellent technique but not for my ears.

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Great topic!

Iā€™ve thought about this over the years and I sort of feel a bit like @Richard_close2u, I think. I like a solo that fits the song, is not too long, nor too fast. And since Iā€™m a classic rock kind of person, my favorite epic solos are (mostly) from that genre. Here are my favorites (not in order):

Stairway to Heaven ā€“ Jimmy Page
Bohemian Rhapsody ā€“ Brian May
Hotel California ā€“ Don Felder and Joe Walsh
Sultans of Swing ā€“ Mark Knopfler
Johnny B. Goode ā€“ Chuck Berry

I guess technically, the ā€œsoloā€ to Johnny B. Goode is the intro (there is a solo mid-song, but itā€™s the intro that is epic). And the ā€œsoloā€ of Hotel California is actually a duet, although they are mostly taking turns on lead, so it sounds like a solo.

I actually love all these songs (well, I have a love-hate relationship with Hotel California), which I think is a big part of me loving these solos.

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When I hear Epic and Solo , i think : Im so afraid by Fleetwood Mac live 1997
Lindsey is so under rated
gives me goosebumps

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This is what I call EPIC! If you go at about 5.20 in the video below youā€™ll find the end of the solo I posted aboveā€¦but but butā€¦as the end of world record ticketed concert, Modena Park 2017 by Vasco Rossi. Why I wasnā€™t there?! :sob:

Now it might be a coincidence Justin chose Emilia Romagna for his italian workshopsā€¦itā€™s where Vasco is from :love_you_gesture::guitar::love_you_gesture::guitar::love_you_gesture:

I would take the position here that ā€œepicā€ means that the solo transcends the main song itself and to be more than just a nice bit of guitar playing that floats someone own favourite niche (otherwise I could list literally dozens and dozens of likeable solos ā€¦ )

Notable exceptions to some mentioned above.

  1. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
  2. Beat It - EvH / Michael Jackson
  3. Sweet Child Oā€™ Mine - GnR
  4. All Along The Watchtower - Hendrix version
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Yepā€¦ they most certaintly belongs in this company :grin:

Well, thereā€™s more than one solo in this, itā€™s a cover by 3 Girls one 14 bass, one 17 drums and the guitarist is 19ā€¦ā€¦ I present The Warning playing live at the Whiskey a gogo (specially for the ownerā€™s birthday) their cover of Metallicaā€™s Atlas Rise - the finale of a 2 hour 20 song set, they were all exhausted!

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There are tons of great solos. Two that I will never tire of listening to and havenā€™t been mentioned areā€¦

Chris Reaā€™s Road To Hell

Gary Mooreā€™s Parisienne Walkways

In an entirely different vein, another one I will never tire of hearing is the little acoustic solo in No Doubtā€™s Donā€™t Speak

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Jeff Beck - Cause Weā€™ve Ended As Lovers
The solo comes at around the 2:45 mark but youā€™ll want to listen to the whole track.

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Hi Trond
Iā€™m with you on this I didnā€™t know what a great player he was he really knew his way around a Telecaster.
I also liked the look of bewilderment on Dani Harrisonā€™s face when Prince exited the stage

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Yep. Pretty cool!! :grin:

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Not bad at all. Jeff Beck knew his way around on the fretboard as well :grin: