Guitar solo

The guitar is often used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment to a voice or other instrument, or is used as an integral part of an ensemble. However, solo parts for the guitar are commonly found in a number of different musical styles. These can take the form of a section in which the guitar is heard more prominently than other instruments, or in which the guitar may be played entirely unaccompanied.

Musical content of rock guitar solos

Many famous guitarists are known primarily for their solos and, as with any instrumentalist, approaches to solo creation vary from the jagged/atonal approach of Andy Gill from Gang of Four and Andy Partridge from XTC, the studio-produced soundscapes of Jimi Hendrix or Bill Nelson, or the composed approach of Frank Zappa. Most rock guitarists compose their solos, perhaps based initially on improvisations, and are able to reproduce them exactly when a song is performed live. This is important in the case of famous solos which come to be seen as as much a part of the song as the sung parts; this contrasts strongly with jazz and blues guitarists, who typically do not compose their solos.

Related Topics:
Atonal - Gang of Four - XTC - Studio - Jimi Hendrix - Bill Nelson - Frank Zappa

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The minor pentatonic scale is a basic element of blues guitar solos; since blues is the key source for rock music, much

Related Topics:
Minor - Pentatonic scale - Blues

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of traditional rock soloing is based on the same chord. The idea is to contrast the flattened third and seventh scale degrees of the scale with the prevailing major tonality of the music underlying it. These so-called blue notes are often accentuated by bending the pitch upwards towards the more consonant major third and root notes that lie above them. This gesture is characteristic of blues and jazz as well as rock. Some famous solos that are based on the minor pentatonic scale are "Comfortably Numb" by David Gilmour, "Stairway To Heaven" by Jimmy Page, and "Crazy Train" by Randy Rhoads.

Related Topics:
Scale degree - Blue notes - Comfortably Numb - David Gilmour - Stairway To Heaven - Jimmy Page - Crazy Train - Randy Rhoads

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Adding the second and (natural) sixth scale degrees to the minor pentatonic produces the so-called Dorian mode. This is also widely-used in rock guitar solos, including those of Carlos Santana. Other minor modes of the major scale are also characteristic of the rock style, as is the harmonic minor scale.

Related Topics:
Scale - Dorian mode - Carlos Santana - Modes - Major scale - Harmonic minor

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Within punk rock and genres related to it, it is common to play something different from the regular solo. This is sometimes called an anti-solo or noise-solo. Most of the time these solos are improvised, but they can also contain non-improvised parts. An example of a well known band that uses anti-solos is Nirvana.

Related Topics:
Punk rock - Improvised - Nirvana

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Of course, in genres of music outside rock there are many variations.

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