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.

The place of the guitar solo in rock music

Most examples of rock music are based around songs in very traditional forms. The main structural features are therefore verses, choruses, bridges and so on, all of which feature the voice as the most prominent instrument. Generally speaking, the only significant instrumental (that is, non-vocal) part of a mainstream rock song, although such songs often also have tutti sections in which the whole band plays one or more motifs known as riffs.

Related Topics:
Song - Traditional - Forms - Structural - Verse - Chorus - Bridges - Voice - Instrumental - Vocal - Mainstream - Tutti - Riff

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This use of an instrumental interlude to a song is of course very old (it can be found, for example, in the lute-accompanied songs of John Dowland), but probably the source in this case is performances by blues musicians like John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson, who were influential in the development of rhythm and blues (eg, Bo Diddley), rock and roll (eg Chuck Berry) and hence more modern forms of rock music.

Related Topics:
Lute - John Dowland - John Lee Hooker - Robert Johnson - Rhythm and blues - Bo Diddley - Rock and roll - Chuck Berry

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In most cases, the rock guitar solo is a short instrumental section of the song. In the clssic verse-chorus form it quite often falls between the second chorus and third verse, although of course there are many variations. There are, for example, well-known cases of extended guitar solos at the end of songs, possibly the most celebrated being the one that ends Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird". In the progressive rock idiom, however, extended instrumental passages or even whole instrumental pieces became commonplace (for example, in the work of Yes and King Crimson). In live performances, an extended guitar solo may be a frequent feature even if in recordings solos are usually kept short; heavy rock band ACDC might be considered an example.

Related Topics:
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Yes - King Crimson - ACDC

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The use of the guitar solo in heavy metal music was especially notable during the 1980s, where an attention-grabbing solo was virtually obligatory for a guitar-based band. Furthermore, guitarists who had developed considerable technical facility began to release albums which consisted only of guitar solos; Joe Satriani and Steve Vai were among the most famous. This musical style went out of fashion towards the end of the decade, and since then the guitar solo in pop and rock music declined in popularity; when present at all, solos tended to be more subdued and understated. Recently, rock band The Darkness included guitar solos in this style as part of their pastiches of 1980s heavy rock music.

Related Topics:
Heavy metal music - 1980s - Joe Satriani - Steve Vai - Pop - The Darkness - Pastiche

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