Guitar Solos

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[4th Horseman]

I've been working on this editorial for like 2 years but never really finished it. But I have come across quite a few people who don't seem to like guitar solos all that much, so just curious what your thoughts are.

[Sargon the Terrible]

Gotta have leads.  No leads=not metal.



Edit: Unless you are necro.

[Karg]

What the christ - WHO doesn't like guitar solos? What the hell are they listening to? How drunk were they?

GUITAR SOLOS ARE AWESOME, DAMMIT.

They make a good song great. They are often the highlight of a friggin' song, dammit. Examples? The solos are part of what made me love Scream Bloody Gore so much and For Victory one hell of an awesome album.


Don't like guitar solos... sheesh.  Were you asking people that listened to metal?

That's not to say they have to be in EVERYTHING or are in all forms of metal - they also seldom (or never) work purely by themselves; they are the highlight to/of the music - It's like having a pike with no head on it; one needs the other otherwise you have a very sad tyrant. Or something.

Solos are, for me, usually the highlight or "best part" of a song. To me they're a friggin' staple of metal and are part of what makes it great. Unless I'm listening to black metal, then you can replace them with blast beats and chaotic riffing you're much more likely to find those, which are also nice.

Here, I'll point to the song I'm listening to right now: Left to Die.

The solo in the middle is great by itself, but when it is followed up by drumming that kicked my ass the first time I heard it? Awesome. Used to effect. Not CRAP. (Guess which band I'm taking the piss out of!)

So to sum my re-written ranting up: SOLOS = GOOD when used PROPERLY/effectively. It's a part of the music that's there, if a person don't like them, then perhaps they haven't been listening to the right ones. 

And if those people listened to DragonForce and used them as their reference, they can just go to hell. A keytar for god sakes - and that tool crimps his hair and has STAGE FANS set up for it. I don't think I need to say any more. I'd post the exact video, but YouTube took it down. It's the one where that gimp of a guitarist trips over a cord and falls face-first off of the stage.

So; those are my thoughts, if you could call them that. I was going to litter my post with angry/flash emoticons but I decided against it - I think you can tell I am ranting anyway.



EDIT: Oh hey look - a poll! I missed it the first time, hurr.

 Death [Leprosy] - Left to Die

[4th Horseman]

See with most people it's fine. I can't imagine metal without guitar solos and in majority of the songs it is what I am usually waiting for when listening to it anyway. And yes, I would say without guitar solos, you can't be metal. But this theory goes down the drain with any number of doom or death or black metal bands. They have leads, but regular leads is not what we're talking about.

And yes, there are metal fans who don't care much about solos out there. These tend to be clustered mostly on the doom metal side of things but it is reasonably observable in death metal too.

[vorthas]

Metal has solos.

thats it. maybe not in every song, maybe not in the same place, maybe the solo has other stuff going on along with it, whatever - Metal Rules, Solos Rule. the end.

[Karg]

You basically summed up what was I very vaguely get at or something similar, Horseman. 

I wouldn't expect them anywhere near as much in doom or black, but I do enjoy death solos if they are there!

[Beer]

I think solos are an intrinsic part of heavy metal music.

[Lars]

Solos rule. End of story.

[metal_xxx]

Metal without solos is like a hot chick without tits...

[Sextus Loverlord]

I'm not so sure about solos. I won't go as far as to say that no solos equals no Metal. Some fuck-awesome Metal such as Immortal, Primordial, Morrigan, Amon Amarth, etc doesn't have any solos at all - or very few.

It depends on the genre in question. Power Metal, for instance, is hollow and incomplete without flying solos. Black Metal, for me, sucks with solos.

So yeah, apart from Black, Folk/Viking/Celtic, solos are a must. Stormwarrior's "Northern Rage" has some brilliant solos.

I agree with Karg's post. Back in the 80's, Heavy Metal was all about long solos. Take old Helstar, Riot, Crimson Glory etc for example. Those were the times..... I mean, you'd hear awesome leads even during the regular verses ....

[Markus]

Leads is almost a must (-almost?). It's great and it's metal, some are weaker some are awesomely divine.

Judas Priest, a case where a solo is REALLY a must, since they're great doing 'em.

[Lars]

I agree with Karg's post. Back in the 80's, Heavy Metal was all about long solos. Take old Helstar, Riot, Crimson Glory etc for example. Those were the times..... I mean, you'd hear awesome leads even during the regular verses ....

This is true. Also, solos before the vocals came in =   

[Overfiend]

This is true. Also, solos before the vocals came in =   

Like the lead-in for Dark Moor - Beyond the Fire...

Fucking gold 

[vorthas]

Like the lead-in for Dark Moor - Beyond the Fire...

Fucking gold 

Angel of Disease by Morbid Angel as well - hah hah

[Sargon the Terrible]

Or Manilla Road "The Ninth Wave"