Does Joe Perry know his solos?

16 Responses to “Does Joe Perry know his solos?”

1. Borracho
   April 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm

   

   I don’t know for sure, I could probably dig up a few guitar mags to answer that question. I recently read an article in guitar worlds 300th anniversary edition where David Gilmour spoke about how he composes solos and how he plays them live. To my disappointment he said he only really remembers one of the solos and thats the first solo on comfortably knumb. The rest of his solos he just sort of follows the overall feeling of the album but they are all improvised live. Its somewhat disappointing to me.

2. Ovidiu
   April 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm

   

   Well, probably after so many gigs they find some “regular improvisations” that work every time, without having the feeling of a solo. But I would have liked to know they remember their guitar solos.

3. Max
   April 23rd, 2008 at 9:34 pm

   

   Well I think it’s hard to play a solo exactly as recorded. Especially for long term musicians who recorded dozens and dozens of guitar solos. They just go with the feeling and melody as the original solo, but they improvise almost everytime. Keeps it exiting for them too. Touring for months per years and playing show after show. I guess you would go nuts if you played every song exactly the same, note for note.

4. Ovidiu
   April 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm

   

   Yes, you are right, but my point was another one - when you record a solo, you probably have a fixed form structure in your head, or at least some points that you want to reach, some formulas, etc. I have the feeling that he just goes with the wave on recordings. It is not a bad thing, just that it is not the way I would do it. Of course, I am not a worldwide famous guitar player, am I?

5. Pribek
   April 24th, 2008 at 8:17 am

   

   I would rather hear a player improvise a solo than repeat one. I wouldn’t say that 100 percent of the time but, in a general way of speaking. I’m not going to mention names but, I remember being disappointed by a well known guitar band that played note for note replicas of their recorded solos. I was under the impression that they were talented improvisers and wanted to hear them blow.
   I’ve always liked Joe Perry’s recorded solos because he sounds like he is just letting it fly and, I suspect that he is at least in part.
   A lot of times a guy like Perry, who is a good improv player will “comp” a solo together. Either using one track and punching in on a few spots of an improv or, improvising several versions of the solo on several tracks and editing one solo together out of those multiple tracks. The “Walk This Way” solo, in particular, sounds to me, like he may have used the second method.

6. Ovidiu
   April 24th, 2008 at 8:35 am

   

   I think there are indeed, more ways to do it, Jack, I am more used to hear a solo that is well defined and part of the “brand” of that song, like the solo in Nothing else matters (Metallica), or Bed of roses (Bon Jovi), Don’t cry (Guns’N Roses), etc. In my opinion a guitar solo must be well delimited, kind of short, follow the melodic line of the song, to give continuity and unity to the song and enhance the song.

   Clearly, I have a pattern in my head and I can not escape it

   For ex the guitar solo in Hotel California seems to me the same way as Joe Perry’s guitar solos, improvised on spot.

   Can we actually speak about brain guitar solos and heart guitar solos here?

7. Ovidiu
   April 24th, 2008 at 8:38 am

   

   I think that I have a “guitar player pattern” in my head. Like for ex, I think I love almost of the guitar solos of Richie Sambora. Almost the same for Metallica and Guns’N Roses for ballads.

   See Richie Sambora’s solos here in an interesting compilation http://youtube.com/watch?v=s_4BnLssFKo

8. Pribek
   April 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am

   

   I think that a good improviser is very capable of playing a solo that gives continuity and unity to the song and enhances the song.
   Improv gives an insight of what a person is feeling in real time.
   Have you ever had a conversation with someone that is spouting some line of jive that you know they have memorized; like a salesman? It’s not a real conversation. That’s what a lot of music that is played note for note, over and over, sounds like to me. It is merely a performance lacking the substance of the true emotion of the moment.
   But, when I say things like this, I’m generalizing. I’ve played with musicians that play the same notes every night but, some nights they have a different vibe. If somebody has a fight with his wife or just lost his job, bought a new car-it comes out a little different.
   For me, a different night, in a different room, the snare drum is going to sound different and that’s going to effect how I attack the strings even if I’m playing the same notes.
   Heart vs. mind, I’m not going to buy into that one. I think that you should play in a way that reflects you and, that is going to involve heart and mind, always. There is no right and there is no wrong in these matters.

9. Ovidiu
   April 24th, 2008 at 9:58 am

   

   I think the comparison with e the salesman that says his lines is good. Never looked at it this way. If you put it this way, I can not argue with you, indeed, a conversation with somebody saying his line does not sound natural.

   I do like guitar solos that sound “worked” and “tidy”, but it may be because of the music I usually listen. I guess the 70’s were more into improvisation than 80’s rock, usually those songs have a structured solo while “flower power” influenced guitar players (this is the way I look at Joe Perry) rely more on improvisations.

   Listening to your music, I think you also rely on improvisations, am I right?

10. Pribek
    April 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    

    Yeah, I use a lot of improvisation. But, I will say that I was not influenced by “Flower Power”.
    American music has had a long history of improvisation; blues, jazz, rock and roll, country (bluegrass, particularly). My penchant for improvising owes more to that tradition, which I also think had a lot of it’s genesis in the general concept of “freedom” than, hippies holding holding up flowers.
    And, I recognize also that, improvisation was also prevalent in the classical or “serious” music that was around for centuries before.
    There are songs that I don’t improvise on when I’m playing cover stuff. “All Right Now” by Free is one. One band that I play with regularly does a lot of 80’s stuff; “One Way Or Another” by Blondie is one we do that I cop pretty close. There are songs where I will take most of the original solo and then lave a little spot to improv. Kieth Urban’s “Love Somebody” (I thinks that’s what it’s called) is one where I’m doing that.
    A lot of times even when I am doing an Improv, I will have sections of it that are the same or very similar, from night to night.
    On my original stuff, I do a lot of improv when I’m playing live. In the studio, I sometimes use the “comp” solo methods that I described above. A lot of times, when I’m playing a session for somebody else, the producer and/or artist will have input; “let’s keep that bit, let’s change this bit”.
    Sometimes a on song that is really structured otherwise, it feels like a breath of fresh air to have a little tightrope walking in there.
    Everybody has to figure out what’s best for them, though. D. Clinton Thompson, who is a wonderful guitar player that I have worked with a bit, he usually prefers to work something out. But, when he does, it sounds fresh every time he plays it. That’s the trick for my ears; when it sounds mechanical, I’m not interested.

11. Ovidiu
    April 24th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    

    When it sounds mechanical, it’s not right, if you think about. Music is considered mathematics, but up to a point. I think that even in the “structured” solos you need to let yourself heard. And to be honest I have songs where I try to play the same solo for the feeling and “branding” of the melody and most of the times, I still have a bit of “free playing” there, so I understand what you say.

    The fact with the solos in the studio, mixed from parts, I think everybody does it, unless you get it right in one piece, which is great but not always possible

    With today’s technical possibilities, you stick pieces together that nobody can tell the guitar solo is made of pieces.

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13. pilgrim
    April 25th, 2008 at 5:22 am

    

    What’s it matter? I don’t care if they play it note for note live or play something completely different or anything in between–as long as they make it work. Sometimes the studio version solo is lame–and it’s a good thing they change it.

14. Ovidiu
    April 25th, 2008 at 10:10 am

    

    The studio version solo could brand the song, my opinion! It is ok to change it playing live, I guess, but you’d better keep the guide or your fans will be unhappy with it. I think that fans expect to hear you playing what they know from the CD.

15. MG
    April 27th, 2008 at 7:24 am

    

    I think a little improv is good. Yes, there are some solos that are so evocative of the song that it would be hard for me to hear some improv when I want to hear “that solo”!
    I have lately had in my head the song Piece of Mind by Boston. I can’t imagine them (when they were around playing anything other than that super-melodic solo. Or some GnR stuff. Even the Iron Maiden stuff. Now, with Sabbath or ACDC, I can see more jamming than following the main solo lines.
    Oh yeah-I think Joe P probably improv’s. With their stuff, I think it adds to the song. I just can’t think of too many Aerosmith songs where I can “hear” the solos in my head. I absolutely love them but they’re a different type of band from a different era I think.

16. Ovidiu
    April 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

    

    Indeed, MG. If it fits them and adds value to the song, then it’s a good thing, I guess it is just me, I am used to hear well defined solos like in Bon Jovi for example. But this is an other kind of music and every gender has it’s ways…