Recording of Solo #4 -- Wow!

[Steely Glen]

I've been working on solo #4 for literally 4 months. After laboring my way through each lick and piecing it together, I finally sat down to record it in its entirety this weekend. I feel like I have it 90% under my fingers, but I can't seem to play it that well all the way through...especially when the red light is on.

Nonetheless, here's where I am with solo #4: https://soundcloud.com/jr-harris1/blues-guitar-unleashed-solo-4. I definitely flubbed a few of the licks, especially the faster ones, but I pretty happy with where I am. This is the hardest piece of soloing I've ever taken on, but I'm moving on to solo #5 and will revisit this one is a month or two.

I gotta be honest, solo #4 almost made me throw in the towel on BGU 2.0, but I made it through!

 

[Steve G]

This is a very, very challenging solo. You did Great!

 

[jmin]

Congratulations, Steely!!! That was very good! Like others have said, I think this could be the most challenging solo of BGU.
I appreciate the time you had to spend on it. I think it took me 6 months! I'm sure you'll find 5 and 6 a little easier, and they're back to "only" 24 bars, so you probably won't need to spend another 4 months on them.
Hang on to that towel! You survived the toughest round!

 

[OG_Blues]

Steely - you did good!!! Congratulations on getting through it - it's definitely not an easy one. When you move on, don't stop playing and practicing this one - it will just get more and more fluid over time and will be even more fun to play.
Tom

 

[JPsuff]

Excellent, Steely!

Great job!

 

[kestrou]

good tone, decent vibrato, and GREAT job bending "to" the correct note - you've got it going on, brother!

Kevin

 

[Steely Glen]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement! It's good to know that others have had to work on this one too. And I'll keep working at it, perhaps post a follow-up recording in a month or so.

Kevin, I'll do some more work on my vibrato per your advice. It's not a technique I've spent much time honing, so thanks for letting me know specifics I can work on.

 

[kestrou]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement! It's good to know that others have had to work on this one too. And I'll keep working at it, perhaps post a follow-up recording in a month or so.

Kevin, I'll do some more work on my vibrato per your advice. It's not a technique I've spent much time honing, so thanks for letting me know specifics I can work on.

Don't take my post as criticism - you're miles ahead of many players on your vibrato.

I was MOST complimenting that you're bending *to* the target note - that's quite a challenge for many beginning guitarists.

You must have a good ear!

Kevin

 

[Jalapeno]

Great job! Nicely done.

 

[Steely Glen]

Don't take my post as criticism - you're miles ahead of many players on your vibrato.

I was MOST complimenting that you're bending *to* the target note - that's quite a challenge for many beginning guitarists.

You must have a good ear!

Kevin

Kevin, your criticism was constructive and I honestly appreciate that. It's tough to know your own strengths and weaknesses when everything feels like a weakness. So thanks for the encouragement and helping me know some places to focus on getting better.

 

[david moon]

You did a great job on that. Right on the rhythm throughout. Bends were on the money. Nice tone.

Now that it's under your fingers, maybe try an experiment- a little more overdrive, a little more treble tone (different pickup?), move your pick closer and further to the bridge in different spots, put on your "angry" hat and think how Buddy Guy or SRV would play that solo. Don't worry about perfection and let it rip. I'd like to hear that You have the chops.

 

[Elio]

I worked for a long time on Solo 4 and I have been thinking to myself that I need to go back and really spend some time on it again soon. Really nice job! Timing was pretty much right on. The lick at measure 13 took me weeks to figure out. I finally asked my private instructor how he would play it and he showed me how to incorporate slides and a hammer-on to get through it smoothly. Once the light bulb came on for me, I can usually nail it every time now although not as fast as Griff.

 

[Ivan]

Great job Steely.

That was really good. All your effort paid off for sure.
I remember recording this at a lot slower tempo than yours and it was tricky. But a great solo to have under your fingers. You just might have convinced me to revisit this one.

Well done!

 

[DMacD]

I've been working on solo #4 for literally 4 months. After laboring my way through each lick and piecing it together, I finally sat down to record it in its entirety this weekend. I feel like I have it 90% under my fingers, but I can't seem to play it that well all the way through...especially when the red light is on.

Nonetheless, here's where I am with solo #4: https://soundcloud.com/jr-harris1/blues-guitar-unleashed-solo-4. I definitely flubbed a few of the licks, especially the faster ones, but I pretty happy with where I am. This is the hardest piece of soloing I've ever taken on, but I'm moving on to solo #5 and will revisit this one is a month or two.

I gotta be honest, solo #4 almost made me throw in the towel on BGU 2.0, but I made it through!

Glad you didn't throw the towel in. It sounds great - well done.

 

[HotLks]

You're doing well with a difficult and very nice piece. Nice work. Endeavor to persevere!

See you down the road!

 

[steve w]

That was superb.

 

[Thatman]

That was a great listen Steely Glen, the lads done well.

 

[Steely Glen]

Thanks Thatman!

 

[Dewesq55]

This is very well done. Congrats! I have the first chorus pretty well down, and can even play it over the Stormy Monday changes, which sounds great. But that opening speed lick of the second chorus is totally kicking my patoot. I can't even get it down at -40 tempo in Riffmaster Pro. But I shall keep working on it.

 

[Lefty Jeff]

Way to go, Steely! You got it down. This is one of my favorite Griff solos, and you did it proud! Some of those faster licks are super difficult, and it seems we all have our own interpretation of them. But, every time I listen to solo #4, those licks are a bit different, but they almost always sound right. So, congratulations on getting through a beast of a solo. It's a mother beautiful solo!