Huh? Wah? Who the old dude?
A man a little further ahead in the line turns and says: "that was Jeff Skunk Baxter". Like you should know who that is. When the man sees that you don't, he gives a what-do-they-teach-the-kids-in-school-these-days look, and says "he composed and played the solo on Rikki Don't Lose That Number".
Guitarists who play even one magic solo are special in the eyes of Heaven.
Classical instrumental players play other people's music. At sight. With interpretation the second time round. It's a scary skill when you consider it. The guys in Bach's Leipzig band had one run-through a Cantata (on a Thursday) and then played it straight through that Sunday morning.
Rock session musicians divide into "readers", who are hired to play what's put in front of them, and the rest, who are expected to learn the chords by ear, and compose, sometimes on the spot, their accompaniment, break or solo. Larry Carlton didn't get hired because he could read the charts, he got hired because he was a darn tootin' composer of guitar parts. That's why Steve Cropper is revered: he doesn't shred, but he composed / improvised the guitar parts on hundreds of soul and funk tracks. Including Dock of the Bay.
Think...
Tony Peluso - Goodbye To Love
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Denny Dias - Your Gold Teeth I and II, Bhodisatva, and others
Amos Garett - Midnight At The Oasis
Steve Cropper - Time Is Tight (and more)
Paul Kossoff - All Right Now
Dave Gilmour - Money (or choose your favourite)
Peter White - Year of the Cat
Steve Winwood - Medicated Goo, Dear Mr Fantasy
Peter Green - Green Manalishi
John McLaughlin - Right Off (on Miles's Jack Johnson
Eddie Van Halen - Thriller
Larry Carlton - The Royal Scam, Hill Street Blues
Jeff Beck - 'Cause We've Ended As Lovers
Joe Satriani - Always With Me, Always With You
and that guy, you know, played on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Badge, Crossroads (on Wheels of Fire), Layla, Sunshine of Your Love. What's his name? He also played instrumentals - Steppin' Out, Hideaway - which were ground-breaking, though instrumentalists - from Hank B Marvin, to Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai - are different. It's a steadier, more consistent light, not a sudden flashing firework.
Oh, yes, and then there is the moment that the Devil took on the shape of Mike Bloomfield, at Newport in 1964, behind Bob Dylan
I said in another post that guitarists have the same fame as mathematicians: not for a lifetime's work, but (mathematician) for one crucial theorem that "everyone" uses, or (guitarist) for one solo that transforms a good song into a minor miracle. A song that everyone knew at the time, even if it didn't get to number one, that is still played now and catches the ear of everyone who never heard it before. And that, when you have heard it, seems impossible without the solo.
and that guy, you know, played on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Badge, Crossroads (on Wheels of Fire), Layla, Sunshine of Your Love. What's his name? He also played instrumentals - Steppin' Out, Hideaway - which were ground-breaking, though instrumentalists - from Hank B Marvin, to Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai - are different. It's a steadier, more consistent light, not a sudden flashing firework.
Oh, yes, and then there is the moment that the Devil took on the shape of Mike Bloomfield, at Newport in 1964, behind Bob Dylan
I said in another post that guitarists have the same fame as mathematicians: not for a lifetime's work, but (mathematician) for one crucial theorem that "everyone" uses, or (guitarist) for one solo that transforms a good song into a minor miracle. A song that everyone knew at the time, even if it didn't get to number one, that is still played now and catches the ear of everyone who never heard it before. And that, when you have heard it, seems impossible without the solo.
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