# What makes a "complete" guitar solo?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Once in a while you run across a solo you consider "complete". It has a discernible beginning, middle, and end, has just the right amount of tension, and you can't think of anything that ought to be added or extend it. Indeed, it ends at just the right point. Doesn't have to be flashy or virtuosic (though it could be). Doesn't have to be melodic or echo the main melody (though it could). The characteristic is that, for whatever reasons, it just feels "complete", like a perfectly served dish, plated just right. Doesn't leave you feeling stuffed or hungry, just satisfied.

In my list is Robbie McIntosh's solo in The Pretenders' "Middle of the Road", and Jeff Beck's in The Yardbirds' "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago". Neither is longer than it needs to be, contrasts well with the rest of the song, captures your attention immediately. The list is likely much longer but those two come to mind immediately.

So what's yours?


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I am quite new at soloing and certainly no expert in the field. It just comes to my mind these short notes bursts Lightnin' Hopkins throws in between his blues sentenses : I would not say these are complete but I feel they generally underline or complete the text. Maybe I am all wrong, but I like that.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

A couple of examples in this:






Subtle but expressive:






And everything about these solos is perfect, in my opinion:


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Consecutive examples here:






Same tune, live, with absolutely killer choreography:






Very polished but somehow very immediate sounding:


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I saw him play this live before I ever heard of him otherwise.:






Statesborough Blues, but others here too:






The intro just slays me:






And of course, there's this:


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

So good, so unsung:






So many examples from this guy, but this is a solo as opposed to an instrumental:






And a different take on the same tune:


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

For me almost every George Harrison solo with the Beatles is complete. They are often only a few bars but they add to the song. They make a statement then they are done.


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## HighNoon (Nov 29, 2016)

Kerry Brown said:


> For me almost every George Harrison solo with the Beatles is complete. They are often only a few bars but they add to the song. They make a statement then they are done.


Just thinking of Something.....note perfect.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

God. Everytime I think of a song, it's here. Even Mountain. Then this came to mind.




and I'm trying to think of an Allman Brothers song that doesn't have a great guitar solo. These guys might qualify too.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I think the best solos are the ones that fit the song and tell a little mini-story inside the song. Not so much the long, pretentious, self-aggrandizing solos that are out there. Although I like some of those too, I just don't think they are as hard to create as a tight, meaningful solo that doesn't lose the attention of the non-musos in the crowd.

Something like the solo in Helter Skelter or Just What I Needed. Those are perfect solos, IMO.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

For me this song epitomizes good guitar. The guitar is simple but adds considerable impact to the song.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I like a long meandering flashy jam as much as anyone. But when a musician or a producer is able to set aside how much fun it is to stretch out, and lay something down that is EXACTLY enough, I find that something to be celebrated.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I remember my bandmate helping me write a solo for the Arkham Dispatch album I was on. It ended up being decent! Probably the most constructed solo I've ever played haha.

Whatever you're playing should help the song, however it happens.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

The solo from Aqualung was the first thing that I thought about when I saw this thread. Done on a 56 or whatever L.P. Jr. too as was the entire album.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Best solo ever recorded, starts at about 1:39:


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

mhammer said:


> I like a long meandering flashy jam as much as anyone. But when a musician or a producer is able to set aside how much fun it is to stretch out, and lay something down that is EXACTLY enough, I find that something to be celebrated.



Cherub Rock.


*ducks and runs for cover


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

For me it's either when lightning shoots out of the guitar, or I find myself in the middle of the dessert or on top of a cliff playing. At that point I have reached maximum solo completion.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

This song has both a keyboard solo and a guitar solo to end it. It's like the a relay race where the keyboard solo hands off to the guitar solo. I find both very satisfying! The keys in the moog solo are very "Jan Hammer" like and the guitar solo is the sublime Guthrie Govan. If you have just over 11 minutes check this out. Worth a listen for the whole song but if you're just interested in the solos they start at 6:24...


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

Yep November Rain . One of the best IMO. This one is from the eightees . The solo suit's the song. Its a slow balad that the solo almost cry's in the end to my ears. 2:45


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

reckless toboggan said:


> Cherub Rock.


I was thinking more of _Starla_.


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## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

All of my love. the horn/synth solo just fits perfectly.






A lot of brian may solo's seem to just fit the bill for the particular song. somebody to love is a good example; has a nice intro that matches the vocal melody and then a couple faster ascending leads with a nice bend at the end and bam right back into the song. This thing called love is one i've always enjoyed covering live that fits the song nicely.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Double post.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Distortion said:


> Yep November Rain . One of the best IMO. This one is from the eightees . The solo suit's the song. Its a slow balad that the solo almost cry's in the end to my ears. 2:45


Cheezy video and tune, but yeah, a well-structured appropriate, and complete, solo. I won't make peole here suffer, but The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" is equally, if not more cheezy, but has a decent self-contained, and "complete" solo by Tony Peloso. None of the excitement and flash of Guthrie Govan, or intensity that Brian May could pack into 20 seconds, but suited to the song just the same.

I've listened to a number of live videos from The Tedeschi-Trucks Band, and I have yet to find any of Derek Trucks' solos on the various performances of _Midnight in Harlem_, no matter how different from each other, that _don't_ sound like they have been worked out in meticulous detail such that they build and build and build, riff upon riff, without a single wasted note, ending at just the right point.

Jeff Beck does some Tele magic in Stevie Wonder's _Lookin For Another Pure Love_ at the 1:48 mark. It's simple, soulful, restrained, but a perfect contrast to the rest of the song, with a little nod to Les Paul at the end.


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

jb welder said:


> I was thinking more of _Starla_.


Love that one.

Silversun Pickups copped that frenetic type sound on the Waste It On solo.

Jesus, I / Mary Star Of The Sea has a bit of a solo on it.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Hamstrung said:


> This song has both a keyboard solo and a guitar solo to end it. It's like the a relay race where the keyboard solo hands off to the guitar solo. I find both very satisfying! The keys in the moog solo are very "Jan Hammer" like and the guitar solo is the sublime Guthrie Govan. If you have just over 11 minutes check this out. Worth a listen for the whole song but if you're just interested in the solos they start at 6:24...


Great song. Reminds me of a shorter and less frantic version of Yes' "Gates of Delirium". In these cases, I think of the solos as the song and not an appendage to the song. 

Solo section starts around 8:10, if anyone's interested.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Guitar solos are great if well done and last for not longer than about 20 seconds.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Steadfastly said:


> Guitar solos are great if well done and last for not longer than about 20 seconds minutes.


Pfffffft....Corrected for you.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

two minutes of bliss at 4:25.


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