chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
This is how I interpreted the tenor of your previous message.To expand my thoughts, I have no aversion to all-instrumental music. My first love in music is classical music, which normally only involves an orchestra, though some have been written to incorporate choirs and solo voices, as well.
I certainly don't dislike guitar-centric compositions. Eric Johnson is a master at crafting musical compositions for guitar. They are very interesting and compelling, for me at least, to listen to. They are very creative, melodic, and have real movement. I don't consider these to be solos, per se. I consider them to be more of a composition. He's not the only one, but he comes to mind.
As for guitar solos, I don't actually dislike them. What I tend to dislike is the preoccupation with sticking them in every song. In my observation, things started to come to head in the hair metal of the '80s. Sure, we all loved the solos! We'd fast forward the cassette to the solo just to be amazed at it!
As things rolled into the '90s, I started to get a little bored with the cliche. As bands started to do songs that didn't necessarily feature a solo or which used much more simplistic approaches to one, I kind of admired the courage of it. It's like the song began to reassert itself as being more predominant than the solo.
So, my dissatisfaction is not with the solo, itself. It's more with a formulaic approach to it all. Sometimes, I think a song has more meaning if left without one and the listener is left with the overall impact of the song.
I too loved Classical music and was telling Kathy how whenever I think of music and how chords are, and sheet music vs tablature, my mind always goes back to the piano and how I learned to read music to learn piano.
:dood: