need something amazing....

I personally like touch of evil and beyond the realms of death by judas priest you listen to a video and see how it sounds freekin awsome :wink: scroll down to where is says Glenn Tipton guitar special 2 if I could play those I would be in heaven

http://www.judaspriest.com/video/default.asp

I don't have a particular suggestion for a piece, but instead something that usually amazes people if a guitarist can pull it off. Get a looper (Boomerang, Boss Loopstation RC-20 or even a Line6 delay modeller) and use it to play a two or three part guitar piece.

-Greg

Each note and chord that a guitarist plays is the container for all the emotions, feelings and energy patterns that motivates us either to be passive or proactive. So the goal is to determine what is filling your containers. Work to strengthen your resolve for positive action, focus your spiritual will to accomplish your goals, bring your most creative insights to each moment in order to attract and allow for more beneficial outcomes.

Great guitarist are transmitting energy that initiates the true activity of their soul in accordance with the divine plan of their life. Your soul is very creative. It expresses its creativity in everything that you do. On this journey let a new consciousness emerge from within you, the consciousness of expressing creativity, of being creative. Allow your creativity to blossom into Ideas, insights, and revelations can come to you as you expand and express your creativity. Let this energize your intention to be creative and to express your creativity with feelings, experiences, and insights.

Explored in-depth into the workings of the human energy system so you can understand the interrelatedness between specific emotions and their impact, both positive and negative. The world you live in is a manifestation of an invisible Universe, far more powerful than the world you know. Unless you understand and come to know and trust this unseen world. This world of energy and Universal Intelligence you will struggle unnecessarily and life may be far more difficult than it need be.

I know this not the answer you wanted, you wanted someone to suggest a killer solo. Sorry, I consider everything I play to be the solo that rules the world. Even if I'm just improvising and its only in my little world. Basically what I'm saying is that you would impress the folks more with playing something that shows your own creative ability than stealing a solo from another guitarist. What about using a backing track and improvising along with that.

Trying to show you theres more to playing guitar.

Joe

I would play Voodoo Chile. If you play that perfectly it will beat just about any song. You must remember that you are being judged by people who may have no idea who Steve Vai is. Yes, they will recognize that you are playing some great guitar, but if they if they are not familiar with the song they have no real way to judge it. On the other hand, if you play a song that almost everyone knows and is familiar with AND YOU PLAY IT PERFECTLY, you will more than likely win. Because they will know this song. They will know you played great because they already know how the song is supposed to sound. Your song does not need to be that technical. In fact, the more difficult the song the more likelihood you will make mistakes.

There is one thing I know from playing gigs quite a long time. People love songs they are familiar with. People are not that crazy about songs they don't know, even if the song is good.

Hey Joe

I didn't see your post. I think we were writing at the same time. I like what you said. I think I gave almost opposite advice than you. But not really. I play almost all cover songs. And I pick songs that are popular and well liked. But when I solo I do my own thing like you said. I don't even worry about it anymore. I just go where my ears and fingers tell me to go. You are right. It works.

try Mystical potato head groove thing from Joe Satriani that will knock a few people back i think

Minus Human

I completely agree with Wes,

If you knock out voodoo chile (slight return), people will be floored. All the shredding the other guy is doing will seem stupid. Everyone will recognize it as soon as you start the wah intro.

Don't forget to do the lick where you toggle the pickup selector back and forth!!!

-Dustin

Hi Wes Inman

We are on the same wave length, different ways of explaining it. When I get asked to set in with a band they send me a list of songs their's and a few other bands covers along with the date, time, and place. The one coming up they sent 150 songs that I received first part of sept. Their really not interested in having me play the lead solo's note for note to the song, they can get any guitarist for that.

Their looking to expand beyond the normal and take things to another level. Which will help give them creative idea's and have fun. You have to give them more than what they payed for. You want folks going home in a daze with something to remember for a ever. Sure when playing local pubs folks want to hear the song as close to original and at the same time they want to hear and see more. Isn't that like being caught between a Rock and a hard place?

In other words be yourself and play your own material. If I was a judge an someone played same flash trick that every guitarist has done in the last 20 years and didn't expand on it creatively. You now what I'm saying. I would be more impressed if they got up there and improvised over a backing track that would show their true ability as a guitar player even if it had mistakes, thing is they tried. I would give credit on that alone.

Joe

There is/was a band in Danbury CT called Fast Idle. They were a popular and successful bar-band, and they had solid vocals and a sax or two. We had a lot of fun dancing to them.

As a cover band, they demanded that their lead guitarist play the songs exactly from the albums. They ended up cycling through a new guitarist every 3-6 months. It was a great paying gig, but there was no room for creativity.

Just a story that seemed to fit...

-Laz

thx for all your replies....heres a mini-update, lol

so as soon as i posted this i went to my room and started playing guitar....starting with my usual warm up routine (the whole chromatic 1-2-3-4 do that as quarters, then eights, then 16th, back, then 1-3-2-4, yadda yada and more lol) and i start going off.

and i stop and think, and for some reason i was like "o man, what if as like a break for everyone else stage crew n crud that they had a guitar battle or something (lol, i love my little world) and i started to zone out and i was pretending i was there at the show, and me and the other guitarist are up there...and make a long story short, not to sound cocky (i dont know, but everytime i say anythign about being more than average on guitar, i feel cocky and conceded) i played this awsome peice that was completely improv excepted i flowed into the riff off of "Smoke on the Water". it made me laugh, but it was jsut a great feelin, this great lilttle guitar piece with Smoke on the Water throne in. it hard to explain, but u know what i mean.

whenever i get "locked" into my zone is when i do the best playing.

so i called up that guy i take lessons from, who is called the best in lousiville(my city) and he knows his stuff like no other. So i call him up, as i had a piece in my head of what to play. My own material with a few familiar licks within it, but it doesnt emss up the flow. Because i figured out that at the end of the night of the star search, there is a huge difference between playing a incredible piece, than playing a great piece, but not yours. it lacks emotion, and when i heard him play that he was playign fast, that was it. but the thign i am worried about is that the crowds, the ones ive seen n e wyas, are basically saying speed determines if you are good or not. ive never believed that MADE you good or not, speed is just a expressive tool, but yea im rambling now.

so bottom line is this, im writing my own original piece that will throw in a roff or two that everyone will recognize, because at the end of that day, i want to go home knowing that i played MY piece great. i didnt just rip off someones solo. i mean the way me and my instructor think of it is, yea it takes skill to do a great solo of ur favorite album, but think of how much more skill it takes to write your own amazing solo.

thanks alot for everything, and ill keep u updated, (although the show isnt until nov. 7th)

MAKE THOSE FIGURES BLEED!!!

I'll say your on the right track and you'll do great. Amazing how when you look at things analytically to lay the ground work for success. Listen to the great ones and learn from them. You should experiment as much as possible to find new ways of doing things. Look for other non-traditional ways to express yourself. Also, expand your listening to include other types of music such as classical to even reggae, and see if you can learn from them and apply those lessons to whatever you play.

The basis of improvisation is to create spontaneously. The notes you choose for your improvisation are partially dictated by the scale associated with each chord. This is called playing changes. In performance situations, the rhythm section will be outlining the chord progressions in tempo, while you play improvised lines based on the associated scales. You should not think one chord at a time. You should be trying to construct lines that lead from one chord to the next.

The third and seventh of each chord are the notes that most define the sound of the chord. If you emphasize these notes in your improvisation, it will help guarantee that your lines will accurately imply the changes. Conversely, if you emphasize the other scale tones, it can add a harmonic richness to the sounds. There are many different approaches to free playing, but by its very nature, there are no rules.

Have Fun

Joe

If it were me? I'd do something totallly Different:

Does anyone remember Victor Borge? The Comedian Pianist? (no I'm not that old, I do remember seeing him when I was a lil kid). Go look him up somewhere on the net, or rent some DVDs if you can find em...you have time :)

Anyhoo.. this guy was a genious, clever musician in his own right.. a Master actually. But he had fun with it and brought the crowd with him. He didn't just go on stage and act like a concert pianist and just start playing all SOMBER like.

He do stuff like Introduce himself like you did in your first post. Then he say " and this was the first song I learned how to play' then he'd play it with all the mistakes and buzz and twings.. but his facial expressions would almost make you pee your pants, cuz it was too funny, then a few bars into it he'd stop. and go.. "but with much practice the song turned into..." And he'd nail it perfectly and make it sound beautiful.

He'd carry on like this throughout his act and it was brilliant. Not only did he entertain with his music, but with comedy also... he was a master of totally 'engaging' the crowd. People liked him cuz they new they would both laugh and hear some pretty awesome music from him.

My $.02 cents. :)

Good luck kiddo.

As a side note to that Victor Borge thing. Theres a pianist (around now) named David Lanz that plays around, he lives in Seattle, Washington (same as I). I thought he was really great and one of the better concerts ive been too. Check him out. (He is also my second cousin or something (my mom's cousin)). Hes a cool guy.

Hey, wishiwasthebest, good luck with it. The guy who won Guitarmageddon last year did a similar thing with his own riffs, and then worked into some familiar stuff (Smoke on the Water, Stairway, etc.)

You do something like that, with some classic rock, modern stuff, and (just to steal a bit of that kid's thunder) some good tapping on Eruption, and make it an exhibition of skill, talent, taste, and fun. (which, I think, is the direction you're going in.)

In any case, god bless, don't break your fingers, and show that tap-meister what for.