Let's talk about the best Mike McCready solos

[VinylGuy]

Also Wash...my god.

[Fuck You Jobu]

What is everyone's fascination with the solo on Last Exit? It sounds good, fits the song well and is a top 5 song for me, but his work on there, in my guitar-playing-opinion, is nothing worth writing home about.

You could say the same thing about the solo in Cinnamon Girl. Guitar wise simple but its one of the best ever. I don't mind simple just don't bore me.

I can understand that. I think that solo is horrible

[bada]

What is everyone's fascination with the solo on Last Exit? It sounds good, fits the song well and is a top 5 song for me, but his work on there, in my guitar-playing-opinion, is nothing worth writing home about.

You could say the same thing about the solo in Cinnamon Girl. Guitar wise simple but its one of the best ever. I don't mind simple just don't bore me.

I can understand that. I think that solo is horrible

Ha that's cool to each their own.

[Hatfield]

I've always loved this Even Flow solo. I wish his tone was this good when I saw them so many times in 2006.

[verb_to_trust]

I've always loved this Even Flow solo. I wish his tone was this good when I saw them so many times in 2006.

His tone sucked in 06 imo. Even Flow at Summerfest sounded like a giant fart exploding during the solo.....

[Hatfield]

I've always loved this Even Flow solo. I wish his tone was this good when I saw them so many times in 2006.

His tone sucked in 06 imo. Even Flow at Summerfest sounded like a giant fart exploding during the solo.....

I still can't get over that the greatest band in the world put out an album that "sounds" like S/T and had Mike McCready low in the mix and playing that awful tone. How does that happen?!

[Fuck You Jobu]

What is everyone's fascination with the solo on Last Exit? It sounds good, fits the song well and is a top 5 song for me, but his work on there, in my guitar-playing-opinion, is nothing worth writing home about.

You could say the same thing about the solo in Cinnamon Girl. Guitar wise simple but its one of the best ever. I don't mind simple just don't bore me.

I can understand that. I think that solo is horrible

Ha that's cool to each their own.

Haha it's cool, you can say it. I get a lot of flack for ripping on that solo. I just don't think he's a good guitarist at all. Outstanding songwriter, artist, singer, melody-writer, etc ... But he can leave his solos in the toilet.

Anyways, back to PJ.

I love the tone of the Daughter solo and there are some nice licks in it.

[zeb]

1/2 Full

[Birds in Hell]

I still can't get over that the greatest band in the world put out an album that "sounds" like S/T and had Mike McCready low in the mix and playing that awful tone. How does that happen?!

The awful tone and low-in-the-mix problems probably aren't unrelated.

[bodysnatcher]

Mike is the best pattern guitar player of our era

[warehouse]

i trust "immortality" was said?

[Norah]

I've always loved this Even Flow solo. I wish his tone was this good when I saw them so many times in 2006.

His tone sucked in 06 imo. Even Flow at Summerfest sounded like a giant fart exploding during the solo.....

I have no idea if his tone sucked or not in 06, I could barely hear him.

[Oh, Jimmy]

I still can't get over that the greatest band in the world put out an album that "sounds" like S/T and had Mike McCready low in the mix and playing that awful tone. How does that happen?!

If we're things related to Mike's tone...I haven't always kept up with gear changes through the years, but how does he manage to get such awful tone out of such sweet gear. I realize he uses a pedal or two that are known tone suckers, but with some of the amps I've seen in his rig it's unfathomable how he sounds so bad. Does he just have crappy taste/not know what good tone is?

[verb_to_trust]

I think hes changed him amplifiers over the years and he has also some unnecessary pedals.

I remember reading an article on Eddie Van Halen and his "brown" sound. They were on tour with Ted Nugent and "The Nuge" came out during Van Halen's sound check and asked to play through Eddie's setup and his special pedals he was playing through. He did......and it still sounded like Ted Nugent playing guitar. Eddies setup in those days was pretty simple, it probably still is. Its just mostly about the player. By the same token, not everyone who every bought the Ibanez tube screamer stomp box sounded like SRV......Mike is proof of that.

[Jorge]

I remember reading an article on Eddie Van Halen and his "brown" sound.

[Oh, Jimmy]

I think hes changed him amplifiers over the years and he has also some unnecessary pedals.

I remember reading an article on Eddie Van Halen and his "brown" sound. They were on tour with Ted Nugent and "The Nuge" came out during Van Halen's sound check and asked to play through Eddie's setup and his special pedals he was playing through. He did......and it still sounded like Ted Nugent playing guitar. Eddies setup in those days was pretty simple, it probably still is. Its just mostly about the player. By the same token, not everyone who every bought the Ibanez tube screamer stomp box sounded like SRV......Mike is proof of that.

Alot of that is true, but the whole tone is in the hands thing is overstated or maybe it's misunderstood. I agree with the notion to an extent, but there's ways to make up the ground. Is Johnny Ramone gonna sound like SRV if he plugs a Strat into a Tubescreamer and a Dumble? Hell no, but if learned some blues scales and how play a shuffle he could fake it pretty damn good. You're not gonna sound like anybody unless you approach the playing or the equipment in a similar way.


The thing I was getting at with Mike is his inconsistency. Why not stick with what sounds good, live and in the studio? I get if you wanna do some experimenting, but that shit needs to be decided in the rehearsal room. If guys like Warren Haynes and Rich Robinson can sound amazing night in and night out Mike has no excuse. The guy on the other side of the stage sounds pretty damn good most of the time too. There are definitely eras where I think Mccready was at the top of his game, but I don't think the causes of his playing slipping and his sound slipping are the same.

[gardenparty]

Two rippers from back in the day that I haven't seen mentioned. Just a Girl and November Hotel

[WaitingForBluey]

My favorite solo is still Daughter... Absolutely classic.

Honorable mention to 1/2 Full, Immortality, Life Wasted (the end), All or None, way too many to list really...

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

One of my favorites...

[E.H. Ruddock]

Guys, Wendy Carlos's Twin just gets it.