Favourite Guitar Solo

Mine would have to be "YO MAMA" from SheiK Yerbouti. Is this anyone else favorite?

LJACKS51@MAINE.MAINE.EDU

what about watermellon in easter hay?

Patrick Hofer (patricks-clubhouse@mail.utexas.edu)

Mine eeez solo from Bamboozled by love, Halloween 81.

Guy F. LeBlanc (bt853@FreeNet.Carleton.CA)

Sleep Dirt and WMIEH for me!

Martin Gregorie (Gregorie@LFGMS.logica.com)

My Guiitar Wants to Kill Your Mama from WRMF Unplugged!!

Seltzaboy (seltzaboy@aol.com)

"Outside Now" from BTHW, and of course i would have to second "Willie The Pimp."

Greg Fellman (greg@mail.binc.net)

I Come From Nowhere

"Peter de B. Harrington" (Harring@Helios.phy.OhioU.edu)

MONTANA!!

StevieSkeg (stevieskeg@aol.com )

Right now I am wavering between a few favorite solos:
"Pink Napkins" from Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More
"Rat Tomago" from Sheik Yerbouti
"Willie the Pimp" from Hot Rats
"Penguin in Bondage" from Roxy and Elsewhere
"Packard Goose" - Joe's Garage

There's others I ALWAYS come back to, as well:
"I'm the Slime" & "Dirty Love" - Overnite Sensation
"Transylvania Boogie" - Chunga's Revenge
"Stuff up the Cracks" - Ruben & the Jets

Dr. Funk

J. Shapiro (jshapiro@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu )

How so many folks can restrict themselves to one solo is beyond me. :)

All of these are high in the running for favorite solo for me :

  1. St. Etienne
  2. Sinister Footwear III
  3. Drowning Witch - first solo on original album version
  4. Music For Guitar & Low Budget Orchestra
  5. Rat Tomago
  6. Them Or Us
  7. Inca Roads - OSFA version
  8. Filthy Habits - studio version
  9. Shut Up'n Play Yer Guitar
  10. Easy Meat - Tinseltown version
Sorry for the lack of restraint.

Pat Buzby (spb0377@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu)

Hey, everybody's entitled to my opinion!

I like everything already mentioned, with special honors for:

Ship Ahoy
The Deathless Horsie
I Promise Not to Come in Your Mouth
Napkins of any Color
MAJNH version of Stinkfoot
Original version of Stinkfoot
All versions of Stinka Roads
Andy
Best Band version of Trouble Every Day
If Only She Woulda
Them or Us.... serious Floyd Rose abuse & triple digital delays for those "ungodly tweezed noises".

Gary Worsham (gworsham@ix.netcom.com )

There are a lot Fz solos I really love. Is there anybody out there that love FIRE and Chains from MAJNH like myself?

Juan Herrero (Gonzalo.Musitu@uv.es )

what about inca roads????????
?did a vehicle did a vehicle

Bill Rock jr (BDGT10B@prodigy.com )

There are tons of them I really love ass well. I could listen to "guitar" all day long. But I find I go back to "Watermelon in Easter Hay" an awful lot. I remember the day I called 818Pumpkin right after Frank died and they were playing "Watermelon..." as the message. Now it really hits me hard to hear it...

- Jason

Jason Allan (muzicman@solar.sky.net )

My absolute alltime favorite FZ solo has to be the one in Inca Roads, on TCDTOS Volume 2. I also like My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama. Like the studio version of Stinkfoot, he does an acoustic solo followed by an electric solo.

RMILES127 (rmiles127@aol.com )

This week I have three. ST. ETIENNE, OUTSIDE NOW (Broadway version) and TORTURE NEVER STOPS pt. 2 (TBBYNHIYL).

Play your uterus son...!

DR.KLANG

ZORP SONIC STORAGE SYSTEMS (drklang@ix.netcom.com )

FAVORITE FZ SOLOS

This came up a few weeks back, but I thought I would put my two cents in and wait for feedback from the rest of you -- I'd like to hear your response.

I would have to say that for FZ guitar solos, my favorite is from Inca Roads off the One Size Fits All album. Then, of course, are the two solos on Overnight Sensation -- in Zombie Woof and in Montana (I guess you'd have to add I Am The Slime solo as well). These studio solos were near perfect in composition and playing. Finally, I think the solo in Yo Mama (one of Zappa' s favoirtes, or so he said in an 80's interview) and Sheik Yerbouti Tango off the Sheik Yerbouti album are also deserving of special mention. (By the way, I must correct myself -- the Inca Roads solo was dubbed in later, it having been done for a live TV studio audience).

But heck, you can go back to the stuff he did in Hot Rats or Grand Wazoo, as well. It was all great, but none of it is as polished as his work in the seventies. Of course, there are so many solos that came out later, and so many of them blow me away, especially the ones done in whole tone scales, that it is hard to pin it down -- but, I still stick with the Inca Roads solo if I had to choose a favorite.

Anyone else want to share their opinion? Look forward to hearing from you.

Michael B. Kassel (kassel_m@ucen.flint.umich.edu )

I'd add "Rat Tomago" from Sheik Yerbouti also, and "Black Napkins" from Zoot Allures.... It's way too hard to pick just one solo as the best.

Ken

Ken Nakata (kenn@eden.rutgers.edu )

My favorites are "Rat Tomago" ("Sheik Yerbouti") and "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama"(" Weasels Ripped My Flesh").

Brad Lumley (mlumley@chattanooga.net )

Chunga's Revenge from Chunga's Revenge. I always liked Donald Duck, the only reprobate on the Disney lot, and Mr. Zappa and his wah made the guitar sound like him.

Paul Hinrichs (paulhinr@vnet.ibm.com )

To name a few,

50-50
Montana
Yo Mama
Rat Tomago
SUAPYG (1st and 2nd)
Winos do not march, on Guitar
Packard Goose
The Illinois Enama Bandit, on in New York

Jacques Lagasse (jlagass@cc.umanitoba.ca )

I think the solo he did with Dweezil was on "Sharleena"...It was also released as a flexidisc from Guitar Player in '87

AMBIDEXTROUS REX The band, the myth, the legend

Ambidexrex (ambidexrex@aol.com )

His solo in the studio version of Peaches en Regalia from the Hot Rats album. I memorized the solo from a score I performed in HS (way back when!!) with an 18 piece band.

Vcroman (vcroman@aol.com )

My $0.02...

Heavy Duty Judy
Return of the Son of Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar
Inca Roads

Larry

Ambidexrex (ambidexrex@aol.com )

How bout "Stuff up the cracks" and I Don't Want to Be Drafted "

HotPlatter (hotplatter@aol.com )

Listening to "Roxy & Elsewhere" not long ago I realized how spectacular the solo in the original "Penguin in Bondage" was. Besides the incredible tone, the sheer quantity of memorable/funky/melodic/rhythmic licks tossed out during a mere three times through a standard blues progression is wholly inspiring.

Other faves:

I Come From Nowhere
Punky's Whips (BS version)
Cruisin' For Burgers (MAJNH version)
The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution (the overdubbed solo that comes in halfway through or so)
And of course the original Inca Roads (original meaning the edited version as it appears on OSFA rather than the complete Helsinki solo...FZ knew exactly what story he was telling when he trimmed it down.)

Keneally

Mike Keneally (scott@cts.com )

Mike, you are so right! An absolutely beautiful editing job, resulting the one of the most perfectly constructed solos ever recorded.

John H.

John Henley (jhenley@mail.utexas.edu)

I must add the blistering "Pinocchio's Furniture" from SUNPYG. It has to be the best 2-3 minutes of guitar work that I have ever heard. For some reason which I cannot explain, this solo has stuck to my psyche for over 10 years.

Seizure, Marcus

MARC S. GREENBERG (s012msg@desire.wright.edu )

The fretless solo in the original "Wind Up Working In A Gas Station" always nailed me with its shamelessness. The original studio version of "Cosmik Debris" has a very mean solo. The way the solo starts on the JABFLA version of "Call Any Vegetable" always made the hair on my neck stand up. I think those all fit within your parameters, eh?

Keneally

Mike Keneally (scott@cts.com )

The one in Alien Orifice Halloween 81 is AMAZING !

I'm also a fan of all the variations from Inca Roads (Shut Up...)

Patrick Gaumond (patrick.gaumond@fsa.ulaval.ca )

oh sure, try, The Evil Prince (YCDTOSA vol 4), crew slut (YCDTOSA vol 6) there's some more

Spencer Berrett (fz@ix.netcom.com )

Keneally just mentioned a few of mine....

But if you guys ever want to go back and check the FAQ, I still stand by my all time favorite, albeit a blues slant to my ear:

The out solo of "Stuff Up The Cracks" - shit - the Wha pedal, the tone...

it comes closest to what frank used to say about the "middle finger" quality that he'd hear. He had it on that solo....absolutely blistering.

tep@suzyscreamcheeze.altcit.eskimo.com

Don't forget the heaviest of them all, on 'City of Tiny Lites' on SY.

Peter Lidbaum (pli@iplab02.nada.kth.se )

One of my all-time favorites would have to be the solo after _Wet T Shirt Nite_, I think it changed names. It was called _Toad A Line_ on the album, then it changed to something Fembot. I like the accoustics of that solo, like it was performed at an outdoor small party.

Another one is the solo in _Any Kind of Pain_ from BTHW. It's short but it hits me in a certain way that I can't descrobe. Definitely a very crankable solo.

Other faves:
Get A Little (from WRMF)
Sexual Harrassment in The Workplace (from Guitar)
Inca Roads
Waka Jawaka
more than I care to type

S. Fortney (wave@u.washington.edu )

It's gotta be Pajama People for me. A buddy o' mine put it on the flip side of an ' tape he made for me.

lujon bustillos (lujon@transport.com )

My favorite guitar solos by Frank Zappa are:

RDNZL (on YCDTOSA2)
Inca Roads (on ONE SIZE FITS ALL)
Zombie Woof (on OVERNITE SENSATION)
Stink Foot (on APOSTROPHE)
Son of Orange County (on ROXY AND ELSEWHERE)
Orange County Lumber Truck (on AHEAD OF THEIR TIME)
Nine Types of Indrustial Pollution (on UNCLE MEAT)

by the way I would like to see what other people consider to be the best keyboard solo by Don Preston or George Duke or sax solos by Ian Underwood or Bunk Gardner or ..., performed on a record or in a concert by The Mothers or Zappa.

Joerg Zeyer (jeff@sol.cs.uni-sb.de )

Hiw about "Black Napkins"?

thomas n. chaltas (chaltas@primenet.com )

I don't know why but these weeks I've been listening 'carefully' to The Squirm -from the apocrypha set-. This solo has achieve one of the pole positions in my present-day preferences. It has everything in Zappa«s style. Originality in the beggining, melody searching in the middle, and an incredible 'chord progression' at the end. Sound effects are good also. So...could you ask for more????

Of course we could.....The Squirm part 2 or....THE SON OF THE SQUIRM -a 25 minute solo, maybe-.

Juan Herrero
University of Valencia.Spain

Juan Herrero (Gonzalo.Musitu@uv.es )

As always, this is one of my favorite threads... today I had the incredibly compelling string-werk on the Roxy version of "More Trouble..." going through my head. A favorite of mine when in high school, which I assert is when all important musical taste/personal chemistry is forged.

I think that in general, the much-maligned "Torture Never Stops" always has some very nice guitar work. Part 2 on TBBYNHIYL is quite sublime.

Gary Worsham (gworsham@ix.netcom.com )

chalone@smcvax.smcvt.edu writes:
>Heavy Duty Judy
>Return of the Son of Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar
>Inca Roads
>
>Larry
Good pix! Return... and Inca really do it for me. I love flying down the hiway with shut up blarin'... ecstacy!!!!!!!!!

But man, there are just so fucking many....

Hmmm.... I gotta add the following to my list:

Montana - an old-time favorite
the first tune off hot rats (peaches in regalia.? the first tune, anyway)
50 50 (for all-out, blazin' assault effect)
Zombie Woof (ouch!)
Apostrophe (jammin!)
wimos do not march - same beat as live Sharleena with Dweez on YCDTOSA 2 - love that beat...)
Yo mama (remember when nbc used the intro for their newscast promos?)
Watermelon...(sniff)
Outside now
Packard Goose
Rat Tomago (more ouch)
Deathless horsie (wild 10/4 timing)
black napkins (another classic melody)
Marqueson's chicken (huh?)
Them or us (see above)

Anyway...

that was fun, thanx for letting me rave. I couldn't pick any one of these as MY "FAVORITE" - they're all favs...and there's many more...

Nanook, king of the wondurland

Jacques Lagasse (jlagass@cc.umanitoba.ca )

jeff@sol.cs.uni-sb.de (Joerg Zeyer) writes:
>by the way I would like to see what other people consider to be the best
>keyboard solo by Don Preston or George Duke or sax solos by Ian Underwood or
>Bunk Gardner or ..., performed on a record or in a concert by The Mothers
>or Zappa.
It's got to be the Gumbo Variations.

Doesn't it? - S.

scottst.itg.bicc.ohsu@ohsu.edu

Brian Bernardini  wrote:
>"Any Kind Of Pain." IMHO, there has never been a more perfect guitar solo
>than the one on that song.
>
>-Brian
Have to agree with you. For some weird reason that I can't explain, this solo brings a tear to my eye every time I listen to it. It's full of feeling and emotion. It's got to be one of the more distinctly sensitive solos of FZ.

Dave

S. Fortney (wave@u.washington.edu )

> Have to agree with you.  For some weird reason that I can't explain,
> this solo brings a tear to my eye every time I listen to it.  It's full
> of feeling and emotion.  It's got to be one of the more distinctly 
> sensitive solos of FZ.
> 
> Dave
And to think, he made it all up on the spot that night. I have a tape of the original show. Quite amazing.

-Brian

Brian Bernardini (bigtop@omni.voicenet.com )

My favorite: "The torture never stops, Part II" on "The best band you never heard in your life". --Peter

Peter Moeller (a2251442@rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE )

Lest we forget "Deathless Horsie" from SUAPYG or even "Canarsie"

Joe Caravella (joe_caravella@atlanticom.com )

I speak as a relative newcomer to the wierd and wonderful world of FZ, but I must list this as my favorite FZ song so far - I can't listen to it without jumping up and doing the Funky Alphonso! :-)

I became a FZ fan when I borrowed a copy of "Apostrophe'/Overnite Sensation" from the local library (shockingly enough!). So far, I have that CD, "We're Only In It For THe Money/Lumpy Gravy," "Freak Out!", and "Joe's Garage". ANy suggestions as to what CDs I should get next?

Gregory Beitel (beitel@niktow.canisius.edu )

That's simple. Absolutely everything he's ever published. ( except maybe weasles ripped my flesh. I could never quite get behind that one.)

Rbeatty1 (rbeatty1@aol.com )

Though I love allthe GUITAR solos and the SU&PYG work, I feel that the stuff that had FZ at his peak when he combined rock gutz,jaz technique and primal electricity would be Willie the Pimp off Hot Rats. It's visceral, technically superb, absolutely restrained and tasteful and the fingers worked like his beloved synclavier. Frank's off-key dissonant excursions are wonderful,butthe absolute concision, balls and compositional tightness of Willie The Pimp, have not been surpassed in my estimation. It rocks, it soothes, it amazes and outrages and it's all tight as popcorn fart. It's the package and the number one contender for best guit solo. Rgds, renebond --30--

Les Wiseman (renebond@hakatac.almanac.bc.ca )

Watermelon in easter hay

Richard Mallett (rmallett@sierra.net )

rbeatty1@aol.com (Rbeatty1) wrote:
>That's simple. Absolutely everything he's ever published. ( except maybe
>weasles 
>ripped my flesh. I could never quite get behind that one.)
WHAT?????!!!!!????? That albumn is absolutely essential to any understanding of Frank Zappa's Music!

Kevin B. O'Brien (kob1@ix.netcom.com )

Rbeatty writes concerning FZ guitar solos on 10 july:
>That's simple.  Absolutely everything...(snip)  except maybe weasles
>ripped my flesh.  I could never quite get behind that one.
You mean WRMF-the title track/song-right? Surely not the entire album.

Kusaj C (kusajc@aol.com )

renebond@hakatac.almanac.bc.ca (Les Wiseman) wrote:
>Though I love allthe GUITAR solos and the SU&PYG work, I feel that the stuff 
>that had FZ at his peak when he combined rock gutz,jaz technique and primal 
>electricity would be Willie the Pimp off Hot Rats.  It's visceral, technically 
>superb, absolutely restrained and tasteful and the fingers worked like his 
>beloved synclavier.  Frank's off-key dissonant excursions are wonderful,butthe 
>absolute concision, balls and compositional tightness of Willie The Pimp, have 
>not been surpassed in my estimation.  It rocks, it soothes, it amazes and 
>outrages and it's all tight as popcorn fart.  It's the package and the number 
>one contender for best guit solo.  Rgds, renebond --30--
Trancefusion!

John V. Scialli (scialli@primenet.com )

"Rat Tomago" from Sheik Yerbouti does it for me every time.

"Hehh Hehh... Listen to him go!"

JeffRo (jrobison@xmission.com )

gworsham # ix.netcom.com@242:4900/99.0 faselte am 07.07.95
was zu "Re: Favorite FZ Guitar Solos":
ginc>  I think that in general, the much-maligned "Torture Never Stops" always
ginc>  has some very nice guitar work.  Part 2 on TBBYNHIYL is quite sublime.
YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That, is perhaps (IMHO) theeeeee best guitarsolo of FZ (I like it the best anyway). Usually I'm listening to the CD in my car (very loud) an when this particular piece of music comes, i often listen to it 5 or 6 times, using the repeat function of the CD-player. Although i can sing it almost backward (so to say) it really moves me almost every time (no sh**). There are some parts in that Solo, that always give me the chills.

Maybe I like it so much BECAUSE its not so typically for FZ, showing him somewhat "in the mood". Making me believe that someone who can play this kind of music can't be as "cynical" (sarcastical?) as he pretends to be.

CUl8r Wolfgang Bruske

Wolfgang Bruske (Wolfgang_Bruske@pusteblume.fido.de )

Recently, the esteemed Peter Moeller, a2251442@rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE, imparted:
: My favorite: "The torture never stops, Part II" on "The best band you 
: never heard in your life". --Peter
I rather like the version on YCDTOSA2 in Helsinki.

Sean B Purdy (sean@fastnet.co.uk )

kob1 # ix.netcom.com@242:4900/99.0 faselte am 11.07.95
was zu "Re: Favorite FZ Guitar Solos":

kinc>  >( except
kinc>  >maybe weasles ripped my flesh. I could never quite get behind that  
kinc>  >one.)
Right, its the same with me, I don't understand it ether. I prefer BWS. 
kinc>  WHAT?????!!!!!????? That albumn is absolutely essential to any
kinc>  understanding of Frank Zappa's Music!
I don't understand you !!!!! what's so essential in/on that album ???

Let's start a discussion :-) For my part, I find Weasels simply un- inspiring (uninspirired?). Sounds like Frank Zappa did have a bad day :-)

BTW I like CPIII or other "heavy" stuff of FZ.

Wolfgang Bruske (Wolfgang_Bruske@pusteblume.fido.de )

How about "Zomby Woof" from YCDTOSA 2? Well supported by a mean groove and some excellent drumming.

Steven Battisti (100226.1645@CompuServe.COM)

I still like "Eat that question." I guess I am in a rut.

"Peter de B. Harrington" (Harring@Helios.phy.OhioU.edu)

It has to be the "Tiny Twilights" from YCDTOSA 2.

Mihail Baba (mihail@crl.com )

Absolutely... I think that the two solos on side one of Burnt Weeny Sandwich are also hit greatest... It was a lyrical, compositional style, great use of wah, incredible. As much as I love his later playing, it's kind of a shame he abandoned this style. I believe these were recorded at the Ark in Boston, or at least one of them. Have you heard "Baked Bean Boogie"from YCDTOS#5? Has the same sound. The Sandwich is perhaps my favorite album of the countless thousands I have foolishly )in most cases, collected over the years.

SKATT99 (skatt99@aol.com )

apostrophe

Robert Kokoczka (CLAA24A@prodigy.com )

CLAA24A@prodigy.com says...
>apostrophe
>
For some reason, this is the solo that really does it for me. Altho.... the one in Pojama People is there too. It must be the guitar sound that Frank had during this period.

Brian Zavitz (bzavitz@fres2.glfc.forestry.ca )

My favourite is the solo on "Big Leg Emma"

Robin Gill (r.s.c.gill@ais.salford.ac.uk)

Back to aff-z stories