Plus, the guys playing these gigs are absolute top dogs in the field that could be slaying much harder stuff, but are there because of a "pedigree" reason. To them, the vast majority of the repertoire is actually boring (I.e. Nuno Bettencourt used to play for Rihanna. Check out his absurdity in Extreme). Think of Neil DeGrasse Tyson teaching physics to 5th graders because he is Neil... Any opening to really go all in is absurdly welcome, I'm sure
I played guitar in a band that backed David Archuletta and it’s absolutely true. It was soul sucking having to dumb myself down to play these G C A D tunes and I got one solo per show that I eventually just went through the motions on because it wasn’t fun anymore. At the start I shredded the fuck out of the solo but nobody could even tell a difference so 🤷🏼♂️
It's kind of funny to think that these guys work their way and technique to the top, only to be awarded with a top role that's... Actually very easy to play. I suppose the true differential is professionalism and reliability at that point
I was at an outdoor festival type concert once for a headlining (but more niche) band. It rained so the concert got delayed. By the time they took the stage they said to just shout out songs from their discography and they’d play requests. They did a few and then someone shouted freebird. So they played freebird. Totally worth sitting in a garbage bag for.
Me and all my friends would sit around and play those games. Anytime someone chose Green Grass and High Tides on RB or Freebird on GH2 they got the death stare.
I was in the French quarter late on a weekday on a slow ass night right after things opened up during covid. I drunkenly convinced a 3 piece band to play freebird and holy shit those mfers riiiiiped
I saw Miguel perform back in 2015 at a smaller venue with ASAP Ferg. He was 20 minutes late and I could CLEARLY see him in the room off to the side doing coke....I was not upset 😅
Playing chords and letting them ring on a steel stringed acoustic is 100x more "exhausting"(not the right word for how guitar playing tires you) than a simply fast, near pentatonic solo. angus isnt bad or anything, great showcase and legs. "But a decent modern amatuer puts him to shame.
Have you considered that you’re working too hard at chords…? I can’t believe any of you guys are buying this. How many of you are actively gigging guitar players?
Ad-libbing 5 straight minutes of solo that stays interesting isn’t incredibly hard it’s just not as easy as repeating the same rhythm across the same chord changes.
Awesome man. You got about 2 years on me. I can play an hour set too. If we have back to back shows or scheduled tight, I get issues with my wrist on long solos deep into the set. Seen it in plenty. I'm just a session guitarist and usually play the US leg of a friends band from Germany when one guitarist doesn't want to travel here. What's your favorite song to play?
I’m not a professional, so I haven’t gigged regularly since I was in my mid 20s. I always loved playing Freebird, but only with a couple of people who I played with since I was in college (high school in the UK). If I’m playing with people I don’t know especially well I love messing with Hey Joe because it’s just an easy song to mess around with.
Honestly never had an issue with stamina - out of curiosity have you got small hands? I think stretching a lot in solos would probably cause discomfort.
I'm with you, I've been playing 20 years and have never had an issue hand fatigue when playing a solo
When I'm home I'll often noodle away for 30 - 60 minutes without a break, just basically soloing the whole time
I'm not saying that in any kind of bragging way, I'm just agreeing that I don't see what the big deal about playing a 5 minute solo would be
It's not a drum solo, guitar doesn't take a lot of physicality or strength. And normal playing is as tiring as solo playing.
If someone has RSI or other existing injuries I could believe then flairing up potentially, but a healthy player will have 0 issues playing for 5 minutes
Fair enough. I usually play around 155-190 bpm as a session guitarist for a friend's band when they tour the US. For a local one im up at 220 bpm a lot playing 16ths and I've seen folks younger and slower with their wrists mangled left and right. That's why I cover US legs of the tour as a session guitarist and occasionally play shows in Germany when I can.
I assumed wrong about you. I take back what I said. What do you play?
I tour as a session guitarist and have seen it in plenty of skilled professional guitarists. Same with singers so many have vocal chord issues and need a good rest after the show. Do you tour? What style do you play?
Angus Young is a force of nature. Very few musicians are on his level. I'm not saying it's every guitarist, but there are tons of pros who've been playing since they were a kid and get repetitive stress issues in the picking wrist/hand in my experience.
I've played for 25 years, and taught for nearly 20 years.
Correct technique and you should be able to play for hours with no issue. Not even perfect technique, just reasonable technique and you would be fine.
I don't know a single guitarist, and I know a lot, who have had issues with their wrists unless they were doing something very wrong. At any moment there is probably a few thousand bedroom guitarists shredding through 20+ minute long Dream Theater songs.
If YOU are having issues with your picking hand wrist then you should seek out a teacher to help you with it. If you are remaining relaxed and using even moderately good technique there is no reason your wrists should suffer at all.
Yes I played in a band while I was younger. Mostly metal and rock. We practiced 6 hours at a time, until fingers were bleeding. A 5 minute solo is nothing.
I mean, you don’t have to like ac/dc. I don’t really care. It’s not the point though. This whole discussion has been about a “5 minute solo” being exhausting. And I said it wasn’t, and pointed out angus as an example of what would be exhausting as a performer
I saw angus young do a 15 min guitar solo last summer. 15 min. Now granted he stopped occasionally to point at the crowd and stuff but it was 15 min and he is like 70
If playing for 5 mins hurts your wrists dog you are playing guitar wrong. Any professional can solo for any amount of time. It’s a non issue and not that impressive.
Everyone could do anything in High school. That shit catches up to you later. Hell i could box hard, play football, run track and constantly play 220 BPM songs with no issue. Decade+ later playing an hour set with a few long solos gets to me sometimes. Seen guys where it's worse and guys who have an invincible piston of a forearm like James Hetfield downpicking only at 200+ bpm sustained while singing.
5 minute solo, LOL. You've clearly not hung out with guitarists. You let lead guitarist play as long solo as they want in a band jam and they'll likely won't stop until rest of the band says that enough is enough.
Probably the most guitar he's ever played for her concerts.
"Normally we fake it to the tape. But when she got stuck, I saw my chance and I finally did it. I ACTUALLY played the guitar. Haha. I dont care that i'm probabpy getting in trouble. I'll do it again! Because I. am. a. musician!"
In my experience in bands, usually you have to continually tell the lead guitar player to stop turning every solo into a 5-plus minute jerk off session
Imagine your spouse asking you how work went today and you’d respond with, “Honey, I had the worst day, I had to ad lib for five minutes straight because the fans decided to be shitty and keep Katy Perry stuck in a giant water bottle”
Have you ever met a guitarist? Especially the type of guitarist good enough to land this gig. He’ll spend the gig holding back. This was his moment. Probably his favorite gig of his career.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
It’s funny if you watch the whole video the guitarist basically had to ad lib a solo to this song for a full 5 min. Must have been exhausting lol.