#421 Singing the guitar solo

Never stop wailing.

When you’re singing along with the lyrics of a song and a guitar solo starts up make sure you keep onnnnnn going.

We can’t have dead air in your steamy morning shower or all the fans will just hear the sound of you soaping up your armpits and blowing your nose. And that screaming mosh pit in your Toyota Camry is just jumping for more. You better blast those high-pitched guitar notes or they’ll go home cold and disappointed.

Never stop wailling.

When the words fade out and the guitar fades in it’s your big chance to keep the excitement flowing.

Maybe you already have practice from singing all the frontman and backup singer parts from the rest of the song. Now all you have to do is add in the guitar solos your fingers can only dream of playing. You’ll soon go from Axl to Slash in November Rain, start hitting the big notes in Bohemian Rhapsody, and you may even find yourself synthing along with Tainted Love.

“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to — boomp, boomp — run away. I’ve got to — boomp, boomp — get away.”

Yes, you do have to get away — get away from the notion of your sing-a-long stopping when the guitar starts slashing, that is. People, when you’ve sung the first six minutes of Stairway to Heaven there’s no way you can disappoint that packed arena now. So get to the front of the stage and shred that axe, verbally.

Feel free to also wobble your voice when you step on your air distortion pedal which may involve using meow’s for all the notes. “Meow meow meEEOW meow meow meEEOW,” you meow, in a beautifully sweaty, head banging daze.

Be one with the guitar solo, be one with the song, and be one with a few big sweeping moments of

AWESOME!

Photos from: here and here

47 thoughts to “#421 Singing the guitar solo”

  1. Mmmmm, love me a good music-related post.

    If you’re not singing the guitar (or keyboard/organ, or banjo, or harmonica, or drum) part, you’re not doing it right!

    Perfectly noted how, when you’re solo singing, you’ve gotta multitask all the parts. Though it’s tricky to get the timing without leaving a band member without representation, it’s worth the effort. Can’t disappoint the Camry Crowd!

    One of my sister’s and my favorites is the beginning part of “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago. I think it’s because that’s the song we were singing when we realized that we both do this, hardcore. It was awesome.

  2. Wow, didn’t know Neil posted this early.

    Anyway, I have a great entry: Watching the sun rise. I don’t know why, I just love doing it. Whenever I wake up late I’m dissapointed that I didn’t see the sunrise. I also sometimes go outside with my breakfast for extra awesomeness.

    And I agree with the guy above me, air drumming is awesome.

    1. Curious- Was this the one by the Osmond’s? Took me back-awesome!
      And insync (to me anyhow), again with #198, the “Never Ending Story” song was the next que…clue perhaps to this:
      “Awesome-ever-after!”

  3. YES!!! You have GOT to sing a long with ALL the instrumentals… guitar, drums, keyboards, bass… all of it! Even if your friends think you’re weird to do it… if anything they’re weird coz they DON’T do it… just coz it’s no fun if you don’t… =D

    1. Although I love Rush, I’d have to say Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Guns n’ Roses is one of the best for this as is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd!

      1. “Comfortably Numb” was the first song I listened to and sang aloud this morning. Then as the sun rose over the mountain top from the other mountain tops across the big rock, “Wish you were here” and a whole lot of old Moody Blues, “Isn’t Life Strange”…”Better Go Now…”

          1. This brings me “back to #198”; my daughter taking pics off our camera came across me singing “Tainted Love” on my surprise birthday party this January, with “Rock Band”; unbeknownst until yesterday, I’ve been singing it so wrong!
            Guess I should be singing with the instruments solos more often, eh! LOL!

  4. All of my friends make fun of me when I sing along to guitar solos and meow to make a distorted sound…. now I know I’m not alone!

  5. Try to sing the instrumental parts of Dream Theater’s Change of Seasons, now that’s what I call awesome! :D

    1. HAHA YES!!!! Glad to see another Dream Theater fan on the board! Just listened to that song (The Live Scenes from NY version, aka the best version ever), what a masterpiece. I mean really. What an epic song. I LOVE singing/playing the Petrucci solo at around 15 minutes, the slow epic emotional one. Even though they’re all chaotic and I actually mouth along all the riffs. They got a lot of notes to memorize in a 24 minute masterpiece like that. I’ve got em all tho :)

      AWESOME!!!!!!!!! AND YOU ARE AWESOME!

  6. Is there some parallel to us non-musical folk (don’t worry, I’m stopping this–my daughter’s taking piano lessons but I can’t even read music)? I wondered if you can write on in a never ending verb and semicolon solo. OK maybe not, but I tried! Awesome!

  7. Total agreement. Works best if you capture the solo with proper voice inflections as well, including the wa wa bar. I’d go even further and say it’s mandatory to sing drum solos too.

  8. i love doing this! i saw sublime twice this summer and BOTH times the audience sang all the guitar parts :)
    the only thing better then a large crowd singing is a large crowd singing the guitar solo’s!

  9. love this. is seriously one of my favorite things. and the pic of that cat – too funny :) once again – well done, neil. awesomeness abounds.

  10. The beginning of Voodoo Child by Jimmy Hendrix is simply impossible to listen to without some serious-ass guitar singing. Awesome! :)

  11. How in the world are you going to truly show the world (or at least the car next to you) that you love a song if you cannot recite every single word as well as a decent impression of all instrumental parts?

    Another awesome moment – letting out a giant “Yeeeee-HAH!” at the beginning of a modern day American Anthem…Like “Sweet Home Alabama” or “Welcome to the Jungle”. Extra points for doing it while at a public event with a few too many in ya.

  12. There’s a song (Cake’s “Comfort Eagle”) that I recently realized I didn’t know half the words to, because I’m always too busy singing along with the guitar part.

  13. YES!! I love doing this!! My dad and I have been doing this together as long as I can remember!
    My friend and I also always put on a good show in her truck. Especially when Come Sail Away by Styx comes on. One of the best songs to sing/shred to. We have had many passers by laugh, smile, thumbs up, etc… hahaha
    Definitely AWESOME!!

  14. It’s been a ritual for my friends and I to sing Bohemian Rhapsody instead of Happy Birthday for years now. And yes, we drunkenly belt out the guitar solos. The most awesome addition is that when you’ve done it that often, everybody knows the seperate parts, and you end up with a full band effect. Awesome.

  15. By far one of the BEST solos to sing is

    “Sister Christian”

    by Night Ranger circa 1983

    You’re motorin’ !

  16. I only do this when I’m alone.
    I love Taylor Swift…Her songs are great.
    I often just listen to her songs played by the guitar
    and sing along.

  17. You dealt with some engaging things in this post. I found this by searching Yahoo and I must admit that I already subscribed to the website, it is extremely good (;

  18. I just stumbled over this post and immediately had to think of the band Van Canto.
    They are covering metal songs without any guitars, just with their voices.
    And they do truly AWESOME guitar solos :D

  19. Woooahh, before even clicking on the link to read the whole thing, I thought to myself “The first solo I tend to sing out loud is the last solo on November Rain”… Ha ha!

Comments are closed.