Less is more...

It's rare that in today's "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" days, that you see a guitar player on stage, tilt his guitar up in the air only to see lightning bolts strike his fretboard, the crowd clap louder, and strangely enough, the reverb in the room intensify... (a Guitar Hero reference for those that are GH challenged or who have been sleeping through the latest fad in gaming). If this HAS happened to you, man... I'm totally impressed, and slightly jealous.

In fact, quite the opposite seems to be happening in todays music trends. The crowd gets lost at the solo at times (especially if its boring and LONG), because they aren't able to continue singing along to the song.

The truth of the matter is this... LESS IS MORE! Musicians and songwriters alike, take heed of this advice. Less is and always will be more... although I'm speaking to guitar players today, the same translates to drums and vocals as well (or your instrument here)

I remember my first studio experience as a bass player... I was doing a session when I was about 17, and I had a small dictionary of runs and licks I wanted to make sure everyone heard. I was a cocky bugger at that age, and knew these runs were decent. When it came time to throw them in, the producer stopped the session and said "hey, uh... bass player... keep it simple". Later, our guitar player did something that I always thought was cool, and he too got the "less is more" talk, and it was ultimately a better project because of those wise 3 words that the producer kept preaching from behind his automated 64 channel board...

I think you could get away with the "more is kicking" mentality from about 1980 until Nirvana and the grunge movement happened, but it ultimately comes down to doing less runs, and definitely LESS guitar solos.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a guitar player now. I love to throw in a good solo here and there, when the part calls for it, or when the climax of the song forces me into some high string bends and pentatonic runs... but for the most part, I keep it simple. There's nothing wrong with a good solo sprinkled into the music, but don't make THAT the focal point of the album. We've had some artists here in the Tate Music Group studios over the past few months that we've convinced to remove as many as four solo breaks from a song... (yes 4), and all for the better in the end.

Those songs now have a radio playable length, will keep the attention of the listener better, and just sound cleaner!

Less is More! This is especially important to remember in the studio environment for clarity of the song (too much muddy's up a track), time, and money. Chances are, if you're in another studio you're paying for studio time... *(of course at Tate Music Group, the studio time is included in the deal, however, we still follow time guidelines)*. When you're buck counts on you hitting this solo perfect, I say scrap it and you'll be happier with the end product.

Don't feel you have to fill every space between vocal lines with a guitar solo... in fact, leave it to the imagination of the listener! Bands like Coldplay are great at achieving this... the Beatles as well! The absence of a solo is sometimes more powerful than a solo itself. Especially when the mind of the listener is expecting it. Just an "a-ha" trick to remember...

This will begin to get redundant if I don't wrap it up here, so just remember, LESS IS MORE, and... solos are overrated...

Keep it simple friends!