Guitar solo

A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular music such as blues, swing, jazz, jazz fusion, rock and heavy metal, guitar solos often contain virtuoso techniques and varying degrees of improvisation. Guitar solos on classical guitar, which are typically written in musical notation, are also used in classical music forms such as chamber music and concertos.

Guitar solos range from unaccompanied works for a single guitar to compositions with accompaniment from a few other instruments or a large ensemble. The accompaniment musicians for a guitar solo can range from a small ensemble such as a jazz quartet or a rock band, to a large ensemble such as an orchestra or big band. Unaccompanied acoustic guitar music is found in folk and classical music dating as far back as the instrument's first use in western music, the use of an acoustic guitar as a solo voice within an ensemble dates back at least to the Baroque concerto.

The classical guitar is an acoustical wooden guitar with six strings, usually nylon, as opposed to the metal strings used in metal stringed acoustic guitars used in other genres. Classical guitar is typically played by plucking individual strings with the fingernails or the fingertips. A classical guitar solo concert is typically called a recital; it may include a variety of works, e.g. works written originally for the lute or vihuela by composers such as John Dowland (b. Ireland 1563) and Luis de Narváez (b. Spain c. 1500), and also music written for the harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti (b. Italy 1685), for the baroque lute by Sylvius Leopold Weiss (b. Germany 1687), for the baroque guitar by Robert de Visée (b. France c. 1650) or even Spanish-inspired music written for the piano by Isaac Albéniz (b. Spain 1860) and Enrique Granados (b. Spain 1867). Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Germany 1685) is another composer who did not write for the guitar specifically, but whose music is often played on it as his baroque lute works have proved highly adaptable to the instrument.

Of music written originally for guitar, the earliest influential composers stem from the classical period. They include Fernando Sor (b. Spain 1778) and Mauro Giuliani (b. Italy 1781), it is noted that their music can be seen to be potentially influenced by Viennese classicism. In the 19th century guitar composers such as Johann Kaspar Mertz (b. Slovakia, Austria 1806) were influenced by music written for the piano. I Francisco Tárrega (b. Spain 1852) wrote more uniquely guitar music, incorporating stylized aspects of flamenco's Moorish influences into his romantic miniatures. This was part of late 19th century European trend towards musical nationalism. Albéniz and Granados contributed to this movement as they wrote within the same time period.

Some classical guitarists play concertos, which are solos written for performance with the accompaniment of an orchestra. Fewer classical guitar concertos have been written compared to concertos for multi-instrumental orchestras. Some potentially notable ones could include Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasía para un gentilhombre. In the 2000s, it has been noted that classical guitar is appearing more in classical music, as contemporary composers are increasingly writing guitar concertos.

Composers of the Renaissance period who wrote for four course guitar include Alonso Mudarra, Miguel de Fuenllana, Adrian Le Roy and Guillaume de Morlaye. Composers of the baroque guitar include Gaspar Sanz, Robert de Visée and Francesco Corbetta. From approximately 1780 to 1850, the guitar had composers and performers including: Filippo Gragnani (1767–1820), Antoine de Lhoyer (1768–1852), Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841), Francesco Molino (1774–1847), Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829), Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840), Dionisio Aguado (1784 – 1849), Luigi Legnani (1790–1877), Matteo Carcassi (1792–1853), Napoléon Coste (1805–1883) and Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806–1856). Guitar soloist Andrés Segovia popularized the guitar with tours and early phonograph recordings in the 1920s. Modern classical guitar solo performers who are known for playing modern repertoire include Kazuhito Yamashita, Agustín Barrios, Paul Galbraith, and John Williams.

The term "guitar solo" often refers to electric guitar solos played in blues and in rock. The use of a guitar solo as an instrumental interlude was developed by blues musicians such as Lonnie Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and T-Bone Walker, and jazz like Charlie Christian. Ernest Tubb's 1940 honky tonk classic, "Walking the Floor over You" was the first "hit" recording to feature and highlight a solo by a standard electric guitar—though earlier hits featured electric lap steel guitars.

Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Reed played in Chicago in a style characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums. In the late 1950s, a new blues style emerged on Chicago's West Side pioneered by Magic Sam, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush on Cobra Records. The 'West Side Sound' had strong rhythmic support from a rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums and as perfected by Guy, Freddie King, Magic Slim and Luther Allison was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar. Other blues artists, such as John Lee Hooker had influences not directly related to the Chicago style. John Lee Hooker's blues is more "personal," based on Hooker's deep rough voice accompanied by a single electric guitar.