InfiniteDreamer said:
Thin Lizzy is one of the greatest rock bands ever.
And Maiden drank a lot in their fountain. Fortunately. Thin Lizzy's guitar duels and solos in 3rds are a huge influence to Murray & Smith.
Yes, Thin Lizzy was an undeniably heavy influence on Maiden. But...
Steve has said on multiple occasions that his prime inspiration for those dual-guitar harmonies was Wishbone Ash - another 70s band worth checking out, if you haven't heard them, especially their first few albums.
If you haven't heard Wishbone Ash, I can tell you that when you do, you'll hear plenty of those dual-guitar harmonies, and you'll clearly see how it influenced Steve.
Finally, I wouldn't call those bits "solos". They are melodies which are written and played a specific way. And the Harris-written songs, I'll bet it was Steve who wrote them.
Generally speaking, a solo is written by the soloist and often partially (sometimes entirely) improvised.
But the line is hard to draw...
1. If I write a song, including writing a solo for the guitarist, and the guitarist plays my solo note-for-note, is that really a solo? I'm not so sure such "regurgitation" ought to count as a solo.
2. Consider a cover band. If the guitarist there plays solos note-for-note, is he soloing? Here I think the answer is yes, because he's playing something that was a solo on the original record.
One of the things that I listen for on live records is how much the solos differ from the studio versions. It's interesting to hear what parts are always played the same (the "written" parts) and which aren't (either rewritten or improvised).
Sorry, I'm done with my tangents now. You can all go back to talking about Thin Lizzy now.
. anyway, Marco has also played with Ted Nugent & Dolores O'Riordan-the vocalist form The Cranberries , he also got his solo album out last year....
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