Guitar Solo #3 "Prelude" by Miles Davis

Today's extended guitar solo is from Miles Davis' album Agharta - I can't reccomend this album enough, people. But what you hear in the solo posted above (begins around the 11:30 mark) is the importance of tone. My gawd! The tone! I'll stick my neck and just make the claim - this is the most evocative and passionate guitar tone I have ever heard. It's like Jimi Hendrix on acid!

So, first, how does he do it? Well the "he" in this case is Pete Cosey, and he does it with the help of a very expensive boutique guitar effects system called the EMS Synthi A. It's become clear to me after decades of deciphering this solo that Cosey is using at least two expression pedals. An example of an expression pedal is the wah-wah, (listen to the beginning of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" that's a wah-wah) which adjusts the guitar signal's tonal content, emphasizing treble frequencies when pushed toe down, and cutting the treble and boosting the bass with the heel pushed down. Moving the foot on the pedal makes for very expressive, vocal-like sounds (much of the variety in the sound of our voice is created by opening and closing our mouths as we speak). So Cosey has a wah pedal he's employing here, but he's also got something which seems to affect the phase of his guitar signal.

Listen to 14:37-14:40! OMFG! This is one of those rare instances where his tone is so locked in that it sounds good no matter what's he's doing. Here's the important part to take away from all this: Pete Cosey has this INSANE tone but he's not just masturbating with it, he's adding something musically to the entire collaboration. Too often, when guitarists get a bunch of effects, they just start making noises, oblivious to whether or not it adds to the music. Cosey's too clever to fall into that trap. He finds a way to make the form and content of his guitar solo feed off of each other. The tone inspires notes which inspire tones - until everyone paying any attention is covered with chicken skin!

Now, there are some drawbacks to Cosey's system: namely since you're manipulating two expression pedals at the same time, you need to be sitting down. In fact all the Miles Davis videos of performances from this era, feature Cosey sitting down. For years I listened to this solo. Blindly imagining the man and the gear that produced it. Now in the digital age of instant access to history through YouTube, I've come to realize how inaccurately I imagined all this. But it doesn't take away from this, my favorite guitar solo.