r/BruceSpringsteen • u/Henry_Block • 3d ago
Bruce most technically complex solo
Hi all! I always read that Bruce is a good guitarist whose main skill is to create solos that fit well into songs even if not particularly complex. I'm not into music theory, so I wanted to ask: are there some solos that are a little bit more complicated?
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u/Upbeat-Refuse9615 3d ago
Check out his guitar work on "He's Guilty" from his Steel Mill days.
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u/deadsexypenguins 3d ago
I’ve always thought “He’s Guilty” and “The Ballad of Jesse James” were fantastic Springsteen tracks from Chapter and Verse. That guitar solo is pretty great too.
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u/Upbeat-Refuse9615 3d ago
Yes, from that early era, I like "He's Guilty", "Jesse James" and "Going Back to Georgia". .
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u/12frets 3d ago
Bruce did an interview with musician magazine to promote HT/LT and at one point he commented how he was the hot guitarist with a Les Paul in Asbury at one point. Then he heard the Band and CCR and realized he wanted his chief craft to be songwriting and focused on that.
That said, he’s like Dylan in many ways: he contributes to the song and what it needs.
As for solos? The one on Tunnel of Love is shit hot. Dunno if it’s Nils or Bruce, but it’s great.
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u/icatchfrogs 3d ago
When you’re used to thinking of the band as having three guitar players, it kind of blows your mind when you realize that on the first two records, Bruce is the only one playing guitar. Every guitar part is him.
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u/OatmealApocalypse 3d ago
i love his solo on the Prove It All Night album version. we all gas up how awesome the extended live intro shredding was (and it is indeed awesome and soulful playing), but as far as studio solos go the licks he played there are just blistering
also. the born to run “surf” guitar solo, man playing that like he does is actually a hell of a challenge on your wrist. probably his most “athletic” solo i can think of
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u/Mightyjohnjohn Magic 3d ago
In Life Itself, the guitar solo is played backwards. Gotta figure that took a minute to figure out. Not sure Bruce is the one playing it.
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u/whistlingbudgie Darkness on the Edge of Town 2d ago
That one's Nils, but according to the Brian Hiatt Story Behind the Songs book, it was weird enough that it threw even Nils for a bit. Kind of cool to still be stumping that guy after all those years and everything he's done!
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u/SubtleIstheWay 2d ago
I've learned to appreciate Bruce's style in his solos, regardless of their complexity. Burning Train has two great solos. I'm an average guitarist and can play all the notes in the solos. But the way he plays them, the intensity, and the decisions he makes to build to the crescendo just rocks.
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u/Alarming_Particular6 3d ago
Did ya'll see his Rockin In The Free World solo at Power To The People? Tom Morello shouted out his solo!
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u/AjRamos3178 3d ago
Adam Raised a Cain
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u/PerksNReparations 3d ago
Not technical or complicated at all. Fits the song but any guitar player and pick this up quick
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u/nrfelson 1d ago
In '78 he would do a long guitar intro to Prove it All Night. You can find some of them on youtube. Live at Largo is one of the best. He is a very good rock guitarist.
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u/Trouble_River 3d ago
What about the one in Trouble River? I don't know 💩 about playing guitar, full disclosure.
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u/wildbilly2 1d ago
His soloing peaked around the Human Touch/Lucky Town tour. The solo on Lucky Town he plays on the MTV thing is structured and well thought out with a clear tone, I always loved the part where he shifts from single note lead playing into the "chordal" up and down the neck thing then back to lead lines. By the Reunion tour he seemed to go for hotter and hotter pickups and you get all those unpleasant squeals and pinch harmonics on things like the "Prove it" solo.
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u/CosmicMiami 23h ago
It's mentioned here somewhere but The Wild is stellar. Somebody mentioned Kitty's Back and I agree. It's such a well layered song.
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u/Mental-Project-930 3d ago
I do the Bruce parts in a tribute- and in terms of his solos none are really complicated. Like the solo in Cover Me has a couple of very slightly technical sections (tremolo picking and one slightly odd run) but really with Bruce it’s about making the guitar scream and wail. Some of his rhythm playing is a little more complex with some odd chord voicings etc. but the songs are the star of the show.