What happens when you gather ten world-class guitarists from completely different musical backgrounds—jazz, metal, blues, soul, rock—and give them one simple rule: solo over the same track? You get a masterclass in musical personality, phrasing philosophy, and the infinite expressive possibilities of six strings.
This collaboration featured players spanning the entire spectrum of guitar styles, each bringing their unique voice to a backing track that blends elements of Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, and The Beatles. The track is busy with chord changes—perfect for exploring different approaches to melody, harmony, and storytelling through the guitar.
Here’s what each player brought to the table, along with their insights into how they approached the solo.
Rabea Massaad: Dynamic Storytelling
Gear: Neural DSP Archetype Rabea plugin, custom-colored Music Man Cutlass with Bare Knuckle Triptych single coils
Philosophy: “My approach to this track was really just to accent the chord progressions, play dynamically, and just trying to give it a little bit of movement throughout the song.”
Rabea’s solo demonstrated how respecting the chord progression doesn’t mean playing conservatively. His lines flowed with the changes while building intensity throughout the piece. The dynamic control—knowing when to pull back and when to push—created a solo that felt like a complete musical statement rather than a collection of licks.
What stands out most is his touch and timing. Everything sits perfectly in the pocket, and his tone is immediately recognizable regardless of which guitar he plays. It’s a reminder that great players sound like themselves on any instrument—the gear enhances but doesn’t create the voice.
Joey Landreth: The Third is Key
Philosophy: “A thing that I really like to do when I’m playing over a chord progression is to target the thirds of chords as they pass by instead of thinking what scale applies to this chord.”
Joey’s approach offers a masterclass in harmonic awareness. Rather than thinking in terms of scales that “work” over chord progressions, he targets the major or minor third of each chord—the note that carries the most harmonic information about what’s happening underneath.
This becomes especially powerful when chords leave the key. When the progression moves from F major to F minor, targeting that A-flat immediately tells the listener something significant just changed. The thirds carry emotional weight that root notes and fifths simply don’t.
But technical understanding means nothing without phrasing, and Joey’s playing hits straight in the feels. His slide work adds a vocal, crying quality that elevates the solo from technically correct to genuinely moving. If you need motivation to commit to learning slide guitar, Joey’s playing provides it—the technique unlocks expressive depths that fingers alone can’t reach.
Martin Miller: Outlining Rhythm and Harmony
Gear: Ibanez MMM1 signature guitar, Fractal Audio FM9
Philosophy: “I generally try to outline the rhythm and the harmony of whatever I’m playing over very closely so that if you were to remove the music from behind my solo, you would still have the rhythm represented with a strong pulse and the chords represented within my melodic choices.”
Martin’s approach treats the solo as a self-contained piece of music. He’s not just playing over changes—he’s implying them through his note choices and rhythmic phrasing. This creates solos that make harmonic sense even in isolation.
His fretboard mastery is evident, but what impresses most is the restraint. He could fly all over the neck (and does at moments), but everything serves the music. The solo builds with the track’s dynamics, hitting the climax exactly when needed. It’s melodic, tasteful, and completely in service of the song’s structure.
Paul Davids: Coherent Storytelling
Gear: Panucci Les Paul hollow body/thinline goldtop, Kemper Profiling Amp with Matchless profile
Philosophy: “Usually my approach is just to play over it a few times and hear what ideas or phrases stick with my ear. Sometimes I just record one little phrase in the beginning and then listen to it on top of the backing track and see where it wants to go.”
This approach prioritizes coherence over flash. Rather than improvising completely fresh each time, the process involves developing ideas that work together. Record a phrase, listen to how it sits, then build from there. This prevents the “random bunch of licks thrown together” quality that can plague purely improvised solos.
The choice of the hollow body Les Paul proved perfect for the track—warm, full-bodied tone that complemented the Beatles/Zeppelin vibe. Minimal effects (just reverb and delay) let the guitar’s natural voice shine through.
Jens Larsen: The Jazz Perspective
Philosophy: “Usually when I improvise, there are more notes in the chords… Another thing that’s very different is the tone—usually when I play jazz I’m not really putting my tone control above two.”
Jens brought jazz vocabulary to a rock/pop progression, demonstrating how different musical languages can coexist. His observation that the track needed “more notes in the chords” from a jazz perspective highlights how different styles approach harmony—jazz players think in extended chords (9ths, 11ths, 13ths) while rock often stays with triads and seventh chords.
The tonal approach also differed—rolling off treble for a warmer, darker sound more typical of jazz guitar. Despite the stylistic difference, the jazz lines worked beautifully over the changes, proving that strong melodic and harmonic thinking transcends genre boundaries.
The ascending lines in particular were captivating, offering ideas worth transcribing and studying for players looking to expand their harmonic vocabulary.
Josh Smith: Pure Improvisation
Gear: Ibanez JSM10, Poly BlueV pedal into Morgan JS12 amp
Philosophy: “I don’t think at all. I just put it on, listen a couple of times, and then just play through and try to improvise something cool… That’s what I like—to just have something fresh that came from here (the heart).”
Josh represents pure improvisation—learning the changes, then letting instinct take over. This approach requires deep internalization of harmony and phrasing so that musical ideas flow without conscious thought. Every note has intent behind it, but that intent comes from years of practice creating reflexive musicality.
The solo showcased perfectly balanced, organic playing with harmonic sophistication. Double stops, chord slides, and melodic lines all wove together naturally. The twangy tone added perfect character for the track’s classic rock influences.
Ross Campbell: The Composed Approach
Gear: Fender Custom Shop 60s Relic Strat, Neural DSP Tone King Imperial Mark II plugin
Philosophy: “I loaded the track in my DAW, spent a couple of hours getting familiar with it, improvising various takes, and then in the end I was able to compose that finished solo by taking bits and pieces from those improvised takes and combining them into one cohesive solo.”
Ross’s process represents the opposite end from pure improvisation—compose the solo from the best moments of multiple improvised takes. This allows for both spontaneity (the individual takes) and refinement (selecting and arranging the best ideas).
The result is remarkably dense with ideas yet never feels cramped. The smooth flow between techniques—pick to fingers, different pickup selections—creates seamless transitions. That click on the major chord stands out as a perfect moment of surprise and tension.
This approach works particularly well in recording contexts where you have time to craft the perfect solo rather than capturing a single live performance.
Julia Lange: Melodic Elegance
Gear: Ibanez AZ, Strymon Iridium amp simulator, Wampler Tumnus, Valhalla Reverb plugin
Philosophy: “My approach for this solo was to listen to the track many times… I was just jamming many times over it, having a lot of fun with it, singing over it, coming up with some melodic ideas, and then I found few things that I liked and I put them together.”
Julia’s playing brings a light, dynamic touch that draws out something special from the clean tone. Her melodic sensibility creates phrasing that’s both sophisticated and accessible—the lines breathe, giving space for each idea to land before moving to the next.
The mellowness and comfort in her playing creates an inviting quality. Nothing feels forced or overly technical. The party tricks at the end add playful surprise without undermining the elegance of what came before.
Her process—singing melodies first, then finding them on guitar—ensures the solo remains musical rather than technical. The result is stellar melody work that serves the song beautifully.
Marty Schwartz: Classic Rock Authenticity
Philosophy: “I’m mostly using A minor pentatonic. There are some cool moments where it’s like an E7 chord or an F minor chord that gives you some of those little outside notes, so I feathered those in there. But I tried to keep it very much like that Beatles/Zeppelin classic rock song style solo.”
Marty’s approach honors the track’s influences directly. Rather than imposing a different style, he leaned into the Beatles/Zeppelin aesthetic that informed the backing track. This shows musical empathy—understanding what the song calls for and delivering that authentically.
The dry, woody Gibson tone perfectly suited the classic rock vibe. The phrasing takes time, letting each lick sink in without rushing. This patience creates solos that speak clearly rather than overwhelming with information.
The solo reflects Marty’s down-to-earth personality—wholesome, genuine playing that prioritizes feeling over flash. It’s a reminder that great guitar playing doesn’t require complex techniques or extended harmony if the fundamentals are executed with taste and conviction.
Mateus Asato: Singing First, Playing Second
Gear: Mateus Asato signature model, Neural DSP Mesa Boogie plugin
Philosophy: “I took a listen a couple of times, then I started playing along… I was just not happy, everything sounded too cliche. So I stopped for a second and then I was just listening to the track and then start singing some melodies over the chords until I find something that really made me happy.”
Mateus’s process reveals a crucial truth about creating memorable solos: sing it before you play it. When the guitar part wasn’t working, he stepped away from the instrument and used his voice to find melodies. This ensures the solo serves the song rather than just showcasing technical facility.
The result is remarkable fluency—notes pour out naturally, never sounding forced or overthought. Even with many notes happening, you can still hear the chord progression underneath. That’s the mark of a player who’s thinking harmonically while playing melodically. The solo works both with and without the backing track, a rare achievement.
Kfir Ochaion: Struggle and Triumph
Philosophy: “For me, a good solo is a solo that you can sing right after you hear it play for the first time. So I wanted to have an idea and spread it out later and be a bit surprising and a bit obvious.”
Kfir’s approach balances familiarity with surprise—giving listeners something they can latch onto while including unexpected moments. His choice of a Gibson Les Paul despite needing higher frets on the neck shows commitment to a specific sound even when it creates technical challenges.
The hefty gained Les Paul tone with long sustain created a different sonic landscape than the cleaner approaches others took. This demonstrates how the same progression supports radically different tonal choices. The low power chord punctuation puts everything on the table—bold, confident playing that commands attention.
The flowing lines from low to high register showcase fretboard knowledge and melodic construction. Everything connects naturally, creating a solo that works as a complete musical statement.
What This Teaches Us
This collaboration reveals several universal truths about great guitar playing:
Personality trumps technique: Every player brought recognizable personality regardless of their technical approach. Your voice on the instrument matters more than how many notes you can play.
Multiple approaches work: Pure improvisation, composed solos, singing melodies first, targeting chord tones—all these methods produced excellent results. There’s no single “right” way.
Dynamics matter: The best solos built and released tension, respecting the backing track’s structure rather than playing at one intensity level throughout.
Tone serves the music: From clean to heavily gained, hollow body warmth to single-coil chime, each tonal choice supported a different musical vision.
Less can be more: The most memorable moments often came from space, restraint, and allowing ideas to breathe rather than constant note density.
Genre boundaries are artificial: Jazz vocabulary worked over rock changes. Classic rock pentatonics sat beside extended harmony. Musical ideas transcend stylistic labels.
Final Thoughts
This video celebrates the guitar’s versatility and the infinite ways musicians can express themselves through the instrument. Ten completely different solos over identical changes, each authentic and effective in its own way.
For developing players, this offers a roadmap: study the approaches that resonate with you, transcribe the lines that speak to your musical goals, and understand that your unique voice will emerge from synthesis of influences rather than copying any single style.
The guitar as an instrument deserves celebration for enabling this diversity of expression. Whether you’re drawn to Mateus’s fluid technique, Joey’s slide mastery, Martin’s harmonic sophistication, or Marty’s classic rock authenticity, there’s inspiration here for every musical journey.
