The 'Rock Around The Clock' solo

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Once you figure it out, it's pretty easy to bust out (and it's the same solo as 'Rock This Joint' by Bill Haley, if I remember right). And the nice thing is, it works over 'Whole Lotta Shakin', 'At The Hop', and a bunch of other 50s songs.

Put your Tele on the neck p'up, roll the tone knob down a little and watch people's reactions as they think, 'Hey, that's from that song at the beginning of Happy Days'

[JohnnyCrash]

That was one of the first solos I learned how to play... a classic. One of the best.

[tazzboy]

Here is some info on Danny Cedrone who play the solo on Rock Around the Clock which includes the tab solo and the guitar and amp he used on the session.

http://www.the-jime.dk/Rockabilly_Gu...Clock_Solo.htm

[stxrus]

very classic/classy tune and way fun to play!!!

steve

[MandyMarie]

My honey boy, who's an old punk rocker with a crazy speedy right pickin' hand, throws that thing in every now and again and people go wild - it's amazing how "recognizable" that solo is! He always improvises - his solos are literally 99% off the cuff and on the fly so when he throws in something that's recognizable it makes it sound that much more kick ass...how do I get there? Hahaha!

I CAN play that solo...but I can't do it live - I can do the very beginning (and do!) but the timing for the rest of it throws me. Sometimes I have a really hard time playing something that shouldn't be that hard because of the timing. I think I get kinda nervous and it doesn't flow the way it should.

[TG]

That's one of the few solos I try to nail note-for-note at gigs. Usually I can manage it resonable well but sometimes it's hard for my picking hand to start the fast run down cleanly...but I find that a few 'silent' notes just before it to get the picking rhythm can help. My right hand isn't naturally good, I really have to concentrate.
One night I got it fairly accurately. After the gig one of the guys in the band came up to me laughing since someone from the audience had come up to him outraged since he'd '...thought your guitarist was pretty good until you did Rock Around The Clock and I realised he was faking it to a backing track.' !!!
I guess that was a sort of a compliment.

About that solo though.
Story is he did it at a recording session in an auditorium or something like that.
I have 2 versions of the song. One of them is the 'standard' one and another is a rough sounding one I got off an old LP a friend has. I've only got it on cassette tape or I'd share it somehow so y'all can hear it. It's echoey and mushy and sounds, well, like it was recorded in an auditorium. It's a tad slower too. The guitar chords aren't the syncopated rhythm we're familiar with, they are just straight on the 2nd and 4th beats. And the solo is similar but, frankly, not that good. It doesn't have that clean and controlled picking at all.
I've searched all over for an explanation and can't find one.

[Jim Lutz]

You're gonna have to show me how to play that one there YeOlde, I could use it on some of my Ernest Tubb and Johnny Cash numbers.

[Ian]

I just did this solo on saturday night at a gig, but wrong!!! Now it'll be right!!!
CHEERS!!!

[Hockey Rocker]

Originally Posted by tazzboy

Here is some info on Danny Cedrone who play the solo on Rock Around the Clock which includes the tab solo and the guitar and amp he used on the session.

http://www.the-jime.dk/Rockabilly_Gu...Clock_Solo.htm

Fascinating story. Cedrone died before the record ever hit, falling down a flight of stairs with a broken neck, possibly a heart attack, according to an extensive bio on Wikepedia. I had no idea.

Well, on the positive side, I've just gotten "Johnny B. Goode" down so this will be my next challenge. Thanks for the link. This should be fun.

[Blazer]

Check this out. Brian Setzer and guitarist Tommy Burns playing that epic solo with a twist at 3:40 in the song.

[Scooby Don't]

Originally Posted by tazzboy

Here is some info on Danny Cedrone who play the solo on Rock Around the Clock which includes the tab solo and the guitar and amp he used on the session.

http://www.the-jime.dk/Rockabilly_Gu...Clock_Solo.htm

Thanks for that! Gives me something to do tommorrow on my day off.......

[tazzboy]

Well here is a video to watch and see how it's done.

[68tele]

I always dug the drumming on that song.

[tazzboy]

Of course if you want to do the solo this way you can

[thunderbyrd]

Originally Posted by TG

That's one of the few solos I try to nail note-for-note at gigs. Usually I can manage it resonable well but sometimes it's hard for my picking hand to start the fast run down cleanly...but I find that a few 'silent' notes just before it to get the picking rhythm can help. My right hand isn't naturally good, I really have to concentrate.
One night I got it fairly accurately. After the gig one of the guys in the band came up to me laughing since someone from the audience had come up to him outraged since he'd '...thought your guitarist was pretty good until you did Rock Around The Clock and I realised he was faking it to a backing track.' !!!
I guess that was a sort of a compliment.

About that solo though.
Story is he did it at a recording session in an auditorium or something like that.
I have 2 versions of the song. One of them is the 'standard' one and another is a rough sounding one I got off an old LP a friend has. I've only got it on cassette tape or I'd share it somehow so y'all can hear it. It's echoey and mushy and sounds, well, like it was recorded in an auditorium. It's a tad slower too. The guitar chords aren't the syncopated rhythm we're familiar with, they are just straight on the 2nd and 4th beats. And the solo is similar but, frankly, not that good. It doesn't have that clean and controlled picking at all.
I've searched all over for an explanation and can't find one.

TG: i don't claim inside info, but i think that it's possible that the 2d, poorer version of the solo that you have wasn't played by Danny Cedrone. I think he died pretty soon after recording it and that left other players to have try to get as close as they could...

[Heather Anne Peel]

In my opinion, the "Rock Around The Clock" solo is the greatest solo in Rock 'n Roll, period.