Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar - Premium Electric Guitar for Beginners & Professionals | Perfect for Live Performances, Studio Recording & Home Practice

Love FrankColliding classical and jazz influences with the heaviest of heavy rock and blues, Frank Zappa's guitar solos had been perhaps the most essential and appreciated component of his music since the earliest days of the Mothers of Invention; so it only made sense for him to release an album - three, actually - composed entirely of them. 1981's SHUT UP & PLAY YER GUITAR, SHUT UP & PLAY YER GUITAR SOME MORE and RETURN OF THE SON OF SHUT UP & PLAY YER GUITAR are the results, and as with most things Zappa how you feel about them ultimately depends a great deal on how you feel about him. Zappa was, unquestionably, one of the small handful of rock guitarists who could get away with a project of this sort (Just imagine, for example, even a single LP made up of nothing but Eric Clapton solos); but that doesn't mean these discs are going to be an easy listen for anyone not already hooked to some extent on the man, his art and/or electric guitars generally. Spanning the years 1977 to 1980, these live and studio performances feature most of and mostly the same musicians with whom Zappa crafted such seminal outrages as JOE'S GARAGE and SHEIK YERBOUTI, and the prevailing sound is very much in the vein of those albums - tight, slick and extremely well played, but often tinny and bloodless as well. Not to say there aren't any highlights to this set, nor that the pieces aren't of a uniformly phenomenal technical standard throughout. "five-five-FIVE" opens the first album with a striking two-and-a-half-minute blaze, while SOME MORE's "Ship Ahoy" reunites FZ and former Mothers bassist Roy Estrada for a literally fantastic voyage as the maestro runs breathlessly from his most abstract to his most symphonic and back again. Other memorable moments abound - you'll never forget the intro to "Why Johnny Can't Read" once you've heard it - but there's no denying that a lot of this stuff starts to get repetitive after a while, especially with so many numbers featuring the same couple of bands on the same couple of tours. Again, fans will love it all, and with plenty of reason; the newcomer, however, may find it slow going at times. Happily, the individual CDs clock in at a merciful thirty-five minutes or so apiece, which renders the considerable task of digestion a bit easier. The packaging, too, is a real treat, replicating the vinyl boxed set in miniature with a separate slipcase for each album. If only more such tastefully designed editions were available in the US! One often gets the sense with Zappa that he maintained the same smirking aloofness from his own creations as he did from the world of men around him, and I believe it is that, more than anything he ever said or suggested on record, which has so often marginalized him in the public eye. Aloofness was the nature of the man's muse, however, and with or in spite of it he attaned a level of mastery over his instrument few have reached. Nothing confirms that more thoroughly, regardless of how you feel about Frank Zappa, than SHUT UP & PLAY YER GUITAR. ...So, how do you feel about Frank Zappa?Frank Zappa had a long, hard career about which he wrote a very entertaining auto-biography which is a good read. The title of this book was 'The Real Frank Zappa Book', about his life, career, composing, and life as a musician. He made a lot of his money through his use of humor, and his satirical stabs at the establishment. Many people will hear of, like, agree with, collect, and pay for Frank's Music without ever knowing he plays guitar. At times I hear solos of his that are so sweet, melodic, and technically intense that I feel like THERE ARE NO OTHER GUITARISTS. Playing guitar wasn't the entire focus of his career, but few have ever played it so well. It's often much more complex melodically than the human ear can even understand without training. His playing is at a level serious musicians respect. Unlike many of the school of say, Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin, Steve Vai style of technically phenomenal playing, he doesn't lose his feel and maintains melodic power over the top of incredibly simple Chord progressions, so it's still appealing to all. He earns the respect of fellow musicians without making music one has to work to understand. here's a link to a youtube track which exemplifies the purity of his soloing throughout all 3 cds of 'Shut up and play your guitar'This is a one of his solos over a simple 2 chord progression which is a great example of what Frank Zappa did like no other - [...]The guitarists will notice that though it's a C / D progression throughout the piece, the solo goes all over the place, stretching a simple G major scale through all it's possible permutations and exploring all the different scale modes.I waited years to buy this album because it was always so expensive. For a good twenty years it was over $30. I realize that you're getting 3 LPs, but still... too pricey for me!Well, Amazon finally solved that problem by making it available in my price range. This is *THE* Zappa album to get if you want to explore his artistry as a guitar soloist. What I like best about this album are the different vamps FZ chose to solo over. Each one tells a little story all on its own, which makes for total listening pleasure.The downside of this album is that a few too many of the compositions were pulled from performances of "Inca Roads." I love that song, but there are only so many different takes of the same song you can listen to in one sitting. I would have preferred if FZ had included some different songs in the track list.Another potential downside here is that if you already own the Lather album (as I do), then many of the tracks will sound very familiar to you. Well, we all know the history behind that, so we can't really fault FZ here, but between the two albums, Lather is much better. So if you only buy one, definitely choose Lather.But, hey, when it comes to finding fault in Zappa releases, it really ends up being nitpicking. It's a great album, and the last track is pure FZ beauty.This was not as good as I was expecting. This is a compilation of live guitar solos while FZ is playing with his band. While I have really enjoyed his live concert recordings, this album is not like that. It is more for people who just want to hear FZ guitar solos (which you could have guessed from the album title). I find it somewhat boring as compared to his other live concert albums. I am a long-term fan but would say this album is not for everyone.I have wanted this CD for years. When I saw it was available on Amazon, I bought it immediately. It did not disappoint. This CD is essential for all Zappa fans!On the back cover of this triple album it says that it is only for "hard core Frank Zappa Fanatics". This is how I would describe myself 35 years ago, and I still fit the description I guess, because the moment I put it into my CD player and I pumped the volume up, I just loved it 100%. There is ONE Frank Zappa, and here it is at its peak in terms of guitar solos. Because this is what this album is: nothing but Zappa's solos. You would ask me why I waiting this long to by an album that I owned in vinyl when it was released: the reason is that I was fortunate enough to meet Zappa in Rome in his hole and get this album signed. Then burglars stormed my house few years later in mid 80s, taking away my '70s LPs collection. Since then, I bought back many of those albums as CDs, but never dared to order this again, till today, as a kind of respect, as that signed copy it is simply not replaceable. But at least, after all these years, the music is now back. Thanks Frank! (the photo of me and FZ was taken by my friend photographs Giovanni Canitano when we accompanied comic designer Tanino Liberatore to talk with FZ about producing a new cover for A Man from Utopia at his hotel in Rome)A three album set of previously released songs edited down to just their guitar solos isn't going to be everybody's thing, but Frank Z always did things a bit differently. He was a very imaginative guitar player who avoided the pyrotechnic excesses associated with such solos. This is an excellent set and the price is (currently) very good indeed.Over two hours of Zappa guitar work - and not a dud track in all that time. Zappa's technique and 'sound' is all his own (in the same way that one could say of all his musical output). This is guitar playing of the highest order.LushFor the committed.