Weakest Dream Theater Solo

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The worst solo has got to be the Bebot solo.  Come on.

Yeah. It's good how far have mobile instruments come, because back then they weren't good.

[Train of Naught]

I am surprised no one has mentioned bridges in the sky...

I think the majority (including me) hasn't mentioned it because they think it's an awesome section.

[CDrice]

I am surprised no one has mentioned bridges in the sky... while I love the song, the solo section is unnecessary. Both JP and JR play very uninspired solos that do nothing for the song. Until ADToE, I always thought JR wrote hit or miss solos. It seems as though he now puts a little more thought into what he is playing  when he solos. Don't get me wrong, Home and 8vm are phenomenal, but  as far as the others go.. eh.. take it or leave it...

Well, I think Bridges in the Sky is one of the rare song that feature a solo by both Jordan and John where I like Jordan's solo much more than JP's. And I feel Jordan's solo are better when he uses other sounds than his usual ''solo sound''. I'm thinking the organ-thing in Bridges in the Sky or the piano solos in Blind Faith and On the Backs of Angels for example.

[?]

AROP is by far the worst because of the horrible Bebot and JP's uninspired solo, but ANTR, Enigma Machine and Surrender to Reason are all pretty bad too.

I am surprised no one has mentioned bridges in the sky... while I love the song, the solo section is unnecessary. Both JP and JR play very uninspired solos that do nothing for the song.

BITS actually has one of my favorite solo sections, because it's so memorable and doesn't go overboard with the shredding.

[Cable]

I am surprised no one has mentioned bridges in the sky... while I love the song, the solo section is unnecessary. Both JP and JR play very uninspired solos that do nothing for the song.
Until ADToE, I always thought JR wrote hit or miss solos. It seems as though he now puts a little more thought into what he is playing  when he solos. Don't get me wrong, Home and 8vm are phenomenal, but  as far as the others go.. eh.. take it or leave it...

JP is consistently amazing with his solos, so that's a really tough one. I find the BITS solo somewhat forgettable, but it's not bad.

[Outcrier]

A solo i don't care for is the BMU,BMD one, if that counts.

[Dream Team]

I love the TROAE keyboard solo! It's one of the last times he busts out the classic fat Kurz lead, and it's one of my favs (also fun as hell to play along with, although I can't play the really fast ascending/descending runs). No part of it sounds random at all.

The only bad one is the AROP bebot solo, because it's completely atonal noise (the keyboard solo beforehand is great though).

JP is consistently amazing with his solos, so that's a really tough one. I find the BITS solo somewhat forgettable, but it's not bad. There's part of the LNF solo that I think is really weak, with the staccato rhythm, but then the rest of it is rockin'.
I'm sure his weakest is probably on WDADU just by default.

Nope, every solo of his on that album is great.

[ZKX-2099]

These Walls

[rumborak]

For me, Enigma Machine holds the monopoly on senseless soloing. Like, none of the three soloers (JP, JR, MM) have anything to add with their solos.

[Rodni Demental]

A solo i don't care for is the BMU,BMD one, if that counts.

Hmm, I thought that solo was one of the coolest parts of the song. I don't listen to it all to much anymore, but I liked the solo and even tried to learn it because it seemed much more feasible to get the hang of than a lot of others. 

[BlobVanDam]

These Walls

Curses to you! That's one of JP's most tasteful melodic solos!

[erwinrafael]

Clamors for Dream Theater to be "actually" more progressive and push boundaries with their music! Be more experimental!


JP pushes boundaries of "music" with his double-reverse-guitar solo in Misunderstood and his balls-to-the-wall aggressive solo in Surrender to Reason.


Gets voted in weakest Dream Theater solo.

[AboutToCrash]

The synth sound used in the Along for the Ride solo is horrendously cheesy, but the solo isn't THAT bad (The sound purely warrants a bad review). A write of passage was unique but just thrown in for the sake of it & misunderstood sounded like noise for the most part towards the end. So they're probably my worst 3!

[SuperTaco]

The bebot solo is my least favorite that I can remember. It just doesn't fit the song at all, in my opinion. JR's solo's in the main instrumental section of ANTR are very hit-or-miss, and seem to sound like a mix of random shredding with brief moments of fluidity and purpose.

As far as a guitar solo, right now I'd have to say the one from On The Backs Of Angels. It's very "average JP" in the way it's structured. The part directly after the solo is one of my favorite moments on that whole album, but the solo itself makes me feel like I've heard it before. I wouldn't even call it weak, just average.

[pcs90]

Not really a fan of any of Jordan's solos off of BCSL except the first half of the AROP one before the app noise. I'm also not that thrilled about most of Derek Sherinian's solos. For example I much prefer Jordan's version of Trial of Tears off the last live album instead. For Petrucci, probably something off of Train of Thought. I actually liked the solo in Surrender to Reason, thought it fits well with the groove underneath.
Portnoy's drum solos were always week too, IMO. I could never say that about Mangini though.

[Ħ]

I didn't realize the Bebot solo is atonal. Are most of JR's continuum solos also atonal? Maybe that explains why I hear them as just senseless noise.

[Rodni Demental]

I didn't realize the Bebot solo is atonal. Are most of JR's continuum solos also atonal? Maybe that explains why I hear them as just senseless noise.

He's still playing in key if that's what you're wondering lol. It's only really accurate to use the term atonal when a piece of music is so inconsistent with it's key changes that it's no longer worth identifying (Or if it's using sounds that don't relate to western modes or standard intervals). Most atonal pieces will still have a generalised key though, albeit inconsistently. Of course in the context we're using, it's if we can't hear how a passage is relating to the original key then it might as well be atonal as far as we're concerned, ala Bebot! Sounds like something from a video game to me, I like it. 

The synth sound used in the Along for the Ride solo is horrendously cheesy, but the solo isn't THAT bad (The sound purely warrants a bad review).

So that's the sound cheese makes? I need to figure out how to get some more cheese in my synth sounds then because JRs tone in AFTR and to a similar extent in BTS is phenomenal. 

[Darkstarshades]

I'm resurrecting this thread in view of the recent hype for solos.

I think I'm far more experienced now than I was then with playing DT music.
TROAE keyboard solo isn't bad, it's fun to play, and it has a lot of possible ways to do it, it's just that it's very weak on record, personal opinion.
Bebot solo... well...

I've recently grown to slighty dislike the IT second half solos, like they're just "there" and not really doing anything to advance the song.

[SuperTaco]

Lol I just realized I posted almost the exact same thing last August... I will say that the lead after the second JR solo in ANTR makes it worth listening to.

The guitar solo in "As I am" is too shreddy for my liking. I usually skip this song when listening to Train Of Thought, and the solo is part of the reason why.