Okay, my turn to lay a little praise on a fellow Elm Treason bandmate.

Here are three Andy Roman solos that I absolutely adore:

Honey Feet (from “Days of Reaction”) – So tasty, a great choice of notes…funky country blues rock flavor that makes you wanna dance. It’s such a singable solo. Smooth shifting of positions on the neck. And those string bends. They are so deep they give me the bends. He makes his guitar sing and my fingers scream in pain just listening to it. Overall, the perfect solo for the song. I couldn’t imagine anything else there. It’s like imaging a different solo to “Stairway to Heaven.” Yes. It’s that classic.

Grins of Nothing (from “The Voice of Treason”) –  Take one part Chuck Berry, mix in some Jimmy Page , sprinkle in some funky goodness and blend it all with accents of groove and you’ve got classic Romanesque licks that are finger-licking good (literally). Andy has a Phd in riffology and it shows in this mini tour-de-force. Rife with shrieking string bends, whiplash inducing runs of pulloffs and hammer-ons and more double stops than the Belt Parkway during rush hour.

Crayon (from “Acoustic Treason”) – Sink your ears into that syncopation. The use of neighbor tones a semi-tone above and below give this improvisation a sabor español . With just the right amount of space to make you wonder “what’s he gonna play next?”, your eardrums will be at the edge of their inner ear seats. I love how this solo spans the range of all six strings in such a small amount of time through these octave leaps midstream. Succinct, sumptuous, supple it is the perfect lead in for my solo. Bravo.

Honorable Mention:
Another Year Gone (from “Days of Reaction”) – Those fills. What else is there to say but “Go listen to it NOW!” Really…no kidding. Literally stop reading and go listen right now. Don’t forget to tune up your air guitar.
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