Writing a guitar solo – and one which stands the test of time – is definitely one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments. Once an Irish traditional song, Whiskey in the Jar found new life – and a new audience – when Thin Lizzy transformed it into a rock song with a one-of-a-kind solo, expertly delivered by Eric Bell.
“I think a solo should complement the song, rather than just jerking off,” Bell summarizes his philosophy in the latest edition of Guitar World.
“I still play that solo. I suppose people expect it. But it took a long time. It wasn’t blues, and it wasn’t rock. I was used to playing blues and rock, but when Whiskey came along, there was this huge question mark over my head, going, ‘What the fuck am I going to play?’”
Bell remembers that he got over that initial hump by humming the solo, which he admits is “the way I made most of my solos”.
“I’ll play the chords, and I’ll sing or hum it over and over again,” he explains. “It might take quite a long time to get the solo I want to hear, but it seems to work.”
The whole process took around two or three weeks – “I was trying to get the phrase, that little hook,” he explains – which took him to various, erm, places. Literally.
“I was going everywhere – on the toilet, the bath, the taxi, and walking down the street – going, ‘What do I hear coming in there after those chords?’ It took forever, but it’s stood the test of time.”
When asked whether nailing that solo took a couple of passes in the studio, Bell replies, “No. Because Phil [Lynott, Thin Lizzy vocalist/bassist] did a rough vocal, and then we went to listen to it, and I hadn’t a clue.
“I had no idea whatsoever. I just didn’t know anything about it. At first, it took me a long time, so they gave me a cassette of the rough song, and I worked on it day and night.
“Eventually, I came up with the whole song – the intro, the little phrase, and the solo. So when they put me in to play in the studio, I had every single note worked out. I knew it was going to work.”
Metallica would eventually breathe new life into the song by putting their own spin on it for their 1998 record, Garage Inc.
While the band invited Bell to perform the song with them in Dublin, he revealed in an extensive interview with GW last year that it was an experience he didn’t particularly enjoy.
For more from Bell, plus new interviews with fast-rising shred virtuoso Spiro Dussias and Jim Root, pick up issue 598 of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.
