Ahhh yes... but, this one is so fresh..... brand new. Hasn't even cooled off yet, fresh from the oven....uhhhh, I mean DAW. Sonar to be exact.

So... far a number of reasons, I decided to do something new for this "challenge".... something that would be a bit of a challenge.... channel Carlos and see what happens.

So here's the particulars....

Style is Occult Latin Rock legit since Carlos did tend to rock it up.

Bass is 684
Drums are Latin Rock and I added a midi conga percussion track as well.
Guitars are BB styles.... 509 & 630.. panned a bit opposite off center and lower down.
Organ is my favorite B3 686

A couple of my favorite plugs and of course Ozone on the master..... A bit of reverb and widening and pretty much the same stuff I always use.....

The electric solo guitar is of course me with my Tele and I'm switching between the Strat and the humbucker if you can tell. The amp is the Spark with the American High Gain model with the gain and volume set to 11 and the knobs ripped off, and a bit of noise gate and compression on the front end and a slight delay at the back door. I have a dark plate reverb on the guitar in the DAW.

I think this clocks in at just about 2 minutes.

Carlos Santana Challenge Groove

I certainly had fun with it.... hardest part of this was deciding which style to base this on. From there, everything kinda evolves the way things around here tend to do. The solo itself, is a series of individual takes that are pretty long and generally one shot deals. Listen close and you can hear the blurbs in it. If you know how I record guitar.... you know... if not.... well... I hit record and start. If I hit a major "oh what the hey was that?" I stop....and continue with a punch from that point. Hence the series of takes.... Nothing fancy or contrived.... but as close to a one shot deal as it can be.... if that makes sense. I use this method quite often especially when I'm in a hurry.

I hope you enjoy the tune

Guitarhacker:

So, this is my second challenge listen—and it’s pretty smashing as well. I’m not a Carlos connoisseur but were I to have heard this without knowing, Carlo would have been my guess. So mission accomplished. Wonderful guitar work!

Best regards,

Deej

Well herb, Santana would be jealous of this playing. It would be great if he can know about this "challenge" and hear his opinion.

Mike B.

Deej56 & Cuban Pete... thanks.

Carlos was a huge influence on me as a fledgling guitarist back in the 70's. I devoured everything I could find about his guitars and gear.... even reading that he had a block of brass installed under the bridge of one of his guitars to increase the sustain.... yeah, I wasn't about to do that to MY guitar.
The man could get more soul out of one note.......

Herb ...

Sounded as though I was listening to a track from an older Santana vinyl. You captured the sound perfectly. Great job! Very, very cool!

Alan

Herb,

I think this is my favorite of the offerings so far.
Captured all of the signature sounds and style.
Great tone. Well played. Nice backing, good mix.

fj

Hi Herb,

In Dutch there's an expression "kort maar krachtig" or in English: short but powerful.
That's exactly the right description.
Great guitar work too!

Rob and Anne-Marie

This is a good version. You are getting some very cool tunes out of the Spark.

Funny!

Man, you nailed it!

Awesome!

Ahhh yes.... Another fine group of comments. Thank you all for taking the time to listen and comment on the song.

I recall reading several interviews with Carlos on his playing technique and style. He said something about the guitarists of the time who were the predecessors to the shredders of today. Really fast and playing lots of notes in a very impressive way. Carlos didn't put them down but simply said he'd rather focus on getting his feelings into one or two notes that touch the heart and soul of the listener. I always try to remember that when I am playing.

Well Guitarhacker, I think you, Dave and David have to do a 'Carlos collaboration' instead of a contest.
The three of you are so good even Carlos would get a little jealous, I bet!

But I'm impressed!

Hans

Hi Herb great job Hes not easy to do. excellent listen you nailed his sound down thanks for sharing Eric

Reading your narrative and then hearing your performance we can tell you had a lot of fun with this challenge and we certainly enjoyed your offering.

Soulful, yeah! That aspect of his playing oughta be mentioned more.

Well done with the tone and the pickin'!

J&B

THanks again to those who are commenting and listening.

This challenge, while it didn't really start out as a challenge here, has been interesting and certainly fun as the different variations have appeared in this forum one by one. All are good, and some very unique as well.

Hello Herb
P E R F E C T
I do not need to write more
Thanks a lot
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

its a carlos kinda year.

very tasty playing

it was a treat when i saw him play live years ago.

well done
om