Zappa, Frank - Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Lyrics

It Came from Outer Space

BRILLIANT

Sempre con me

All three versions (variations) of Shut Up'N PLay Yer Guitar, as well as Gee, I Like Your Pants are all guitar solos from Inca Roads from the same few nights in London, 1979.
Given the different flavor of them all highlights the improvisational wonder that was Frank Zappa. The only thing familiar in all of the tunes are the background playing. Other than that, each solo is very fresh and different.
Zappa said in an interview that the big rock bands have a freeze-dried guitar solo every night, and it is just terrific, but he'd be bored playing the same thing night after night. There will never be another like Frank Zappa. I'm glad to have been around while he was touring and had the pleasure of seeing his concerts between '76 to '88.

I miss FZ

Vinnie Colaiuta is amazing on the drums on this song.  I think he is by far one of the best drummers of all time and one of my drum heroes.

Dialogues intimes effrénés entre Frank Zappa compositeur de génie et son instrument de prédilection la guitare. Zappa Le Guitariste Compositeur Improvisateur par excellence.

Vinnie Caliutta...
Frank R.I.P. ALWAYS 💯
THIS ALBUM RULES

Frank a lifelong part of me.

ALL I HAVE ARE JUST - T E A R S.

実に良い音だ

I'm blown away Zappa will always be my favorite. \m/

will this be here tomorrow? i hear gail is clamping down. this changed my life forever

i suggest listieing to all of the shut up serries that man can really fucking plak

The world has never been the same since Frank departed! A true original!

FRANK ,ZAPA IS THE BEST AND GENIO

The King.

FOR THE 7 THUMBS DOWN YOU CAN. PUT YOUR THUMB BACK IN YOUR MOUTH NOW AN GO BACK TO SLEEP !!!

WOW WOW AN MORE WOW !!!

Bought this triple album in 1981 like a week before I graduated High School, loved to trip on LSD and jam to it.

I THINK I JUST GOT ZAPPED BY ZAPPA THANKS !!!

After listening to Frank I have to turn off the sound system.There's no other musician to switch to that would please me.

Alright, shut up. Frank's playing.

This is a jam from the middle of Inca Roads. Duuhh.

BUD I FOUND NICKY, MY, MOTORCICLEMAN BRAMA/NYHOERSAG, NO MARRIAGE, WATTS A SADE STORT, RASTA BERRIE, THEE CURSED THE WORST, YNTO THE COMPUTER, CRAZY MONKS LIEB DEM.......

Everybody in this album is a genius!

Stunning playing from all involved, drums and bass are absolutely magical, but it is the guitar playing that really makes it soar. I ve always felt this album sounds like flying. It is endlessly uplifting and inspiring for me - and i imagine for many others around the world. He didn't rate himself as a guitar player but wow wow wow... Flat out some of the greatest electric guitar ever recorded. All musicians and in particular those interested in modal improvisation - soak it into your bones n sinews n synapses..
As Zappa's old mate Captain Beefheart said
"if you got ears - you gotta listen!"

The drummer trips 🤗👏🏼💪🏼

Merry Christmas to all and your loved ones...
I just found out this is the perfect Christmas morning track. 😎

100% with you on that. The whole 3 records for that matter..

Shut up with the fucking advert.

Top 3 best guitarist. Or the real number 1. The list is Carlos Santana Al Dimeola Larry Coryell Jimmy Page.

nice to hear Coryell mentioned

I got to be the 1000th like on this video! I feel like I should say something.... 1991 - friend comes by my place with SUNPYG (2 CD's) - leaves them there - I listen to them - then I listen again - then I listen again - then I listen again - start realizing how utterly brilliant this guy is - spend the next years of my life totally devoted to Zappa - collect 200 + albums, bootlegs, whatever I can find - Internet comes along and makes it much easier to find obscure stuff - STILL can't get enough Zappa. Music is the best!

Not in the sort of crowd that I've ever seen!

Love Zappa!

*CRANKING IT!!!*

Ok so this guy does more musically, in every sense of the term, in 60seconds, than has been done in 10 albums of any present day chart topper artist. Period

the first slide-in he does to introduce the song is more interesting than anything that has been on the charts in the last 10 years.

Can anyone tell me the chords to this? I really want to try to solo over them.

Follow da bass.

hard to believe how could nature input such quantum of talent into one single human being....

itkojecockot he practiced a lot

Dedicated to Youtube's talking musicians...

great music even in 2018

Pure gold, sheets of gold. Alchemy.

Blah Blah..
Parked at County Line across from Neptune's (before they put-up that rail) seeing blue sky and waves with my eyes.. blasting #THIStm LP recorded cassette from my 70 vw bus.. a learned man from Nebraska or Kansas, (or Ohia) slithered-up between tracks axsking what kind of instrument "that" was..? With my glazed-over smile I emoted, "..Guitar!!", and with a mealy mouth he withered and sneered.. "Its Awful!" -Thanks to ole' Alex Luce for spinning his record, taking his time to put it on cassette for me -Id listened to it from 87 thru 90 religiously, as necessary.. -Awright!

In this triple album Frank  simply killed the drummers Terry Bozzio and Vinnie Colaiuta :))

He wasn't a virtuoso, and his playing was kind of sloppy, but lots of energy and guts came out his guitar. Tasty player.

He WAS a virtuoso!

loved this shit for years then grew up ,he was better when he shut up but rory g is the man

Got to see him live and his solos were as memorable as you might expect.  He was definitely ON that evening.

This solo is one of the best flight simulators ever...

I'm in my 3rd year of Jazz and I was just listening to Wes Montgomery a moment ago (doing some research). But, I always have to get some Zappa in my ears after. I have a lot of respect for great Jazz players, but to me, Frank Zappa is just so much more interesting. His music is so fresh and his playing is so captivating. His ear and artistic direction; his relationship with his instrument; his imagination. He's just so innovative. And his phrasing is so unique. Totally underrated as a guitarist. I will never love a jazz guitarist's playing as much as Frank Zappa's.

Zappa: "Make a jazz noise here"

David, I agree totally. It was said that Frank never played cliches. A most underrated guitarist.

Do yourself a favor and don't judge all jazz guitarists by Wes Montgomery. Also, the comparison between Wes & FZ is one of the strangest and most arbitrary I've heard in awhile.

@Matt Stephens FZ said in interview that WM was an influence on his own playing, along with Johnny Guitar Watson and Clarence Gatemouth Brown.

Frank is THE BEST❤

This is fucking amazing. Not that I'm surprised, but still.

Hey look. 9 assholes who know nothing about good music.

it's been 23 years and I still can'r believe that Zappa's dead

This dude probably composed music in his sleep ....and then woke up and wrote all the notes down . Not exagerrating one bit

R Gray I dig that analysis

This isn't a composition- it's a segment of a guitar solo from Inca Roads performed on February 17th 1979 and was entirely improvised, which in my opinion makes it more impressive.

Fantastique osmose musicale entre Frank et ses musiciens. Quels talents pour créer de la musique aussi belle et complexe instantanément. Comme un fleuve musical.

Hard to fully appreciate Zappa unless you saw him live. He may have 5 people in the band or seventeen, but I guarantee you EVERYBODY be working their asses off. At the "You Are What You Is" Tour in Atlanta--when the music finally stopped, I thought my heart was going to stop beating! A true Performer, like Alice Cooper and Jethro Tull. ENGAGING.

No truer words.If you didn't play your ass off.you weren't in the band.I've been to the Halloween shows in NYC at the Palladium and elsewhere (YouTube)
Nothing stupid MTV would like but absolutely great entertainment and awesome performances
He refused to sell out.My hero.

I saw Alice Cooper and FZ within 4 months of each other in 1981... there's NO comparison. FZ is the LEGEND!

FRANK ZAPPA IS THE BEST!!

fuckinggg hell this guy could rip.

Zappa was so unique with his music! Love that snarling guitar. He is greatly missed!

SAW FRANK IN CONCERT LIVE.

I saw the Mothers and the Vanilla Fudge as a (very strange) double bill.

fuc almost thought this was Al Di Meola or possibly Jon McLaughlin

+Greg Berry I'd never make that mistake...

It sounds a lot like something that could have been put out by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, don't get me wrong.

@Supercluster64 mahavishnu opened for frank in 1973 though

MAESTRO!!

BASS PLAYING GENIUS.....

It/(s)he wants you to "go away" and then throw off your mortal coil.

true that...I found Arthur Barrow featured on the Doors' American Prayer LP (synthesizer programming on "The Movie") of all places.

Absolutely correct! Art Barrow - all with a pick. Superlative - and yes - underrated bass playing - but that's the standard that Zappa set. This album is a wonderful example of players setting each other free, but it comes from the top. When a rhythm section hears the soloist being so endlessly free and inventive - it inspires and releases. This is amongst the greatest electric guitar playing ever recorded and the band rises to it.

Vinnie Caliutta the BEST drummer FZ ever had!!!!! Bar None

My favorites... Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Terry Bozzio, VC, then Wackerman. All are great tho...

stop it.... he is not the caliber of Terry Bozzio or Chester

Chad Wakerman wants a word with you

@gasaholic47 yeah man the drumming on Camarillo Brillo is superb

Aynsley Dunbar was no slouch, either.

Vinnie Colaiuta, Alien.

Everybody..., Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar....

.....and if you can't play guitar then shut up and LISTEN.......

Great advice.

The Shut up and play albums were compiled from Live concert recordings from his previous tours.  He said in interviews he would write much of his music as a detailed structure, and leave spaces for improvisation, as "No musician wants to play the exact same thing every night" He loved to improv  his guitar solos, and encouraged his VERY talented performers to do the same when their solos came up.

relaxing

This should be called  ' Throwing all Caution to the Wind '......is this all written....( as opposed to improvised ) ?

Frank didn't write guitar solos cause he hated to play the same thing the same way each time over and over. It's improv, without a doubt.

@Romencer17 thanks man

+R Gray There would be no point in playing a written solo, ESPECIALLY for a musician like Frank Zappa... This is pure music flowing in the moment.

+andsalomoni yep........he's feelin' it :)

Wow...they way it was recorded, it was like we were just breaking in in the middle of a studio gig.............Nice

It is actually a solo from an older perfomance of the song Inca Roads, then he recorded new drums (and maybe bass too) to fit with the solo and create a new piece. Quite awesome really.

@Creme Delameme thx !

Funny, I always thought of  Zappa's music as more political and satirical then anything. but he really knew his way around the fret board........

he was always a master guitarist.  when you add in other virtuoso like vai and that insane drummer bozzio that went on to become a diety, it is awe inspiring at some of the stuff they created.  they understood music, which is something musicans of today have completely and utterly lost.  some bands like ween and baroness, queens of the stone age, they understand it, but many are just clueless imbeciles on a stage.  frank will always be the man.  wish I had met him.  rip sir.

He was always a good guitarist and master composer as well. Listen to some songs like Inca Roads (which this solo was jacked from a 1979 live recording of), RDNZL or Sinister Footwear, to name just a few.

That he does

Mind blowing, had it for years but forgot how great he is.

Yeah man. I got into Joe Satriani years ago until someone gave this Zappa Album . . . . . . Wow! 😳❤❤❤👊😎

cool stuff Frank Zappa - Guitar cover (with tablature) only marimba part

I have the Frank Zappa Guitar book...and the rest of my life to master it.

DO ITTTT

good luck

Not long enough. ha ha

yeah, I need 3 lifetimes at least

Always love it when Frank shuts up and plays his guitar

johnny foosball watch it....ha! He got shit to say, too.. Had shit, anyway....

One of the best music compositions that was ever written in Music History. And that bit between 3:30 and 3:50, I must have listened to it more than a billion times. It's just pure magic.

@terrypussypower
Well, take the three "Shut up..." solos, they are very stilistically consistent, based on the V-IV harmonic structure (often used by Zappa) and probably belonging to the same song played in different concerts; but if you listen carefully, you will not find repeated guitar phrases from one solo to the other, and the thematic development is very different in each of them. I think they were totally improvised.

@andsalomoni What FZ actually plays during any solo is entirely composed on the spot. What is written beforehand is the underlying song structure over which he composes his solos. What changed from night to night was the improvised harmonic backgrounds provided by the musicians, and it was from those that Frank took his "inspiration" if you like, to head off on a tangent, meaning that a songs solo section could be radically different from one night to the next. This is not "improvising" in the usual rock band sense, but more like a jazz thing.

@terrypussypower
It is just a misunderstanding about the words. "What FZ actually plays during any solo is entirely composed on the spot" is exactly what I mean when I say that he "improvises his solos". I don't know what you mean saying "improvising in the usual rock band sense", but I agree that it is "more like a jazz thing" (i.e. improvising on a structure and not playing random notes).

@andsalomoni What I mean is that FZ approached his solos as a composition, not as a straight improv. That's why he could keep those sections going for 10 minutes or more without getting lost or "flailing", as Steve Vai would call it.

@andsalomoni All 3 were taken from edited versions of Inca Roads

Just simply mind-blowing.

Pops is killing my stuff...fine . I was tired of being depressed anyway

He looked like a rock star to me.

This is so beautifully Southern California.

Of course, Frank delivers as usual on this one.........................but the bassist on this (whoever it was) is also kickass!

...The one and only Mr Arthur Barrow.

Mr Arthur Barrow. made a great job 

I'm almost certain this is "Inca Roads". Keep expecting George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock to jump in with the  "La la la laaa, la-la-la, l-laa laa" section !

I miss his genius and insightful take on life so much !

Can you imagine frank living in Trump era?

Otherwise known as jhonny Allen ...Guitar heavens trio

I wonder if Frank is jamming alongside of Jerry and jimi

a teacher

we miss you, Uncle Frank.

off to centerville then, i hear lady gaga is playing there : )

hello...really could have done with a Frank Zappa Stevie Nicks duet.....:)

it still burns every time someone listens to his music which must mean it never goes out they will still be listening to zappa in the years to come

incredible genius, who was actually modes and nice. and changed the world. respect!

Maravilloso!!! La he escuchado cientos de veces y nunca me canso

Legend!

I met his 1st drummer once.

Fuck yeah

for all time, he shall be way ahead of everything!

Celebrate the rock heros!

Yeah and think he might have spent his life as a janitor...and then died anyway.....

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