Soloing

[Mean Streets]

Hi all, I’m a novice player, been playing off and on for years, mostly self taught. I’m an okay rhythm player, but not to good on picking up solos

Any recommendations on the best way to improve on doing some solo covers in songs

Any app recommendations or is the best way to just grab sine tabs and really work at it?


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[CalFB]

A couple of things that really helped me, not that i'm a great soloist at all.

Learn scales on one string as well as in boxes. Learn it on one string, then on the string next to it and then combine the two. It really helps with learning the fret board.

While you do need to know scales, phrases are way more important. Blues phrases are where it's at.

[japeape]

Hi all, I’m a novice player, been playing off and on for years, mostly self taught. I’m an okay rhythm player, but not to good on picking up solos

Any recommendations on the best way to improve on doing some solo covers in songs

Any app recommendations or is the best way to just grab sine tabs and really work at it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just start with a basic minor pentatonic & blues scale.

Save the modes & metronomes for much later.

You can get so much mileage from those five notes in E or A, or anywhere.

Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Aerosmith, SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, even a nice portion of EVH...

I'd hit youtube and focus on guys teaching phrasing of those licks, along with chords
that connect to them.

[japeape]

This is great lesson on phrasing & basic licks.

Take something as simple as the lick at 9:30, and build up speed,
and it sounds lethal.

The trick is to not just go up & down scales, but dig out musical chunks
of the scales, licks, and practice those.

[Tyler_279]

Scales as said above. Take pieces of solos and practice them. Spots with bends, tremolo, etc.

Metronome! Use a metronome. Its great for building speed. I always practice with 2 or 3 notes per beat, and slightly increase daily or over time.
You'll be surprised how quickly you can build speed and accuracy this way.

[Mean Streets]

This is great lesson on phrasing & basic licks.

Take something as simple as the lick at 9:30, and build up speed,
and it sounds lethal.

The trick is to not just go up & down scales, but dig out musical chunks
of the scales, licks, and practice those.

Thanks Man, I appreciate it, that’s a good vid and good example


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[Get The Show On The Road]

Agree with all of the above.

One other thing I'd add would be the EVH 1-2-4 pattern where you pick the first note and hammer on the next two notes with your middle and pinky fingers.

I used to do that starting at the first fret and just moving up the neck at each fret and it helped with dexterity.

[Mean Streets]

Agree with all of the above.

One other thing I'd add would be the EVH 1-2-4 pattern where you pick the first note and hammer on the next two notes with your middle and pinky fingers.

I used to do that starting at the first fret and just moving up the neck at each fret and it helped with dexterity.

That’s a good idea, Edie silly since I need to get stronger with the pinky


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[japeape]

That’s a good idea, Edie silly since I need to get stronger with the pinky


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I highly recommend these youtube channels: Late night lessons (Dave Brewster)

Robert Baker (who'm had that Jimmy Page lesson)

Cameron Cooper

Ben Eller "Uncle Ben".

These guys just offer so much cool content for all skill levels.

Robert Baker has vids like: VH solo's you can play now...Beginner VH riffs, etc.

[Jedi McFly]

There are two components to lead playing - what you can play and how you actually play it.

1) What you can play:
The aforementioned scales will definitely help. Of course starting with the pentatonics is the first step, but I do highly recommend learning the various modes and such as soon as you can as well. You can use those to connect and unlock the entire fretboard.

2) How you actually play it:
Great, you know your scales now. But what next? Without context they're just boring calculated steps that aren't musical. But CalFB mentioned picking up blues phrases - this is the next step. You are what you eat musically - so learn as many solos as you can. Start with the easier ones and learn as many leads as you can. But as you go through them understand how they're used in the context of the scales you've learned. Then you can understand why a player chose to play something and how you can then drop that into your own playing as well.

This all really applies to rhythm playing and riff composition as well. The more you learn the more you unlock.

[Mean Streets]

I highly recommend these youtube channels: Late night lessons (Dave Brewster)

Robert Baker (who'm had that Jimmy Page lesson)

Cameron Cooper

Ben Eller "Uncle Ben".

These guys just offer so much cool content for all skill levels.

Robert Baker has vids like: VH solo's you can play now...Beginner VH riffs, etc.

Thanks, I’ll definitely check those out. What a world we live in, you can learn so much just from YouTube videos


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[japeape]

Thanks, I’ll definitely check those out. What a world we live in, you can learn so much just from YouTube videos


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Just find guys you like to learn from.

You can build up speed with left hand hammer ons & pull offs,
and you can even lightly palm mute these licks, to make them sound picked.

Alternate picking takes longer, but it's good to work on both.

But i suggest utilizing technical exercises that sound musical,
like a cool lick you can use, that also works as an exercise.

Also bends & vibrato are HUGE, yet not always worked on.

Always try to bend in tune (figure out your target note, say a whole note bend,
and make an exercise where you hit it).

So many people under bend, so the note is flat or slightly sharp (Cough. Kirk Hammet.)

[bsbll4]

Here's the secret I never realized until I started playing more solos and learning different ones from different players: they aren't really making it up as they play (at least the way I thought they were), even though their pained facial expression might make you think they are singing through their hands. Every guitar player has a library of licks they just string together. Some have larger libraries than others. Passages that don't sound like anything else in their library are usually purposely written for that piece of music (like Runnin' with the Devil's solo for EVH).

So the advice I would give is to first learn the pentatonic scale because that will give you the base of most rock solos. Then when you learn different licks you'll make the connection in your mind about where they fit in that scale and the how's and why's, plus you'll see a lot of them repeat from other guitarists as they borrow from each other. Then you can start piecing them together yourself for your own solos. You'll also put your own variations on them and occasionally you'll make a mistake that sounds cool and it will become part of your library. Do that enough times and you'll start sounding less like other players and more like yourself.

[joezlo]

Hi all, I’m a novice player, been playing off and on for years, mostly self taught. I’m an okay rhythm player, but not to good on picking up solos

Any recommendations on the best way to improve on doing some solo covers in songs

Any app recommendations or is the best way to just grab sine tabs and really work at it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A friend of mine in college named Geoff came up with an excellent way to become a better soloist. Pick up some of your favorite solo licks (ex - some of my favs: beginning of Rock'n'Roll all Night Solo - the classic Chuck Berry Riff, the last asymmetrical run Eddie plays during the guitar intro to I'm the One, & the start of Nuno's Cupid's Dead monologue riff.)

You string them together in the same key and then re-arrange them so you can play them back to back in any order. After you've nailed that, try it in another key - or a different tempo. (You could even try it with pentatonic box licks to start)

Best lesson in learning how to solo I ever got, and even start coming up with my own solo licks to include.

BTW - Geoff now plays keyboards in Renaissance. He's a stellar guy.

[ScottyBHarris]

These lessons on soloing are pretty good. Check them out: