Help.my lead playing....please

[Swampy]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Been a year since I made this post, so I figured I'd share with you all where I'm kind of at in my so called lead playing. I still have a lot of progress to make, but I'm not hitting too many of those "Jazz" notes.

Honestly, I haven't put in as much time in as I'd like to. Im not a huge fan of practice. But I do love playing with the looper.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

That's pretty righteous :bigthumb:

Yeah, in the end nothing touches jamming with a loop pedal. It's pretty much all I do these days myself ..either stand around noodling in front of my amp ...or plug into the little ****er and just jam along to badly looped/timed riffs haha.. & one day I'll hopefully be able to get my start/stop stomp timing right too :lmao: :bigthumb:

 

[Swampy]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Yeah, it took me a few stomps to get start/stop timing down. Not sure what pedal you have, but with the RC-1, it's instant. No lag. I'm sure all are probably that way.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

As usual..I've got the Chinese clone (Nux Loop Core) :laugh2: It's an RC3 clone & it works great, no lag...no complaints. I'm just very un-coordinated using my feet, comes from hardly ever using pedals (& tap-dancing/hopping around on them) unless they're just "on" all the time or stuck in my amp's FX loop or something.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

I agree with the looper- nothing will help your improvisations more. Learn a scale, learn what chords go with it, record the chords, and improvise with the scale until it doesn't sound like you are just running up and down anymore. Hours of fun.

 

[DeadandBuried]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Hard thing to teach, and this is coming from a teacher!!

The way I usually start is by showing them the scale used over the chords. Once the shape is set then I get them to start improvising. This could be small licks that are like 2 bars long. Then there can variations.

Try picking like 2/3 notes on the same string, and drum on the table a pattern. Then use that pattern with the notes. Soon enough you'll run out of notes to use but it'll get you to come up with different rhythm beats to use.

Another weird but effective way can be to sing the phrase you hear in your head then try and play it on the guitar. Many people writing solos on the big hits sung it first before actually playing on the guitar. (Weezer did it I think).

Space is important too. So sometimes its not the notes you play but the gaps in between phrases.

Last but not least, ALWAYS jam with a backing track, get some harmony behind those notes otherwise you won't ever hear what will fit!

 

[Swampy]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Hard thing to teach, and this is coming from a teacher!!

The way I usually start is by showing them the scale used over the chords. Once the shape is set then I get them to start improvising. This could be small licks that are like 2 bars long. Then there can variations.

Try picking like 2/3 notes on the same string, and drum on the table a pattern. Then use that pattern with the notes. Soon enough you'll run out of notes to use but it'll get you to come up with different rhythm beats to use.

Another weird but effective way can be to sing the phrase you hear in your head then try and play it on the guitar. Many people writing solos on the big hits sung it first before actually playing on the guitar. (Weezer did it I think).

Space is important too. So sometimes its not the notes you play but the gaps in between phrases.

Last but not least, ALWAYS jam with a backing track, get some harmony behind those notes otherwise you won't ever hear what will fit!

I hear you on the space thing. Something I noticed that I didn't do. I am a big Gilmour fan. The man can do more with 3 notes than most can do with 30.

 

[Swampy]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

I agree with the looper- nothing will help your improvisations more. Learn a scale, learn what chords go with it, record the chords, and improvise with the scale until it doesn't sound like you are just running up and down anymore. Hours of fun.

Yeah, I did wear the hell out of the A pentotonic in those 3 positions.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Phrasing can make one scale work for many different songs and make them all sound different (so long as they're all in the same key).

Definitely look into picking out vocal lines. Amazing Grace and the Star-Spangled Banner are actually great for learning how to play and construct melodic solos.

Don't forget the Christmas Classics like Silver Bells, Away In A Manger, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and so on. Pretty much anything that relies more on a simple scalar vocal performance than the musical instruments behind it.

And remember: you don't have to run any scale from start to finish. It's not the ABCs. Start in the middle and work your way down, start at the end and work your way to the middle, then jump to the start and go to the middle, start in the middle and go end to end and back to the middle, start at the beginning and go to the middle, then back to the start. Any combination you can think of other than "A to Z"


Pick 26 notes in sequence and assign them a letter of the alphabet and spell words with them (not just A-F, but A-Z), then play those words. So if the open E on the 6th string is A, the 5th fretted note (A) is actually the letter F.

Play your name. Play your dog's name. Play the brand name of your TV or car. Play the street you live on. You'd be surprised what you can come up with. Probably horrified, too. :lol:

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

One more thing about improvising with a looper. Record the same chord progression, and when you go to play over it, use anything but the scale you've been practicing. Soloing should be more than a collection of licks we string together. It should be a straight brain-to-hands connection. Discard anything you automatically play (or hear others play). What you have left, is just you.

 

[Swampy]

Re: Help.my lead playing....please

Thanks for the tips guys!