I am the worst soloist please help!

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

The best way i found to practice soloing is to play over a variety of backing tracks. Get your whole body into the rhythm of the music, and start coming up with phrases and ideas. Try to repeat some phrases - like the contour of it, or what it's trying to say. Or try to make a phrase that answers the question which the phrase before it asked. I know it's easy to say, but hard to do.

For me - licks only were good to show me the place on the neck where the notes came from, and the note choices. You have to take these same licks, and apply them over backing tracks by changing the notes or the rhythm. (Most of the time you will not be able to play the licks exactly over anything, because all tracks and grooves are different).

The biggest results for me came from jamming over backing tracks. And get a friend if you can - and do call and response. You solo for 4 bars, then he soloes for 4 bars. It gives you:
1. Time to think about your next phrase
2. Listen to your friend play something, and get an idea from him.
3. Feel the rhythm of the music, and improve your time with your soloes.
4. Practice your scale knowledge.
5. Practice technique.
All at the same time. 5 in 1 deal - if you practice that way.

Oh and ofcourse try to learn as much scales, arpeggios, all over the neck, so that there isn't a place on the neck where you are lost. Always try to relate them to the root on the 6th, 5th and 4th strings - so each pattern is "grounded" to some "root location" where a corresponding chord would start from.

My site has all the modes, melodic minor modes, harmonic minor modes, and 4 note arpeggios. The arpeggios can be learned not only for playing them up and down in soloes, but also to orient yourselves and simply look at the neck, and know where the 1-3-5-7 are. These are strong tones.

Chord tone targeting is another thing. You can do it by ear - start and end your phrases on strong tones: 1,3,5,7. Alternately, start and end your phrases on more spacy, out there tones: 2(9), 6(13), 4(11) - very unresolved. The 9 is my favorite for ending lines and starting lines.

good luck.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

All good tips ^ I'll check your site. Thanks.

 

[B2D]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

In all honesty, I'm still working on my soloing skills and probably always will be, as far as trying to advance and maintain my capabilities, but that goes for all aspects of guitar playing.

For me, what helped most was knowing the theory behind what i wanted to hear and then concentrating on making something MUSICAL with that theory. Technique usually is my 3rd concern.

Think of solos and riffs like that as little songs within a bigger song.

I found what also helped me along was taking really cool melodic solos and licks and learning as much of them as I could manage. As I learned more and more of them I gleaned more and more examples of things I could incorporate into a style I could call my own.

 

[GoDrex]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

Wow... I finally went to your site Frantic.

Printed out mode stuff.

I know nothing about modes.

here's a mode chart thing I made that I've found useful at times.

Modes of the major scale

 

[everdrone]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

Ive learned all 5 modes for five scales. big whoop. All I did was memorize the diagrams and then noodle while listening to music. there is tons of music theory to learn and Ill never be a Satch. But I enjoy listening to nuances when it is a band setting and not just another prima donna aspiring narcissist prodigy solo act. Not that anyone on this forum aspires to that. its really about finding your nirvana zen with the skizills u have. I appreciate the band sound when accompanying such talent if it is woven in - check out http://www.myspace.com/animalsasleaders Ive been digging that stuff lately - Im going to their concert this time next week

 

[Svs696]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

heres what i like to do.....
I go on youtube and look up a random guitarist. (EX: Zakk Wylde, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Slash, Etc....
Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix is an excellent example!
If u know the song it will help you a lot. The goal is here is to make you more creative, so you are gonna take a fill from a song and just mess around with it. DO NOT COPY IT!!!
Add your own style to it, then add emotion. If u think the lick is good write it down. Then look up the backtrack of the song u selected. And jam along. Remember to be patient because you might not get it the first time. This will make you become a better guitarist.
Rock On \m/

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

2) Come up with a melody in my head before touching the guitar - then try to learn that.

another thing to try is if your song has a vocal, play the vocal melody as a lead and then try to add some embellishments.

I was about to post a slight modification of this, then I saw this post from the riffmeister himself.

Whenever I am creating a solo / lead from thin air, I HUM, OUT LOUD to the chord progression. My brain, straight to my mouth, and I hum / skat whatever comes to mind. And I mean WHAT-EVER. The best riffs in history are simple.

A Berklee lecture comes to mind, where the lecturer mentions that the melodies that stick with people forever do not have to be fast, or long; they simply have to be good. The example referenced in the lecture is A-HA's "Take On Me," which has a half-time 3 note theme; "taaaaaaaake onnnnnnn meeeeeeee."


You don't have to go meedly-meedly to play a great solo,
-Hunter

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

In all honesty, I'm still working on my soloing skills and probably always will be, as far as trying to advance and maintain my capabilities, but that goes for all aspects of guitar playing.

For me, what helped most was knowing the theory behind what i wanted to hear and then concentrating on making something MUSICAL with that theory. Technique usually is my 3rd concern.

Think of solos and riffs like that as little songs within a bigger song.

I found what also helped me along was taking really cool melodic solos and licks and learning as much of them as I could manage. As I learned more and more of them I gleaned more and more examples of things I could incorporate into a style I could call my own.

It's strange for me to read how players say "Technique takes a back seat".
Without technique, there can be no expression, so to me it just doesn't make sense why you wouldn't consider it an equal counterpart to music theory and sounding musical

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

It's strange for me to read how players say "Technique takes a back seat".
Without technique, there can be no expression, so to me it just doesn't make sense why you wouldn't consider it an equal counterpart to music theory and sounding musical

You have to have the whole thing imo.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

Well technique can be your fingering and picking technique that makes you you. Or Technique like hammer-on etc.
I am not a good soloist, and I prefer melodic playing. In the years, I learned how my head ticks and what kind of melodies I like. It's easier now to come up with nice sounding and fitting stuff, since I leaned to see the whole picture, and not only the possibly glorious 30 seconds.

My tip would be to follow your chorus patterns, since they are catchy, strong and characteristic/authentic. Your gut feel will bring you to the right derivations of chorus lines. Use your bending skills as you do on your voice.
For example, use higher octaves of your voice melodies, and begin to dance between the lines. Put some key points, and fill them with creativity. You also can try to find alternative vocal lines, and use it as guitar solos. Your imagination and concistent creativity would be the most nessesarry weapon to create cool solos.

 

[post toastie]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

cool deal...refresh the page and check out the edited version as there were mistake (typos) in my original notatation that have been corrected.

here's a link that you may find helpful. it contains many of the elements we were discussing earlier --- sliding chords / harmonies in particular. and you can get your "Power 5th" thing on while you're at it. at 2:43 i noticed he was well into the sliding harmonies.

he slides whole chords as well as breaking it down into sliding up to an accent note.

hope you're still on the case :13: !!!!

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

here's a link that you may find helpful. it contains many of the elements we were discussing earlier --- sliding chords / harmonies in particular. and you can get your "Power 5th" thing on while you're at it. at 2:43 i noticed he was well into the sliding harmonies.

he slides whole chords as well as breaking it down into sliding up to an accent note.

hope you're still on the case :13: !!!!

I'm on it thanks! I'm taking lessons off the web where I can find them - now to practice. :grumble:

 

[Robbyk]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

I hear that! I'm not a guitarist in the sense that many of you are, I'm a songwriter and singer who plays guitar to embellish my songs. I obviously don't want to sound cliched so I think If I can learn some of these licks I can make them my own.

When I play songs, I use certain muscial phrases that are key to the song and then add my own. Sort of like Smoke on the water. I use the last series of note bends the rest is my own made up. I remember reading somewhere EVH would spend his time playing popular tunes in his room and he practiced his own leads and chops with the albums. I do the same.
Some of the best leads are the ones that sound uncomplicated and simple. So don't try to hot dog tunes, some of them do not sound good that way.

 

[cakire82]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

I am not a good player. I suck but I also find Paul Gilbert videos highly beneficial for technique, speed and accuracy. Also Petrucci's rock disippline is a bible for me.

Lately, I am working on Dave Celentano's - Secrets Of Shred Guitar instructional video. In this video he is showing techniques such as alternate picking, legato, tapping, sweeping..etc on a chord progression mostly used by classical composers such as Nikola Paganini. It is fun to exercise and I find it very useful.

Like of the people above mentioned, I also believe, all these techniques and licks are useless if we don't put them in use. It might be jamming over a track, jamming with friends or trying to write your own riffs, chord progressions or leads.

 

[karpathion]

Re: I am the worst soloist please help!

Or, just get really wasted on anything you can find, and listen to the pretty sounds that come out. seemed to work for the beatles,doors,jimmy, pretty much all the folks we want to sound like.:joke: