Guitar Solo TipsSoloing Tips

Guitar Solo TipsSoloing Tips
  About Concepts
 

 
  "One of the most important parts of a solo is the way it starts. That sets the
  mood. The solo should reach high points and low points, and catch you in an
  instant kind of way. The solo is a piece of music in itself. It should have
  some sweet spots and some dirty spots."
  Kirk Hammet
  "The best solos are something that you can sing as well as the melody line.
  The kind of solos I enjoy are where there's a line that reflects the melody
  but subtly changes it. It opens up another little window in the song. There
  should also be some spontaneity, It shouldn't be totally planned out."
  Brian May
  "I know what key I'm in, but it's more the note I'm looking for. You
  automatically adhere to certain patterns because the notes are there. The most
  important thing is to be able to hear it in your head and apply it through
  your fingers to your neck in a split second. That's what people miss out on.
  Instead of playing patterns, hear the melody you're going for. You need enough
  experience to know where it is on the neck. I'm still learning this, it's
  something that very few guitar players of my generation even paid attention
  to. You have a better chance of reaching your goal if you hear the solo before
  it happens, rather than just flipping around."
  Slash
  "I sometimes develop a solo by taking a story I have in my head and reciting
  it. And as you say the story, sing it. No one will hear you singing, because
  the amps are too loud. then play what you're singing. If you do it that way
  and listen to what you play, you'll be shocked. It's a totally different
  approach."
  Steve Vai
  "There are certain patterns, scales, and positions that become engraved in
  your brain from common usage. If you have a melodic idea in mind, you find the
  place on the fingerboard where it's going to happen, and start to fool around
  in the licks, phrases and scales that you know in that position. That's how
  you build a solo. When I listen to a solo after the fact I can analyze what i
  was doing. But at the point of doing it, I'm searching. I tend to rely a lot
  on arpeggios, but I didn't know that until I listened back to solos and
  transcribed them."
  Rik Emmett
  "You can learn so much applying rules of speech to your playing. Notes are
  letters, words are chords, riffs are sentences, choruses and verses are the
  paragraphs. Basically, you're telling a story. It's very simple but we all
  tend to go, "Gee, here's a guitar. I'd better think a lot." The more you
  think, the more frozen you get. Just let it flow. It really works that way."
  Marc Bonilla
  About Theory
 
 
  "Ab5 means you've got a 4, and maybe don't have a 5-you've got a b5 instead.
  A#4 [Lydian Mode] means that you've got a whole-step between 3 and 4, but
  there's still that 5 to retrieve it and move it and smooth is out. It's a
  whole different emotion. The b5 is a real nasty thing. It's like pulling a rug
  out from under someone, throwing a pie in his face, and unscrewing the hubs of
  his wheels. With Lydian mode, you don't know there's a trouble unless you play
  that particular note."
  Joe Satriani
  "When I approach a solo, first I learn the melody and then I learn the chords
  from sheet music or from a record. Then I try to use substitution chords here
  and there that will make the tune a little more interesting. For instance in
  place of an Fm I would use an Ab6/9, or in place of a C7  I sometimes use a
  Gdim going to F.
  Chet Atkins
  No musicians can say,"Hey man, I've finally got it all happening." There's so
  much more to develop: make the lines hipper, change the chords voicings,
  expand the harmonic vocabulary. How you develop and resolve a line determines
  the intellect of the improvisation. I have enough musical theory to know what
  scales fit what chords - I've been studying that since the age of eight. Yet
  any musicians knoows once you've learned and digested music theory you have to
  throw it away at some points.
  Al Di Meola
  About Technique




  For me, playing slowly and interestingly is harder than going fast. A lot of
  guitarists can play fast, so when I achieved that ability I was determined not
  to sound like everybody else and just run up and down the scales or do simple
  major and minor arpeggios. Sweep picking enables me to go beyond that and
  execute arpeggios based on minor 9th, 11th, and 13th chords or whatever.
  Frank Gambale
  Sometimes I use the side of my pick to get harmonics. I also get harmonics by
  hitting a note with my left hand finger while I tap my right index finger on
  the fingerboard exactly one octave up. When it's an exact octave, you bring
  out the harmonics plus the lower note. Like in "Spanish Fly" I start out by
  tapping harmonics and then do hammer-ons and pull-offs with my left hand and
  reach behind my left with my right and use my right index finger below my left
  hand, so that it acts as a sixth finger. In other words, my right-hand finger
  changes the lowest note. See,  the way I play is in my fingers. I have a style
  of playing where no matter what amp or guitar I use, it sounds like me.
  Eddie Van Halen
  Early on I was lucky enough to have someone point out the usefulness of my
  left-hand little finger. As a result it is one of my strongest fingers, and I
  prefer to use it even more than my ring finger. That's always what made me
  different from most rock-guitarists I know - even the really good ones. I
  think in Rock N Roll a lot of guitar players favors something that lets them
  use the ring finger for greater articulation and vibrato effects. For me, I've
  got to be able to do it with every finger. I find it ridiculous to have close
  all my ideas on my ring finger so I can get a vibrato. That eliminates a lot
  of possibilities automatically.
  Jerry Garcia

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