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
