help with guitar solos

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  • BinFrog
    BinFrog MA Posts: 7,314
    Just bite off small chunks at a time. It's easy to get overwhelmed.
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  • Pearl-Fighter
    Pearl-Fighter Posts: 46
    Learn the Pent scale. You can move that around, and its pretty basic...its all pretty much been said I guess.
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  • Manstis1604
    Manstis1604 Posts: 99
    Its all practice. If you don't know scales and don't want to learn them, just play a lot. Get to understand how to craft the melody thats in your head. When you're soloing, you need to think about what you want the solo to sound like. When you're listening to what the band is playing, just think to yourself, "what is the best possible thing I could play right here?" Not the flashiest thing, the thing that sounds the best with the song. Practice playing certain intervals, get to understand what a half-step sounds like, a whole-step, 4 frets, 6 frets, octaves, etc.. That way, when you hear that in your head, you can apply it to your fingers in the split second without thinking about it. That's the secret to being a great guitarist, just knowing what you want and being able to do it all at the same time. Its tough, but doable. I've been playing for almost 6 years now, and I've gotten to that point where I can almost do whatever I want on the guitar. Of course, that's with a tiny bit of theory and knowing the major and minor scales in all keys. Depending on what you want to play, you really don't need to know much more than that. I would recommend learning all major and minor scales, one "off" scale like the harmonic minor or some jazz scale to throw yourself in a different space, pentatonic minor, and some basic music theory, just knowing intervals like 5ths, 7ths, 6ths, 3rds, etc. The scales sound a lot tougher to learn than they are, they're all moveable, like the pattern for the E minor scale is the same as the A minor scale, you just move the starting place. If you have the money, just take lessons, you'll learn everything you need because they'll teach you anything that you want them to.
  • Betterman77
    Betterman77 Posts: 92
    Yeah I do try to play leads that fit the song. I mean sometimes a song will call for a off the wall lead, but sometimes just sweet simple a few single notes here and there are amazing to, I know what you mean with that. For example look at the solo for World Wide Suicide, so damn easy basic but fits that song perfectly. Thats why I think Mike McCready is a guitar God, theres so many guitarists out there who kinda keep thier solo's sorta the same style all the time which defineatly gets boring, Mike does all kinds of stuff so many different varieties. As soon as I can keep in KEy 100% of the time, then I know I'll be good player. Other players tell me I got the speed down, the groove and all that, just tend to freeze at times or go off the path once in a while, LOL
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  • Pearl Jam and toast
    Pearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    HailHailVitalogy wrote:
    yeah its hard....keep going by ear, it will keep developing thats what I do, if it doesnt sound right for that second i hit the note..ill bend it higher
    it is NOT hard!

    just practice and become more familiar with the neck!

    PRACTICE!

    that's the best answer to 99% of questions on here :)
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  • Manstis1604
    Manstis1604 Posts: 99
    A good way of practicing improv soloing is just to sit down and start soloing in a key, and if you mess up repeat your mistakes and see what you can make of them. Jimmy Page and Robby Krieger both did this a lot, repeating mistakes until they fit. Its not all about melody either, if you play a phrase that sounds "off", mess with the tempo and those kinds of things. That way, you find new avenues to express yourself. A lot of the time a note that sounds wrong can sound great if its resolved properly. Just remember this: if you hit a bad note, the right one is just a half step away.
  • Manstis1604
    Manstis1604 Posts: 99
    Oh yeah, one more thing haha. Relative scales are a huge part of soloing. For example, if the key is major, you can play a certain minor key that has the same notes, and vice versa.

    G major = E minor
    C major = A minor
    D major = B minor
    E major = C# minor
    A major = F# minor
    F major = D minor

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