soloing help...again

[EmptinesOf Youth]

everytime i mess around and try to solo, i end up pullin some pentatonic jazzy thing. Doesnt really sound bad...just not want im aimin for. I cant seem to get grips on a good rock solo

[henryrobinett]

Learn some rock guitar solos by ear. Get them under your finger nails. Then learn some more.

[skipclone 1]

Yes. And it can be distracting if you`re always playing over something. It`s more fun that way but more difficult to do something different. Sit down, without background music, and figure out what you want to do more of.

[revolead]

Iron Maiden They won't get you out of pentonics but you'll learn how to sound melodic.

 

Metallica Enough said. Minus The new crap.

 

Dream Theater You'll never want to play penatonics again.

 

Scales Practice them constantly. Not the penatonics. Those are good warm ups, but learn the natural minor, the harmonic minor, the major, the modals.

 

Modal Improvisation Search this on this forum, you'll understand then.

 

Arpeggios You'll understand how to string skip and sound better and learn about intervals more.

 

Hope those help - Rev

[alguit]

i agree with Henry. Some heavy-duty listening followed by some woodshedding should do the trick.

 

There's only so many notes that one can play on a standard guitar. Rock soloing has so much to do with tone, attack...just basic attitude in general. Seriously, there's something in Keith Richard's bent-knee riffing, Jimmy Page's swagger, Jeff Beck's gunslinger mentality that really can influence one's playing. I'm not saying to adopt goofy rock-star poses, but have some fun with it, turn it up to ten, and think Ted Nugent...that sure ain't jazz!

[Blue Strat]

AC/DC - solos from Back in Black and High Voltage

KISS - Solos from Destroyer and Rock & Roll Over

Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, and Iron Maiden are all great places to pick up licks. White Zombie is too (La Sexorcisto).

 

You can also learn a lot from The Breeders, Sonic Youth, and Nirvana. Noise as a solo.

[Gruupi]

My improvised and composed solos are based off of the pentatonic scale but through in lots of chromatic notes as well as other notes. I heard that Eric Johnson thinks this way also. He will play a pentatonic scale but throw in the 6xth for example. It still sounds like rock guitar solo but I still have other harmonic choices.

[James-Italy]

I always get asked to play solo.

 

So low you can't hear me!

[strat0124]

Well if the Guitar Gods of old are any clue, they started out learning old blues licks, and of course.......Chuck Berry. After that, it comes naturally.

[revorhythm]

yeah man! some good ole' johnny b. good. hey geenard you know where to get a good tab fer that song?

[J J]

whats wrong with pentatonics?

Thats the most rock sounding scale you'll get.

[revolead]

Originally posted by Fret Friction:

whats wrong with pentatonics?

Thats the most rock sounding scale you'll get.

Nothing, but I think the other people on this site will agree when I say they get old after awhile. You can only play 1 skip 2 frets, up a string, fret, skip a fret, up a string, etc. so many times.

[strat0124]

Originally posted by revorhythm:

yeah man! some good ole' johnny b. good. hey geenard you know where to get a good tab fer that song?

Man I know absolutely nothing about tabs, I learned the number system years ago, but rarely if ever use it.

[Hound Dog]

Slide therapy-

I've found that attempting to play slide is great to get you out of the habit of playing the same patterns. It also slows you down a bit at first and allows you to think about what you need to play. I like to attempt to recreate vocal lines using a slide. Also try to not make it sound like typical slide, use muting and space between notes.

[loubeck]

This may sound stupid but it's worked quite well for me.

 

Try playing along with the melody of a well known song- and it doesn't need to be a rock song.

 

Christmas songs and kids songs are perfect for this. Try playing the melody to Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Keep going until your execution gets smoother. Once you've got the basic melody down, get a little fancier with it and jazz it up a bit.

 

Stuff like this will help you learn about intervals and improve your melodic soloing (without getting pentatonic).

 

Works for me anyway...

[John Merritt]

>>everytime i mess around and try to solo, i end up pullin some pentatonic jazzy thing. Doesnt really sound bad...just not want im aimin for. I cant seem to get grips on a good rock solo <<

 

Learn the solo to Crossroads on Live Cream....learn the nuances and phrasing. It is the perfect rock solo.

Then screw around with it.

And listen to the Hellecasters...I got a Will Ray slide that fits on your finger like a wedding ring. It adds a beautiful touch of chaos.

And if you want to hear every rock lick imaginable....check out some live Phish.

Also I try to take everything I know from scales and chords to arpeggios and triads, and I try to intentionally screw it up. Some incredible musical ideas come out of this sort of exploration.

And never forget that it doesn't take a ton of notes crammed in somewhere to say something profound....but being flashy every now and then sure brings it to a new level.

One of the things I love about Django Reinhardt is that you can hear his sense of playfulness and his eagerness to experiment.

And if trying to find your voice, try listening to other instruments. Aretha Franklin is a HUGE influence on my guitar playing.

Hope this helps...I get the deer in headlights syndrome quite often, but these thoughts pull me out of it. As long as you say whatever you say with conviction, your music will be more true to itself and will more likely be what you are aiming for.

[Don_Coyote]

Hi,

now solo-ing is one of those areas that give a lot of guitar players the heebie-jeebies! The key here is relax and feel the music you are soloing with; don't get into the cerebral self-concious trap of trying to map what you are doing. Forget scales, pentatonic or otherwise, go for melodic expression. Remember that good old band Creedence Clearwater Revival? Listen to some of Fogerty's solos, beautiful balance of single note blues riffs coupled with two/three note chord passages and slides/hammers. He listend to Scotty Moore and Eddy Cochran, among others-and Booker T. The whole art of guitar solo' playing is to create a voice, excite the listener and express what you are feeling!

[kitaristi0]

An easy way to get a blues/rock feel is to add string bending to your solos. Also try to avoid chromatic passing tones. They're okay sometimes but most of the time the sound a bit too jazz.

[Mike from Indiana]

Mixing the major and minor pentatonic scales is a great way to avoid the dreaded pentatonic rut. It gives you 10 positions to work with, rather than 5. The mixolydian scale is useful over 7th or 9th chords - the mixolydian scale is a major scale with a flatted 7th. Adding the flatted fifth (Eb in the key of A)also expands your phrasing vocabulary. And, don't forget to learn the modes! Experiment and practice, and eventually you'll find your own voice. Best wishes, and Happy New Year!

 

Mike from Indiana

[alanfc]

hey man-

 

see my sermon in reply to Warlock044x's post entitled "Hey" on soloing....

 

(visiting mom& dad & can't copy & paste on this dinosaur computer)

 

just my humble opinion

 

you can do it !

 

good luck

-Alan

[Yummy1z]

Myxolidians are indeed a great way to escape the Pentatonic path of perpetual apathy, so are some of the old blues masters.

I wonder though, if you are referring to original or non original songs you are attempting to solo in.

Write, create, lay down a simple, complex or varied chord structure all your own, try it at different tempo's, then, experiment with different techniques soloing around it.

Remember "the great ones" may have emulated other players styles, but they all invented their uniqu delivery.

[baronedo]

I don't think it's the pentatonics that are the problem but probably just the rut we all can fall into when playing them.

 

The penatatonic scales (both major and minor) are the backbone of rock and blues soloing. As some respondents indicated, I would listen to some masters of the penatonics to hear the innovative ways they used these scales while soloing.

Listen to some Hendrix, early Clapton (ala Cream), and Stevie Ray Vaughan for starters and try to learn some of their LICKS WHICH YOU CAN USE in songs.

 

I found that the key to learning and remembering good licks is to find a way to incorporate them into a song you will be playing. Otherwise you'll be just practicing licks with a limited purpose.

[LeftHandHack]

New dude here but thought I'd throw in my change.

 

To break out of the pento-rut, try adding diatonic arps as well. The folks who suggested adding the Major pento-scale are right on as well. You could also mix in dominant pento which would give you three pento scales to pull licks from. Throw in a few diatonic arps with those three pento scales and your golden.

[Tedster]

Welcome, Hack!

[BlueZet]

I always play pentatonic, throwing in every note that isn't in the scale at some time or other... or does that mean I'm playing chromatic?

 

anyway, I can make the solo sound blues, rock, jazz and anything in between, so I guess I'm doing SOMETHING right

[Corner Pocket]

T-Bone Walker's "Rollin' witn Bones" is a great example of playing around with blues based pentatonic riffs. He never changes position, always staying right at the 6th fret, (the tune is in Bb), and it never gets boring. One of the guitar rags did a good tab on it about a year, mebbe a year and a half ago.

 

Another guy who can run all day in the pentatonic vortex and not get boring is Popa Chubby. The best thing I learned from him, however, is that the tremelo channel on a Fender amp is cool *all the time*.

 

Paul

[SEHpicker]

A great way to learn some new and interesting licks is to play along with the TV. I like to imitate old TV show intros... you'd be surprised at the clever riffs and hooks you can pick up. Sounds kinda silly but try it... it'll expand your riff vocabulary in fresh and unexpected ways.

SEHpicker

[musicalhair]

I don't know, the answer seems kind of obvious to me: if you're not playing the type of solo that you "hear" in your head or what you were hoping for then in stead of playing the solo sing the solo. Make your self play what you hear in your head and sing it then play it. Play it as you sing it but make sure you'r playing what you're mind/ear is telling you to do and not what you're fingers habitually do.

 

Something that helped me maybe more so than scales and arrpeggios was playing interval-based exercises, like ascending 3rds (C-E-D-F etc) and sixths, forths and fifths and all sorts of interval based sequences.

 

When I started out I didn't know to sing everything, and I didn't work on the chromatic scale or really any kind of chromaticisms in my pattern practice but these things are important to me now.

 

That would be like the most direct "on-the-guitar" solution I could think of. Another thing would be to study melodies, and to think of phrasing both in the way you play and attack short phrases and the way you organize larger structures like the way you'll approach 8 or 16 bars, and how the idea you start you solo with will develop.

 

I think the following things will keep you busy and solve the problem: 1) singing the solo as you play it or instead of playing it and recording the singing to try to go back and find what you were shooting for, 2) working on learning the sound of intervals in you head by playing and singing patterns (the goal here is to get you're fingers to recognize the place on the guitar the sound in head are pointing to), and 3) thinking about "melodic construction" and phrasing.

[henryrobinett]

Yeah baby! Good advice!