Solo Lesson ... Do you wish you could solo better? I know it can be frustrating when you hear a guitarist making sense of all their notes, making their solo come alive and sound as if their solo is “speaking “ to you. This lesson is designed to unlock the mystery of soloing so you can have a never-ending supply of ideas to keep your solos fresh. With this lesson, you’ll learn how to build a solo, keep your listeners attention and make it “speak” to them. Soloing Strategies The first thing you want to think about is how you want to approach your solo. There are a few ways you can start: 1. Scale ideas 2. Arpeggio ideas 3. Paraphrasing the melody Scale ideas are simply playing patterns that are linear or scalar in approach. Usually you want to mix smooth step-wise patterns with leaps in the scale. This creates interest and establishes new points of reference for a phrase. Example 1
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Arpeggios are a great way to play through the changes of a progression or simply creating tension by applying different arpeggios over a chord. Arpeggios not only offer you all the chord tones of a specific chord, but they also give you a fresh way to solo due to the shape of the arpeggio and the idea that your skipping notes. Example 2
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What happens if you don’t hear yourself playing anything in particular for your solo…do you just play a bunch of notes and hope for the best? NO! Think about the most important part of any song - the melody. Now, what you do is learn to play the melody. When you know the melody, mix it up a bit and add some twists to it. This is paraphrasing. It’s close enough to the melody to recognize it, however you’re adding embellishments and nuances to make it stand out and enhance the song. Feel free to mix in ideas from a scale or arpeggio as well. Now, you have a solo with direction and purpose! You might even hear something totally different to start your solo. Perhaps you want something fuller to create a strong statement. You can play 2 notes simultaneously and create ideas with this concept. These are called, Double stops. As your solo builds you can bring in scalar and arpeggio techniques and echo the melody again. Building a Solo All of these ideas are great, however you can still fall into the trap of rifling off a bunch of notes and not making them “speak”. What you need to do at this point is build your solo so it has motion and time to climax. Usually, if you only have a few measures to solo you’ll want to hit the ground running a little quicker than a longer solo. But, let’s say you have a while to solo. You don’t want to start hot and heavy because you’ll have nowhere to go! The best advice I can give anybody interested in taking their soloing to the next level is to leave space. Silence. Stop playing. This is SO important because where the music happens is BETWEEN the notes. This has everything to do with rhythm. Inserting rests and letting a phrase breathe is the best way to create a theme to your solo. Anything you begin with can be made into a theme. You just need to listen to what you’re playing and build on it. This is known as “Theme and variation”. In the classical world, this is known as, “Thematic development”. Starting with a theme is simple - play a few notes with a defined rhythm. That’s it! Now, vary the theme with new rhythms, paraphrasing, adding in scale tones or arpeggio patterns…perhaps leave MORE space. As the solo develops, use a higher octave to create the sense of more tension and excitement. You might notice that I’m using palm muting to add a different texture to my phrases. It’s also a great way to naturally add dynamics.
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|--------------------------------------------------------------------| If you’re in a band, listen to what the drummer is playing to get an idea for a rhythmic idea for your theme. Maybe the bassist plays a figure that will be perfect to echo in your solo. The vocalist might improvise an idea that works as a melodic theme that you can vary. Can you
see that by applying these ideas you’ll have a limitless
resource for soloing ideas? The best part is that by
using the techniques taught in this lesson, you’ll be
well on your way to creating a solo that “speaks” to the
listener. |
