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We see a lot pf posts here asking how to play fast...


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...but very few asking how to play more melodically. Our recent jam threads (particularly the one featuring Mo's backing track) have been really useful in that regard - I'm particularly grateful to Jeremy's advice about chord tone soloing, that came out of that thread.

 

I've recently been transcribing solos by Michael Schenker, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page and it strikes me how all the great guitarists seem to have a superb sense of melody when constructing their solos.

 

So, I'd like to ask everyone here to offer some advice that I can use to make my solos more melodic. Hitting chord tones seems a great place to start, but I just know there's more to it than that. Just how do you guys go about playing melodically?

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...but very few asking how to play more melodically. Our recent jam threads (particularly the one featuring Mo's backing track) have been really useful in that regard - I'm particularly grateful to Jeremy's advice about chord tone soloing, that came out of that thread.


I've recently been transcribing solos by Michael Schenker, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page and it strikes me how all the great guitarists seem to have a superb sense of melody when constructing their solos.


So, I'd like to ask everyone here to offer some advice that I can use to make my solos more melodic. Hitting chord tones seems a great place to start, but I just know there's more to it than that. Just how do you guys go about playing melodically?

 

 

It's a big topic. One thing I practice a lot is "target practice" where I choose a "landing note" at a certain place within the chord progression ahead of time.

 

If I do it right, I can land on the "target note" when I meant to do it (for example: "Play Ab on beat-one of measure 5 of the phrase over the Bb7 chord." It encourages me to build the phrase toward that note. If I do it right, it sounds pretty good, so it's fun to practice once you get past the "limits" element (read: you can't "just play whatever you feel, man")

 

The idea is to be able to control WHEN you hit WHAT note.

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Hmm...it's pretty much the Holy Grail for me. I don't do a lot (if any!) guitar solo's on our original stuff nowadays. When I do a BT jam or the odd one in a song, I do try and stick to my principle of not playing unless I can hear it.

 

More often than not, what I do hear in my head is reasonably melodic..probably 'cos the melodic/chord tone options are actually the easiest to hear away from the guitar!. The hard part, which I still fail at most times, is not letting all that other stuff get in the way...licks, muscle memory, the desire to sound flash, that Yngwie lick I have to play every time..etc, etc..

 

Of course, this "other" stuff is a big part of what I hear in my head...and so the never ending quest carries on :lol:..which came first?...the muscle memory or the genuine :idea: moment?

 

I think Jon's idea about "target practice" is probably the best way to tackle this though..I'm just rambling..and there lies the problem.

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The more melodies you learn to play, the bigger your vocabulary of melodic phrases.

Melodic improvisation, IOW, is built - very simply - on learning to play as many melodies as you can. Copying vocal lines, or learning the melodies of any instrumental piece - surf tunes, jazz standards, film themes, etc.

They teach you about phrasing, range limits, the effects of certain chord extensions and melodic intervals.

 

The limitations of the human voice are a good starting point (the trouble with guitar is you have too many note choices - it's easy to play lines which would be impossible to sing, which makes for bad melodies, or plain non-melodic sounds).

You need to "sing" with your guitar. Treat it as a substitute for your voice. YOU might not be able to sing what you play, but you have to feel as if SOMEONE could, as if you can hear someone singing it as you play.

 

Of course chord tones are important, but - pretty obviously! - it's how you string them together that makes melodies. In fact, a strong melodic phrase can over-ride chord tones; or rather, it can suggest a whole load of higher chord extensons or alterations. (Seeing as every note in the 12-note chromatic scale can be explained in some way against any chord root ;).)

Generally speaking, tho, good melodies stay pretty close to the consonant chord tones and extensions: 1-3-5, with 6-7-9 as secondary consonances. (6 and 9 always major, 7 can be minor or major depending on chord function. All other notes are dissonant to some degree - which doesn't make them unusable of course, only tricky as targets for phrase endings at least.)

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I knew you fellas would supply some stellar advice, good work :thu: Here's some questions (hopefully to stimulate further debate) prompted by your replies so far...

 

The more melodies you learn to play, the bigger your vocabulary of melodic phrases.

Melodic improvisation, IOW, is built - very simply - on learning to play as many melodies as you can. Copying vocal lines, or learning the melodies of any instrumental piece - surf tunes, jazz standards, film themes, etc.

They teach you about phrasing, range limits, the effects of certain chord extensions and melodic intervals.


The limitations of the human voice are a good starting point (the trouble with guitar is you have
too many
note choices - it's easy to play lines which would be impossible to sing, which makes for bad melodies, or plain non-melodic sounds).

You need to "sing" with your guitar. Treat it as a substitute for your voice. YOU might not be able to sing what you play, but you have to feel as if SOMEONE could, as if you can hear someone singing it as you play.

 

I've asked this question to many people (music teachers, musicians I admire, virtuosos and sometimes the bloke at the local petrol station ;)) and this stands out as the best answer I've yet had. It's still not the perfect answer, but it's definitely in the top three. At the risk of sounding impertinent/stupid, please would you give some more detail and suggest some practical exercises to get started with.

 

Cheers all for the great replies so far.

 

PS : how do you play fast? :cop:

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So how do you learn to 'hear it'? I'm developing my ear all the time (thanks to 'Transcribe' lol), but still struggle to internalise melodies in my head, then translate them to the instrument. Please tell more
;)

 

I'd say the biggest improvement I made on this was when I started to practice visualisation. So, I'd go through chords, scales, arps, entire solo's in my head whilst on my daily train commute. Then, I'd start testing myself..like think of the riff to something simple..."Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest..easy right?...hear it in your head..in the right key...then hum it, pick up a guitar and play it...if you're not starting on "A"..you got it wrong :cop:

 

Years of doing this has started to build a connection between my ear/brain and guitar. LONG way to go though. Now, applying this to improvising solo's really is a matter of trial and error. I do it like this: Listen to the track I'm solo'ing over..what do I hear?..if I consistently hear nothing, then maybe it doesn't need a solo? :eek: radical I know, but something us guitar players should consider from time to time. ;). If I hear something, and play it as best as I can..there's a good chance that what I just played will tell me what to play next..call and response as it were.

 

I think what I'm saying Jon, is that I've spent so long messing with music in my head, that if it isn't happening for me on the guitar..then it probably isn't there today. Nowadays, I think I spend more practice time without a guitar...and I still play guitar every day. Don't tell my employer. :o

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At the risk of sounding impertinent/stupid, please would you give some more detail and suggest some practical exercises to get started with.

Well, I can't suggest anything more practical than to repeat what I said! ;)

When I say learn melodies, I mean just that. Ideally play along with a recording, trying to find the tune by ear - but IMO it's just as useful to work from songbooks. (It's rare, of course, to find vocal melodies tabbed out for guitar, so reading notation really helps here.)

So if you can't read notation - that's one of your first tasks, to learn how! (It's really not too difficult to learn what you need to translate a lead sheet - no need to learn to do it fast enough to sight read.)

It's obviously not great for ear training, but it can still teach you about note-chord relationships, show you the theory behind it.

 

Otherwise, just keep playing along with stuff and trying to copy the singer, or whatever instrument is playing the melody.

 

It doesn't actually matter too much if you can't get every note right (although it's good if you can of course). What matters is to be able to respond in kind - to play the same kind of thing.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "call-and-response", which is used to describe slave songs and spirituals as well as certains kinds of African singing (and much religious worship in other cultures of course). IMO, instrumental improvisation (in jazz and blues) originally derives precisely from mimicking what voices do in choral call-and response.

You can certainly hear this in blues, when a solo performer answers his vocal with guitar phrases.

 

IOW, all improvisation is ideally (even inevitably) melodic, even if you're only jamming on minor pent! Of course, there is a gradation between noodling and scale runs (not very melodic) to phrases which are more singable or voice-like.

 

There are many rules that can be distilled from melodies, but IMO (for a musician rather than a musicologist) the best way to learn them is to listen and copy, absorb the language intuitively.

 

While you can basically just work with ANY melodic material (turn the radio or TV on and try to pick the tunes out of any music you hear) it's best for developing a personal style to focus on any tune or phrase that appeals to you, that jumps out like a hook phrase. It may not always be in music you particularly like (otherwise), which is why it's best to keep your ears open for anything.

 

 

IOW, I'm not greatly in favour of "exercises", as technical things to do when practising. I see no reason not to just work with actual music all the time - whether that's playing along with existing songs, or practising to backing tracks. (I certainly never do things like scale practice, or technical practice of any kind, and never have. I just learn to play tunes and songs, chord sequences, melodies, fingerstyle pieces, etc. I cross technical bridges when I come to them. Or I go round another way...:D)

 

When working on your own, in a practice session, do as jonfinn suggests: work with a chord sequence (some backing track or other), and look ahead to a chord 2 or 3 chords ahead. Decide on a target note on that chord. Begin on a different note on the current chord and plan a line to land on your target. There will be many routes to get you there - not just going up or down the scale, of course! Use chord tones as stepping stones.

Limit your note choices as much as you can. Eg, stay within one octave. Make sure you use a variety of note lengths - not only 8th notes, but a mix of 8ths, quarters, half notes, triplets, etc.

Remember the target note needn't be on beat 1 of the chord. And of course you needn't start your phrase on beat 1 of a bar.

Depending on how confident you are of your voice, it's really worth trying to sing or hum the line you imagine in your head.

 

If you really find it hard to imagine a phrase, just work with chord tones - that can mean simply the notes in the chord shapes (you WILL, of course, know a few shapes for all the chords in the sequence, and play along with the rhythm beforehand, won't you? ;)). Instead of strumming, just hit single notes in the chords.

For every note you play, try and imagine what kind of note ought to follow: higher or lower? How much higher or lower? (It doesn't really matter, of course, but make a decision.) Once you've heard the two notes in succession, they ought to suggest where a 3rd ought to come.

Eg, if you've started low, and just moved up one scale step, maybe a bigger leap up the scale would work? Or if you've made a big leap up, maybe a scale step back down is what's required?

(A lot of these things are things your voice would naturally feel like doing if you were singing.)

As long as you remain tied to chord tones for your main notes, you don't have too many choices for where to land. (Other notes can be used in passing of course)

 

You can also use verbal phrases to give you ideas for rhythms or phrase lengths. If it's a song you're improvising on, you'll have the lyrics of course - take any phrase out of the lyrics (not just the one that normally occurs where you are in the sequence). Otherwise, just make up a phrase, anything. Something like "I don't know what to play next" has a good length, and some kind of natural rhythm, and even a rough melodic shape, or a variety of possible shapes - you can stress the "what" or the "next" or the "know".

 

When in doubt: REPEAT the last thing you played! IOW, try not to play anything you couldn't play twice. (In fact, that's a good tip to start with: repeat phrases you know you can repeat. Listen to the effect as you repeat a phrase - it often sounds a whole lot better 2nd or 3rd time! Make sure you leave space between each repeat, mind.)

As you repeat a phrase, you'll probably get a hint of what ought to happen next - you could change one note of it, or just move it to a different beat, or play it slower or faster.

IOW, that's yet another example of a "fertile limitation". Sometimes, the more you restrict yourself, the more ideas you get. Having too much raw material to begin with (eg the whole guitar neck!) can just make you freeze with indecision.

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Great advice here as always.

 

Jon to me the "secret" is in the intervals. When you run up and down a scale you are moving in the smallest intervals (2nds & Minor seconds) which frankly have not only the smallest distance, but also the smallest melodic content.

 

Try resolving (to chord tones of course!) using 3rd's 4th's 5th's 6th's etc. Interval-ic leaps. Typically this pseudo-overlaying of chord shapes over chords is where melody is often found.

 

An an exercise what if you did a chord tone solo but using only triads of common chord substitutions? Google "chord substitutions" and practice playing the sub's arp over the current. chord in the progression. If you look hard enough you will eventually find ones you like.

 

Thing to understand is if you are playing only chord tones, you are always in a resolved state. Play lines off the chords, but that end on the chord's tones.

 

Whatever you do ALWAYS be aware of the chord you are soloing over. This is the great secret of soloing if there is one. Melody is found in resolution, because it just feels so nice when the line reaches home. Find different routes than the ones you usually use.

 

Good luck!!

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I said it before and I'll say it again: COLORS!!!!

 

I've found it works wonders for young players and seasoned players alike. You can apply any color to notes and chords that you like, but I choose this scheme:

 

A B C D E F G

 

Sharps or flats in the key and accidentals will still have this color quality, but slightly different hue from the natural note color. In the case of chords they take on a new colorful life full of endless possibilities and combinations and you are not restricted to "staying in the key" when it comes to melody.

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i think that playing becomes melodically after a lot of practice or just a gift, like famous spanish guitarists have.

 

main thing for me - setting a specific tone, listening for a music, that sounds like a melody i'm playing. after that i'm playing (not practicing, having joy while i'm playing) a lot and can't stop for an hours, recording myself.

 

after listening i can analize my mistakes in melodic playing. i think it's all about the feeling of mood of specific melody.

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i think that playing becomes melodically after a lot of practice or just a gift, like famous spanish guitarists have.

 

 

Sorry Lawn_dog not meaning to be a goof or disrespect you but honestly I couldn't disagree more with this statement. I used to believe that to a degree. Not meaning to come off all enlightened or anything!

 

Honestly I think mostly the "gift" thing is a cop out many of us use when we reach various plateaus; to accept that the reason they cant make compelling things happen on an instrument. It is much easier to accept "I just wasn't born with it" than, that maybe, you haven't worked as hard, or as smartly as others. Maybe you haven't surrounded yourself with people who empower and inspire you?

 

Learning to play at sublime levels comes with some born in traits sure. But I think they are more traits like: coordination, observation, perseverance, rhythm, dedication, open-mindedness, intelligence, romance, fantasy, and vast amounts of stubbornness.

 

I don't believe there is a "music gene". I think it is a combination of a little of each of the above. That and an intense desire - not giving a crap how much work, or what you have to lose to get there. I am playing things today, I never thought I would have been capable of a decade ago. It saddens me to think how close I came, to never really having experienced the freedom and joy I have playing today. I still have miles to go but at least I have shaken this whole attitude.

 

You CAN make music at a high level - so accept that. Now, figure out what you have to do to get there. Then DO IT man!!

 

Cheers

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Great advice here so far.

 

Chord tone targeting.

 

Learning melodies.

 

Hearing melodies in your head or singing them.

 

Intervals.

 

 

 

When a question about making great melodies is asked, most of the answers revolve around note choices, and rightfully so.

 

But also important are the rhythms used in conjunction with those notes.

 

A couple of fun experiments.

 

- Take some melodies you know and convert all the rhythms to quarter notes. Use the same exact order of notes. Listen to what happens to each melody you try this with, and ask yourself some questions about what you observe.

 

 

- Take a melody you like and steal the rhythm of it. Try completely different note combinations (using the note choice ideas presented in the above posts) but make it rhythmically conform to a melody of your choice.

 

 

- Take two melodies you like. Use the notes from one and the rhythms from the other.

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First you need to start with a melody. Try writing some melodies without the guitar. Also, try writing them without a preconceived chord structure. If you do start with preconceived chord structure, write some melodies without the guitar but aimed at the chord structure. Then when you get a good melody you might need to change you chord structure a bit to get it to fit the melody.

 

Visualize melodies. You can do this by listening to something and figure out what you're hearing with no reference to an instrument. Also sing your own lines along with what you're listening to and visually where your idea is coming from. Or visualize something you already play, then sing or try and hear something over it, then visualize what it is you are adding to it based on the part you can already visualize.

 

Learn some melodies. You'll learn that fit chords to the tee and you'll find melodies that sometimes go against the chords and are their for the explicit reason of melody and not what's going on under it at the time. But, it all lands on it's feet in the end. The joys of tension and release.

 

Learn to manage cadences. This alone with start to give everything you play a direction. And the most important thing is, after doing it a while you'll start to hear when you're not giving your lines direction. So you can continually fill in the gaps making your over all playing sound more mature.

 

Writing songs helps a lot. You'll find you can write some songs in 2 minutes, others could take two days, two months or even two years. But you'll find that some songs will come to you with the guitar in your hand, some with chords first or some with melody first. And some will come without the instrument in your hand, and these can come from nowhere, can be a work in progress, or be aim at something you've written on guitar but are still working out in your head when you don't have the guitar.

 

Doing all of these things should become you practice routine. The more you do them all the better you'll get at using all of these tools together as needed.

 

It really does take practice and repetition.

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What are your criteria for selecting a 'landing note'?

 

 

Only one criteria: That it sounds good with the chord in the moment. Don't overthink it. Instead, choose a note you're going to "land on" and choose WHERE you're going to land on it. Be specific about that. Then, note the results you get. If you like the results, keep doing it. If you don't, try something else. Make sense?

 

I'm being deliberately vague because it's only one of millions of exercises you could do to improve your melodicism. Do it enough to get a sense of the kind of results you get.

 

To me, improvisation is "spontaneous composition."

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Also, you can try this:

 

-Think of two simple licks (4 or 5 notes maybe).

-Play the first one

-Play the first one again, but with a different ending note

-Play the second one

-Play the first one again

 

Sometimes giving your improvisation a "pre-determined form" gives it a nice melodic sensibility.

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I'll share this old track since my goal was actually to play VERY slow :D

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=3873909

I think that I had read Barry Levenson's first book by then (Exciting Concepts for Blues Guitar Soloing), and I was focusing on the aforementioned target notes, in addition to scale tones, chord tones, and passing tones.

Attached is a summary I created for the "Blues" scale in A. One version had a typo, so hopefully this is the right one.

Full disclosure: I don't know as much or play as well as most of the people in this forum :D

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A buddy of mine recommended a book he heard about on this site, Raising the Barre, for this exact thing. I think the author wanted to train people's ears and technique by giving us classical pieces to work through. I borrowed the book and it was awesome and exhausting work to get into some of the stuff but it really helped my playing in general, I feel like I have a better sense of phrasing and musicality. You can learn technique anywhere but it's nice to have actual music to work with. Anyway I gather that the guy wrote more books but my friend didn't have any more and didn't want me to keep Raising the Barre too long (I was tempted...).

 

Anyone know where you can get your hands on this book and any others by the same author? I've looked everywhere.

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I'll share this old track since my goal was actually to play VERY slow
:D
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=3873909

I think that I had read Barry Levenson's first book by then (Exciting Concepts for Blues Guitar Soloing), and I was focusing on the aforementioned target notes, in addition to scale tones, chord tones, and passing tones.

Attached is a summary I created for the "Blues" scale in A. One version had a typo, so hopefully this is the right one.

Full disclosure: I don't know as much or play as well as most of the people in this forum
:D

 

So - to make sure I understand - where it says that a target note for the "V chord is T, which functions as 4", this is saying that the target note for the V chord is the tonic scale in which the chord is the V, and that this note is in fact the 4th of the scale of that V chord?

 

Let me see: the V of A is E. So this is saying, over an E chord when the key is A, target an A. And this will be the 4th of E.

 

Yes that adds up, A is the 4th of E.

 

But what is the point of this? And how do I "know" that this is good?

 

What I mean is that over an E chord I'd be thinking (if anything other than crap crap what shall I play) "target E G or B, chord tones man!"

 

What's the basis for chosing the 4th of the chord that's being played?

 

GaJ

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What I mean is that over an E chord I'd be thinking (if anything other than crap crap what shall I play) "target E G or B, chord tones man!"


What's the basis for chosing the 4th of the chord that's being played?


GaJ

 

Chord tones can eventually sound a bit boring, so other tones add a different flavor. I like to combine both. It's like playing the Root or the 5th. Often these are played by other instruments, like the bass or a piano. If I emphasize them on a solo they'll sound OK, but there's no tension at all between what I play and the overall sound. If instead I focus on a 3rd or b3 or b7 or 9th (2), this adds a different sound.

 

I'll try to record a quick blues take tomorrow to better illustrate this. I think that both will sound OK, but one will sound more interesting (hopefully) :)

For example, for the I - IV change, just shifting from 3 to b3 works great. I'll try it tomorrow.

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