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Solo rut...


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Posted

I've been playing for a couple years now, and I realized that whenever I do a solo, I use the minor pentetonic and/or blues scale. What do you do to change the way you look at soloing and using different scales?

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Posted

Don't worry, everyone goes through this from time to time. Here's a few ideas:

 

1. Start thinking about each chord specifically rather than just playing one scale over everything.

 

For example:

 

|:C |Amin |F |G :|

 

You could just play Aminor pentatonic or C major here, but your solo will have more direction and variety if you target certain notes over certain chords. To begin with, those notes are the chord tones.

 

In this case:

 

|:C,E,G |A,C,E |F,A,C |G,B,D :|

 

Notice if you add up all the chord tones you get the C major scale...

 

The important thing is to get this sound in your ears - try just playing one note per chord, going from chord tone to chord tone (nearby ones work best). Then try two notes per chord, going from chord tone to non-chord tone (scale tone or anything really) to chord tone. Continue adding notes until you are awesome :)

 

2. Maybe it isn't the notes/scales that are the problem!

Lots of great guitarists use pentatonic/blues scales all the time without getting bored.

 

Rhythmic Ideas:

 

Be able to start and end phrases in any part of the bar. Practice this by picking an end point - start with beat one of bar two, and playing 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 eighth notes towards it.(see ex1 in attached file) Then move the end point.

This works well in combination with the chord tone ideas above - make the end point a chord tone and work towards it.

 

Do you have a handle on all the subdivisions - 1/4, 1/8, triplets, 1/16 etc? Try ex2 in the attachment. Too easy? Exercise 3 will hurt.

 

Don't forget rests. Often, inserting a rest will have more effect on the rhythm of a line than adding a note. See Ex 4.

 

Listen to and learn solos by your favourite players.

 

Over an easy backing track, record yourself singing a solo, then transcribe and learn it.

 

Compose a killer solo, then learn to play it.

 

Practice soloing with a metronome only - no backing track. This will force you to concentrate more on melody. Play the chord progression over and over till you can hear the changes, then practice soloing. If you ever feel unsure about the changes, play them again - don't guess.

 

That's all I can think of right now. And probably about a hundred years worth of practice...

  • Members
Posted

 

Originally posted by MilkNCereal

I've been playing for a couple years now, and I realized that whenever I do a solo, I use the minor pentetonic and/or blues scale. What do you do to change the way you look at soloing and using different scales?

 

 

Before you start burying yourself under theory books, you could try to actually WRITE a solo instead of improvising it.

 

That is, instead of trying to come up with it on the spot, take a couple of hours (or days or whatever you feel like) outside band sessions, alone with your guitar. Play the chords and rhythm and try to SING little pieces of solo over it. Then try to play the nice ones on the guitar, and write them down on paper to remember them! Once you have enough you like, put them together.

 

This usually results in you relying more on your ear and creativity than your fingers and knowledge.

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Posted

Li Shenron makes a good point, but I'd go even further. Sometimes I find it's really useful to write out solos away form my instrument. You have to have a decent grasp of theory, but it helps you come up with stuff that you wouldn't normally think of, and that don't just fit to your favourite patterns (in fact sometimes these solos can be damned good exercises). Using your ear is great, but you're never going to sing a solo using material you've never listened to before, and this can help expand your hearing a little bit.

Good luck.

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Posted

Hey Coggins, that's some great advice.

 

To the OP, I'm not very well versed in theory, but I'm trying to learn. I'd recommend either recording some backing tracks, getting them off the net, or buying a cd, and experiment with different scales, etc.

 

I sort of group my thinking in basic pentatonic forms, but I never stick strictly to those scales. Now, where my limited knowledge comes in is that I don't always know why things work...or don't.

 

I think the idea of "writing" a solo isn't bad - you can certainly learn quite a bit by doing that. Even if you don't play it NFN, you can probably come up with some licks or runs that you can incorporate into your playing.

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Posted

Writing solos is a good idea. It usually makes you realize things about your improvisation that need to be changed. You can make some major improvements in your soloing once you start paying really close attention to phrasing, tension and release, putting a variety of different ideas one after another, etc.

 

You can also take a solo that you really like and analyze it, like, what makes me like this solo? Does it start out with a very aggressive lick? How is that lick composed, what makes it memorable? Is the next lick aggressive, or laid back? What makes it laid back? Is speed being used to add excitement? If so, how? Or is it just an aggressive bend that really makes it kick butt? Can you break up the solo into sections, like section A is a strong melody and is X bars long, section B is more technically aggressive, adds excitement, and is X bars long, section C restates the melody from section A, but more technically aggressive, and is X bars long, etc. Is one section high on the neck, the next low? Does one part use descending licks, the next ascending? Go through several solos you like and and incorporate some of those compositional ideas into your own stuff.

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