Members TheBlueStrat Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 Hi, I'm a newb at playing lead and soloing. I've learned the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale pretty well (I think). And although I can usually go from one position to the next, I find that I'm struggling to really make anything sound good out of it. Everytime I try something, it just sounds like im going up and down the scale and positions with a few random hammer ons, pull offs, and bends here and there. I even bought a Boss RC-2 pedal to practice improvising over my own playing but yet it does not sound melodic at all. Are there any videos or books or sites you reccommend that can help me get past this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 Play one of the backing tracks you've made... or that you've gotten from someplace else. Put down your guitar for a moment. Listen to the backing track, and sing a melody... record this. Learn to play what you've "sang". Congratulations, you're on your way to melodic soloing! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members randombastage Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 Play one of the backing tracks you've made... or that you've gotten from someplace else.Put down your guitar for a moment.Listen to the backing track, and sing a melody... record this.Learn to play what you've "sang".Congratulations, you're on your way to melodic soloing!M x2 Think of it like this: I'm a newb at telling a story. I've learned the words in the dictionary pretty well (I think). And although I can usually spell them correctly, I find that I'm struggling to really make anything sound good out of it. Just start telling a story from the heart instead of repeating lists of words in alphabetical order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snowaie Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 ^^^ Everything said. This helped me a TON. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members axegrinder Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 If you find yourself bored with pantatonic scales, you could expand a little and venture into major/minor scales. Here's how I would start out: learn the C major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C) and try playing notes and phrases out of that scale over a song in A minor. Both A minor and C major share the same notes. In fact all major scales have a relative minor scale. Once you get that stuff under your belt you can't get into modes for more exotic notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 Think in terms of melody rather than scale. You're thinking about where your fingers go instead of hearing where they go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tp4mybunghol Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 +1 on singing. Work on getting the most out of very little, like David gilmour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 playing up and down a scale is a science. making a melody is not a science. experiment. the process of coming up with good melodies is different from person to person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheBlueStrat Posted October 19, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 Thanks, that singing idea sounds like a very good idea, I'll try it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted October 19, 2009 Members Share Posted October 19, 2009 My solo chops suck. Good thread concept! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 i feel the same as the op. i have the ability to play tons of leads from different styles but cant write them to save my life. curious to see other responses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mav64 Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Intervals are your friend, as are slides, trills, triplets, etc...also passing (chromatic) notes can help color things up nicely. Switch between scales...etc...just keep at it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Northstar Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Pick an "easy listening" radio station.While a song is playing, explore the fretboard to find what key you're in.Try to complement the melody and/or the singer. That way:you never know what's coming up and you won't spew out rote stuff.you have to be quick on your feet (or fingers) to adapt to the key and make something that makes sense.Don't sneer at the "easy listening" tag. The tempi are workable and most of the time the songs are really well-crafted and musically interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreatDane Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 experimenting with different phrasings will generally help your soloing quite a bit. intentionally limit yourself to only a few notes and play through different variations around sounding the notes and the breaks or holds in between. once you have some cool phrasing variants mapped out, then factor in some dynamic elements (picking certain notes louder than others). before you know it, you'll be on your way. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Northstar Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 experimenting with different phrasings will generally help your soloing quite a bit. intentionally limit yourself to only a few notes and play through different variations around sounding the notes and the breaks or holds in between. once you have some cool phrasing variants mapped out, then factor in some dynamic elements (picking certain notes louder than others). before you know it, you'll be on your way.good luck! That's a lesson that has served me well over the years. Learn this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Don't start every melodic line on the 1 - try starting on the 5 (it'll always work). Of course, you can start anywhere - let your ears be the guide. Vary the rhythm of the notes. Don't just play all 8th notes - mix it up! Slide or bend to and from notes, rather than picking everything. ----- I always liked the exercise of picking four (or three or five) specific notes on the fretboard and play using only those four spots. Try to find as many variations as you can with those four notes. Assuming the song or solo section is in one key, you can get a lot out of only a few notes, and you can find a lot of ways to make it interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crashclc Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Lots of good advice above. My $0.02 worth... if you want to sound more melodic, then using the notes in the scale of the key of the song, pick out portions of the melody of the song an octave higher if you've got enough neck. Even if you just echoed the melody line without spicing it up, it would sound pretty decent. Then if you throw in some hammer ons, pull offs, bends etc. to add some flavor and feeling to the mix - and you practice at it - it will sound good. Oh and one other thing, it isn't the number of notes you play, or how fast you play that matters. The main thing is the feeling you convey with those notes. Solos are all about feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitarist970 Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Try and hear what you want your solo to sound like before you start playing it. If you're working on improvising make sure you're composing the solo in your head a couple measures before you actually play it. I'm not concerned with what I'm playing at the moment when I solo, I'm already past it in my mind. I'm concerned with what I'll be playing in a few seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian May Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 i feel the same as the op. i have the ability to play tons of leads from different styles but cant write them to save my life. curious to see other responses... Its this that seperates the masses from the "guitar heros"!! Writing melodies and music is a skill - like anything else - you have to practice it to develop it. Some of us aren't naturally creative. Thats not to say we cannot create just it may take a bit more effort. There's many technically great players around - just watch em on youtube for example. They know all the scales n arpeggios! They have all the chops...but dont hold your attention for more than a few seconds!! But many or most of those players that on the surface look really good, if they're playing mostly other peoples music its becuase they're not that creative or that they dont feel their creations are comparible. If they are playing their own stuff then great...but often its not something that ever sticks in your mind and leaves a lasting imression....widdle widdleee wee wah wah etc. Sure they'll have the chops...but what most of them/us lack is musical skill to write a catchy tune. Thats why to many they're seen as "wankers" because largely their playing is meaningless and doesnt speak to people on an emotional level. Some players like Gilmour can play just a few notes and send shivers up your spine! Thats a powerful thing and something for us all to strive for. Most of us that dont write much are that way because we dont constantly strive to do so. Recording artists may put out an album of up 16 songs a year to a year n half...but they're constantly trying to write those 16 songs. When your inspired things can happen pretty quickly. When your not, its like its never going to happen! When you do write - record everything. Even the stuff that sounds like {censored}. Just listen back and wince...but often you'll listen back and hear a lick or riff you did and think "that was good" ...then you take that and cultivate it...try n develop that into something. The singing idea is a really good one. Often if you have a guitar in your hand you will just fall into the same old cliche's that you've always played and long since got bored with. If you listen to the track and imagine up a melody you will probably suprise yourself!! Try and get a simple idea going round as a riff or line to start with...play it a few times and then think were can you take it to now so as not to become boring..take your idea into a new direction. Like a bricklayer laying bricks music is rarely fully formed at the start in someones mind...you play an idea..that leads to another idea...and to another and so on. But you gotta try n build some structure into your creations...its got have parts. A beggining, a middle and an end. If you train your ear enough over a period of years you can eventually learn to play stuff you hear in your head off the cuff - thats when your free!! Thats the ultimate aim for most of us...we're not there yet...but many of the top players are doing this. Often We all to easily fall into the rut of just learning other peoples stuff. Thats no bad thing in iteself but when you learn a piece of music - then you have to start looking at what you've played and see it in terms of how it relates to a scale, or more importantly to the chords in the backing at any given moment. Oh i'll leave it there...i'm rambling!:facepalm:I could go on and on...there's many good posts in this thread already and probs more to come. I like these kind of threads! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zemmy Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 welcome to the struggle of every guitarist...making our fingers play the sounds we hear in our head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian May Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 ....yeah worry about it when you dont hear anything in your head!! Of course though for that to be happening you have to be inspired by something. And that often comes from listening to other peoples music. Nobody creates in a vacuum!! Of course though, if you hear voices in your head saying "kill kill kill!" etc then do ignore then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Play one of the backing tracks you've made... or that you've gotten from someplace else. Put down your guitar for a moment. Listen to the backing track, and sing a melody... record this. Learn to play what you've "sang". Congratulations, you're on your way to melodic soloing! M Michael, I'm going to try this myself. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 i was just talking leads though. i havent really learned any existing songs in a couple years now (ok maybe one or two), and i was at a point where i didnt know where to go. i have been extremely happy with my rhythm skill/creativity improvement over the past year or so. i can groove on the guitar a couple hours straight some times without really stopping or playing anything i have heard before. i agree though that recording would be a great way to improve the experience and the progression though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NashSG Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Something that a guitar teacher got me to do was working over chord progression and working off the the notes of the chord being played. The thing the scale helps is if you know the key, you can start to see the connecting notes in-between the notes of the chord being played. He had me start playing off the major or minor triads of a progression then start working in the 7ths. Knowing a major or minor scale pattern is good, but really it is more like a series of chords that apply to each note of the particular scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mahuska Posted October 20, 2009 Members Share Posted October 20, 2009 Play one of the backing tracks you've made... or that you've gotten from someplace else.Put down your guitar for a moment.Listen to the backing track, and sing a melody... record this.Learn to play what you've "sang".Congratulations, you're on your way to melodic soloing!M Sound advice. Odd thing though is when I am trying out some lead to a song I am working on, the riffs end up being the vocal melody instead then I need to see what else might fit as far as fills or a lead break. They do go hand in hand as after playing I find myself singing something else to add to it all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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