Beginning Soloing...Any Rules I need?

Well I will say this is MUCH HARDER than I thought it would be! Even harder than barre chords were (which isn't saying much since I was lucky with barre chords!). I didn't use any backing track...I was just trying to put some notes together and I must say it sounded NASTY! Maybe I'll do was Matt is doing and stick to rhythms!

Hi Mike
I have been playing over backings tracks the last year now.
Mostly 12 bar I,IV,V blues progression of different types and rythms.
And I have learned the Minor pentatonic scale (position 1, 2 and 3) all over the fretboard .
In the beginning I concentrated on getting the timing right with just a small selection of notes.
And then added more and more notes of the scale all over fretboard. Then I started use some simple riffs that fits the scale and added some bends, vibrato, hammer on and pull offs.

One thing that I find useful is to play solo over songs from artist I like ( In my case EC´s Robert Johnson songs).
I start with learning some parts of the solo (that is repeated in the song) by reading tabs and listen. Then I start to playing it over the song in slow-down speed and the increase speed to normal speed. After I while I will get the feeling for that short solo sequence and be able use it in other songs and improvisations.

I just put up a song ( Blues in C minor) in Hear Hear that I think is example of using just a small selection of notes and put them (mostly) in the right place and with the right timing.
I am using the Cm pentatonic scale starting on fret 8.

It's really PRACTISE you need for soloing.

I've been playing guitar for 6 months.....and impossible air guitar for the past two years.

I know this sounds stupid, but air guitar has actually helped me move faster.
I'm not saying ditch the guitar and air guitar. I'm trying to say practise.

And on the topic of barre chords, I got good on those real quick.

take a look at the "blues Licks" thread over in guitar palyer's discussion, that looks comaprable to the scale you're using there's stones of riffs and links to "soloing " websites on there

btw how do i make hyperlinks to other threads?

What I would like to know is how to consruct a whole solo. I'm ok at improvising in a key but my improvs just go on and on forever without any overall structure. What I need is some guidelines, like say if I have 16 bars to solo over, at which bar should I "go high" or "go low"? I'm rubbish at timing these things... I can be improvising away and then I have a new idea, which I start to play, only to realise that I completely mistimed it and my solo is supposed to be ending now. What I need is a backing track where someone shouts out "one!" "two!" etc to remind me what bar I am on.

One way to get a bit of a structur in a solo is to follow the chord changes.
If you are playing a minor pentatonic scale over a 3 chord ( I , IV & V) 12 bar blues progression you should play the root note of the new chord (in a chord change) as the first note in the bar.
If you are playing on a A(I) chord and change to a D(IV) chord you should go up from a lower note ( in the scale) to a D note (root note in the D chord). And vice versa, if you go down from a E (V) chord to a D(IV) chord you should go down from a higher note ( in the scale) to a D note (root note in the D chord).

One way to look at a solo is like a "mini-song". As stated earlier be aware of the chord changes. If possible record (however you can do it) the chord progression and use that as a template to devise your mini-song to fit in that pattern. Think of the solo as a sentence with a beginning middle and end that has a common thread(lick,riff) that ties them all together.

What I would like to know is how to consruct a whole solo. I'm ok at improvising in a key but my improvs just go on and on forever without any overall structure. What I need is some guidelines, like say if I have 16 bars to solo over, at which bar should I "go high" or "go low"? I'm rubbish at timing these things... I can be improvising away and then I have a new idea, which I start to play, only to realise that I completely mistimed it and my solo is supposed to be ending now. What I need is a backing track where someone shouts out "one!" "two!" etc to remind me what bar I am on.

martin-6

Improvising is just that. You don't plan anything out, although you may have a basic idea of what you want to do ahead of time. But when you ask "when should I go high or low?", well, that is an emotional thing.

My advice for soloing is to listen to melodies all the time and try to copy them. Over the years I have learned some really stupid melodies and thrown them into songs. I mean, I might start playing London Bridge during a hard rock solo. But I didn't plan it, it would just occur to me while I was soloing to throw this in. But when it did, I knew how to play this melody.

Improvising is a lot like surfing. When you ride a wave, you never know what you are going to do. It's impossible, because every wave is different. So you have to adapt on the spot. And this is kind of how improvising is. I think it starts with listening and concentration. Listen to what you are playing. You mind will give you ideas of what to do next. And then do your best to play that riff or melody. Practicing many melodies all the time will give you the ability to play ideas as they occur to you. You also need to practice technique. If you want to run up a scale in 32nd notes, you have to be able to do that ahead of time.

And play with feeling. Get lost in the solo and go with it. You will know when to go high or dive down low. Whatever feeling you want to convey, you just go there.

My advice has probably confused you more than helped you. But to solo well, you just have to let go and trust yourself. If you are all hung up about hitting bad notes or making mistakes, your playing will sound dead and controlled. So just quit worrying about it and go for whatever you hear in your head.

Play within your abilities. If you really can't pull off tapping or sweep arpeggios, then don't try to throw them in a solo. Play what you play well. It is not about how great you are compared to someone else. It is all about playing the way YOU play. I have heard guys that just played a few notes in the Pentatonic Scale, but man, they made it sound good. It doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to be fast. Just listen and make it sound good.

After playing against a certain chord progression or rhythm sequence I kind of forget everything I know and just let it flow from within. Then I'll hit on a cool sounding riff and build off of that. After playing the riff a few times refining it even more and expanding it to flow with what I'm practicing against. Everything seems to come together. There are times when I'm asked to play a certain style of lead for a certain song or pattern. In that case I stay a little closer to the known cliche's and dig deep into my hat of tricks to add my own original style that I've spent many moons creating.

Hope you understand what I'm trying to say. Its easier for me to explain things with a guitar than with words.

Joe

As always, Joe makes some great points. I wouldn't consider myself a great lead guitarist, as I often have trouble plaing solos from songs. However I can improvise quite well. There is a feeling you get when you play over a chord progression that just takes away all your inhibitions about playing.

Feeling the solo the frist time around is what I find most important. It can all be linked together later, but you sort of have to capture that moment or feeling at the time, and build up from there.

Basically, just let the notes flow. Try staying within the basic scale patterns at first, and remember, a good solo should be like a song or a story, it should have a beginning, middle, and an end.