Solo Lessons

I think that's a good idea. I'd like to see a solo broken down step by step, so I know how to go about doing it myself.

Yeah, I think that would be good too... I find that nowadays (I've been playing for a while), I find rhythm playing to be quite easy most of the time, but i get a bit stuck when it comes to improvising solos or even playing solos. The only problem is that i find that most of the solos that seem easy at first usaully have some sort of impossibly tough lick to replicate, at least in hard rock and metal solos.

So I think picking a solo to teach might be tough.

Sounds good too me.

usually solos seem hard to play, but if they are shown and brought down to the basics, anyone can play them with some practice

Isn't this something you should do yourself? Basic steps:

1) Get the cd, and sheet music or accurate tabs.
2) Download a freeware slowdown-program.
3) Take on the first lick, ignore the rest. Look at where you're playing and which frets are used in the lick. Decide where to place your hand based on that.
4) Slow it down, play it using the techniques stated in the sheets/tab.
5) Once you get that lick down 100% correctly, move to the next lick.
6) When done, add all licks together and slowly increase speed.
7) Write a tab of the next solo yourself.

The less you have to rely on others the more you can rely on yourself. It will take some time to start doing this yourself but it is hugely rewarding. Learn how to play a lick on multiple places on the fretboard, find out which position is best for which lick and you'll slowly start learning a lot more then if someone would make a SuperTab-article for you.

Trust in yourself, above all.

this is true.
however i think that having a solo broken down by someone who knows more about whats going on there would be very usefull when learning theory.

freebird!

Arjen, i 100% agree. Usually when I'll learn a solo, ill have to take about an hour for each lick just to get it right. But there is no reason that people can't share their skills with us. There is always a part of solo where i am a little grey on (such as rakes in a Gilmore solo), and little technique things that really make a solo

Good idea. I can see where Arjen is coming from, but sometimes you need someone who knows what they are talking about to explain things. After all if you can't see how something is done, then no matter how many times you look at it, you still aint gonna see it!

Thats probably why I think having a good teacher is important.

Definitely. But the problem is that an article would be for a large ammount of people. Now a teacher could take a look at a solo and explain it all to you, but an article can't explain everyone's issues. Which genre? Which song? Should you explain the rake? The pull-off afterwards? Or that mini-barre hammer-on that follows after the pull-off? Or are you just unsure about which finger to use, or how to hold you wrist during bending? Show me one lick and I'll show you ten different people with different questions, and another thousand who'd actually rather had seen a country solo. Or a Buddistic Rap Metal solo, since it uses secret Asian techniques never used in western music.

Really hate to be a party-pooper, but it just seems a lot more effective if everyone would dump their specific question here so the experts can answer it, instead of having one dude spend a month explaining every aspect of every note of one tiny solo.

Ofcourse, if someone has the time and interest I won't stop them from creating the ultimate Stairway to Heaven article. ;)

Well I keep following Arjen's posts and I have to agree again. Not only would it probably not cover enough of what everyone wants the article would need to be very long and detailed to include the things you are asking for.

What you really need to do is get a teacher and have him work through those exact same things.

But, I also think would be neat if someone wrote one.

Arjen, your already a published author here and have gotten rave reviews on your previous work maybe you'd like to writs such an article.

I'm thinking maybe Buddhist Rap Metal.

Arjen, cnev, good points and well put. Thanks for taken the time to explain.

I've thought about doing an article like that, or an article on how to play a certain song... But for me, I think that the songs that I'd like to write an article about already have amazing tabs on powertab or guitarpro, so it would be a lot of typing, when guitarpro/powertab explain the songs perfectly.

Taso: I guess people aren't really after the tab, but after the way to play them. So if you can grab a perfect tab and explain where your fingers are during each lick you'd be well on your way to become GN-member of the Month. :D You might want to take a tiny solo or something and just point at some general things. When to change position, when do you keep the thumb behind the neck and when not, when playing riffs using three notes on one string with a total width of five fret, which finger to use for the 2nd note to fret. Etc etc. You could even just grab different riffs from different songs to get good examples. (you being you, Layla, Wonderful Tonight and other clapton songs feature plenty of great examples).

Me, I should finish that darn blues article that is taking me way too long for way too little information. Guess the rave reviews are distracting me. ;)