I need tips for playing solo's

Tom-eg

I am not really a lead player. Mainly cause when i was learning i was always intimidated by it. In recent years i've been trying to get into it. I practice my scales regularly and i like to improvise. I am improving slowly but surely but i'm nowhere near where i should be considering how long i have been playing. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve? I don't know enough about technique when it comes to playing lead. Are there any sites that could help me with this? Cheers

Duff_Man

just search the net for some licks that way u can build up a bunch of them and mix them as you see fit....most of the soloing tends to come naturally to people its all about soul....as cheesy as it sounds its true. just keepin learning your scales and practicin licks.

Demeyes

I'd seriously recomend spending a bit of time working on your technique. There are plenty of sites that will give you a hand. Spend time working on the following

- Bending
- Vibrato
- Hammer-ons and pull-offs
- Picking

Do some exercises for these over backing tracks and to a metrenone and stick with it, steady practice. You will be playing much better lead guitar after a few months good constant practice.
I found that once you had the technoque down, playing solos became much easier. Too many people sit down to learn a solo but don't have the chops to pull it off, in the end they end up butchering it into a version.

Fusion251

I think the only way you'll improve your technique is by firstly learning some simple solo's by other guitarists. Pick some solo's you like which don't seem to challenging, get the tab online and give them a go. I also find that using a program called Transcribe is great as it slows solo's down without losing the key and can help you really nail the technique.

Do you know the pentatonic scale? That's where the soloin' starts for most people! Pop me a pm if you want me to send ya some scal examples.

Cheers
Fusion

-=al=-

make some funny facial expressions

slipss

-=al=- wrote: »

make some funny facial expressions

Heh, the golden rule of soloing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtm66Z3lebc 1:55

BumbleB

Forget about learning stairway to heaven or anything like that it will confuse you.
My advice is learn ur pentatonic scales off first which you will get off any site.draw out the first positon pentatonic scale .Pentatonic scales are the bread and butter for most guitar solo's so it's important to get a good hold on them .I personally used to practice "shakin all over " (60's song ) when I started because it has a very simple descending pentatonic run and it played very slow as well so it's a great for learning and getting used to the scale

When you get used to that try getting vibrato ,vibrato takes along time to master and get perfect .

Bending is the third technique ,which is actually fretting the string and pushing it up horizontally against the neck . If you want any more info pm me.

slipss

Also download Tux Guitar, Power Tab or (if you don't mind paying) Guitar Pro, then you can get tabs for the solos on various sites, then there is an option in the above programs to reduce the tempo. So say you're learning Sweet Child O Mine for example, the tempo will be set to around 120-130bpm, so you set it to like 38bpm (or whatever is the top speed you can play it flawlessly at) and play along with it and then move it up to 48, play it at that untill you have it 100% perfect, then 58, then 68 ect untill you're playing at the right speed. You barely even notice the increase if you do it gradually enough and make sure you can play it like 10 times in a row without any mistakes at every graduation. It was an absolute life saver for me.

Also practice like absalute crazy at doing pull-offs with your little finger and ring finger (the other two kind of take care of themselves, the muscley little bastards). this exercise helped me alot with that (pull off the 7 with your little finger, the 6 with your ring ect)

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theres also plenty of really usefull (as well as plenty of completely useless ones, you have to sift through a bit) instructional vids on youtube, Just type in "Guitar tapping lesson" "guitar pull-off lesson" "guitar soloing lesson" ect.

Malice

Forget about learning stairway to heaven or anything like that it will confuse you.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. If you like the song enough and you understand that it's going to be a challenge, I say go for it. I remember jumping off the deep end and trying to learn Estranged and November Rain by Guns N' Roses when I first took up the guitar. It took me a long time but I got most of the guitar parts learned pretty well. Each to their own though!

slipss wrote: »

Also download Tux Guitar, Power Tab or (if you don't mind paying) Guitar Pro, then you can get tabs for the solos on various sites, then there is an option in the above programs to reduce the tempo. So say you're learning Sweet Child O Mine for example, the tempo will be set to around 120-130bpm, so you set it to like 38bpm (or whatever is the top speed you can play it flawlessly at) and play along with it and then move it up to 48, play it at that untill you have it 100% perfect, then 58, then 68 ect untill you're playing at the right speed. You barely even notice the increase if you do it gradually enough and make sure you can play it like 10 times in a row without any mistakes at every graduation. It was an absolute life saver for me.

This is pretty much what I was going to post . Definitely start slowly and work your way up to the fast pace. Don't try to walk before you can run! Remember that (like most things) it takes practice. I wouldn't worry about thinking you're supposed to be at a certain leve or anything like that. Generally everyone learns at their own pace according to their ability and the amount of time they put in.

pug_

I could have started the same thread as the op tbh, I've always been more interested in rhythm and general acoustic finger picking until recently enough when I decided to improve my lead. I started out the same as the op doing scales, and general improvisation etc and I could see my speed improve, but not my technique or stamina.

The three main problems I have are lifting my fingers too far from the fretboard, curling my little finger into my hand when using my other three fingers especially when playing fast, and pushing too hard on the strings. The only thing I could think of to improve each of these was to just take a major scale and practice it very slowly paying careful attention to exactly what my fingers are doing for each note. It takes a lot of practice and patience to see improvement when I speed things up again but I seem to be slowly getting there.

I've also started learning a lot of new tunes or licks that use either pentatonic, or major scales I've been practising. Oddly enough for the major scales I find both children's TV shows and Traditional Irish music are great. Children's shows because I've a 2 year old, and trad because my wife plays the flute.

BumbleB

I think you're over analysing your technique ,far more important to go for feel than technique. Once it doesn't cause injury to you ,its good.once the note is clean with good timing very little string noise its good playing.Definetly trad music is agreat way to shake up your playing as it changes key quite a lot .

-=al=-

You'll spend more time muting strings and stopping unwanted noise than actually playing notes for solos... + the techniques are usefull to know before u go for feel, the more techniques you know the more ways you have to express the music

learn some songs from artists you like, or some you'd like to play like, they'd be sure to utilise the skills and techniques you like

pug_

I do both tbh, I like to split my time between serious practising, learning new stuff I like, improvising, playing stuff I already know, and just plain messing around.

I was just posting what I was trying out to improve my skill level for lead as per the ops original post.

I like to play with feeling everyone does, but I'd also like to be able to do it well. Maybe I'm a freak, but I enjoy the repetitiveness of practice and I get a real kick out of seeing improvement in my playing when I know it's down to the time I put into practising something mundane.

-=al=-

i hanvt practiced properly in years

pug_

Show off :P

-=al=-

i think just learning challenging songs can do the job too, songs that use the techniques and stlyes your into ya kno