Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Kizuna Dec 12 2012, 06:24 AM

Hey guys, i just started recording my own playing and im disappointed with myself
i usually just record a sequence of chords (basic chords) and play lead over them. the chords sound well together, but the lead doesnt go with it.i think im playing wrong notes over the backing track. what can i do to improve my playing over chords? do i learn theory?
are there any videos here that could help, or someone?
i will really appreciate it!

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Dec 12 2012, 07:50 AM

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator/ This here is my best friend when I play like that.

I'll throw some chords down, then play around with it to see a few notes that string together well. Run on over to the Scale Generator and toss on a major/minor/pentatonic then find a key that uses the same notes I used. Right now I can spot certain keys because I tend to use them or see them used a lot in music. E/Em seem to be the most used for my playing I've noticed.

Posted by: PosterBoy Dec 12 2012, 11:04 AM

Look at the scales as SpaseMonkey has said, but even more important.

Learn which notes make up the chords you are playing, you want to play them on the strong notes of your solos, like the note when a phrase is ending.

If you do it right then you should be able to play the lead solo without any backing and the solo will imply the chord changes.


Watch and listen to Tomo Fujita go over blues changes and using chord tones in soloing (it's in Japanese but has English subtitles)

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 12 2012, 12:13 PM

As PosterBoy said, you must first understand chordal structure:

1) What notes make up a chord?
2) What scales I can play over it?
3) What arpeggios I can play over it?

If you take time to understand these things, you will end up humming melodies instinctively and then transposing them on the guitar. I will talk a bit about these things in the video chat session tomorrow evening at 8 PM, so please join if you'd like

Cosmin

Posted by: Ben Higgins Dec 12 2012, 01:24 PM

Hi there, a lot of the time, you can use one scale to cover a whole chord progression. If you look a the notes in the chords you'll usually discover that they will share common notes, it's just they appear in a different order to make up different chords. If you can find one scale that uses all of those notes then that scale will work over all those chords. If you have chords which use notes which are outside of that scale, then do the same thing, look at what the extra notes are, combine them with the scale you are using and see if they correspond to any of the modes like Dorian, Mixolydian etc..

The Scale Generator is good to check out mode names etc..

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 12 2012, 04:56 PM

Cosmin's questions are the way to go with this. At the same time it would be very helpful if you learnt the major, minor and dominant arpeggios and triads. This is the best way for starting.

You will also find cool info here:

Posted by: Jouve Dec 12 2012, 05:39 PM

Hi!
Yeah your sure need the basic chords and scales teory.But I think thats not enough. Try to imagine the whole musical piece in your mind and start pushing your solo in note by note.
Also learning the vocal lines(singing the melody, and playing it) is a good way to expand your melodic vocabulary. You should try that. You soon will notice, that your ability of playing and composing leads is getting better as you practice.
Also experiment a lot. Just play whatever comes to your head, without thinking bout bad notes. Make'em sound good. Seek and you'll find!

And btw everything the guys've said earlier is true!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 14 2012, 02:05 AM

Here are some tips that really helped me when I first started soloing over music

1.)Create a simple progression to solo over in a standard key.
E.G. (A Minor Progression, and A minor Scale for Sologin, Power chords A, G, F G, A.

2.)Memorize the A Minor Scale. It will match the Progression and it's handy to know for soloing in general.

3.)Land on the ROOT NOTES now and again. In the main position (5th fret) there are three A root notes.

So use the Scale Generator. And look at the scale and plan some licks. Try them!

Todd

Posted by: Fayeed Tan Dec 14 2012, 05:02 AM

It is important to learn theory and learn the scales that you need to play over certain chords of different feel.

But aside from all those technical stuff another important thing is to train your ears. You need to listen to a lot of music and try adopting their feel and their melodic concept. That way you're not just training your ears but you're also training your sense of melody. You'll be surprised with the results after studying and listening to a lot of songs for a couple of months. Of course you'll still have to struggle through the recording process of making yourself sound good but that takes hours of non stop trial & error. Which is a good thing because you listened, learned & understood a lot of music already know the difference between a good melody and an even better melody in terms of guitar soloing.

I hope this helps, this is what I do. I never stop listening to other forms of music. Whether it's metal, jazz, rock, opera, pop or rnb. Soon your style will just rise up out of the blue and you have the best thing you've ever created, your MUSIC!