How Do I Learn To Play A Good Solo? Options

[Guido Bungenstoc...]

This is a common question that I heard so many times during my guitar teaching period(teaching for almost 20 years now) and I thought this might be interesting for you too.

The truth is, there is NO ONE BIG ANSWER!!! Sorry about this, haha.
Because first of all it's always a matter of taste. But there are some important points that could help you to make it possible.

Let me know about YOUR thoughts! ;-)

I paste and copy here from my Facebook wall. Sorry, I'm a lazy guy...

A nice student from Belgium asked me for some hints to learn playing a "good" solo. I decided to share this with you. Remember this is only MY point of view, there are many other ways

1. Melodic lines
A good melodic line(or lick) is something you always have to keep in mind and has to be present in your solo. Only learn SHORT simple lines(from guitar players, singers, sax players. etc) and remember these for a life time, it's like short sentences like "How are you?", "thx, Im feeling good", "how about you?" etc. etc. You never forgot this too, right? . A simple line can sound just awesome if you phrase it with different techniques like vibrato, bending, slide. etc. experiment with all these techniques to produce a bunch of different sounds. Combine your new line together with other lines you already know and experiment with it.

2. Music theory
Learn the music theory, it's just a musical language to communicate with another musicians. So, isn't that great and fun to learn a new language?

3. Transcribing
Transcribe whole solos, songs, riffs whatever is interesting for you. First try to imitate the style as close as you can get and then experiment with your own style to make it more personal.

4. Rhythm & Groove
Once you learnt a new melodic line experiment with different rhythms, for example move them to another positions in a bar or add a shuffle to it. etc

5. Harmonies
Take your lick and play it over various chords(or chord progressions) and remember what happens with your lick and how the chord can paint a new colour. Move your phrase in the diatonic(remember the sound of different intervals) or just change the key(from major to minor, Altered etc) Learning the Modes(in Minor, Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor etc.) is always very helpful to enter new music territory.

6. Try & error
Combine your new licks with your favorite stuff and place them in a musical situation(like Jam track, jam session with REAL musicians, on a gig etc.) and add them to your own vocabulary. Listen to yourself and also learn from your mistakes to make it better the next time!

7. Open minded
All music styles can give you something to learn from. Sometimes it takes time to understand the new music you have just discovered. But it's always worth it.

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This post has been edited by Guido Bungenstock: Feb 23 2014, 05:00 PM