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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ The Worst Mistakes You Can Do In A Solo
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 20 2014, 11:22 AM
Hi there,
This could be an interesting topic i guess.
I think there some " golden rules" for soloing. Of course rules can always be broken but some points are strongly recommended. So let's collect some to make the best solo of all time. :-D
Also some funny rules could be interesting!!!
So here's my 1st rule:
1. Don't stay to long on the 4th in Ionian mode and the 6th in Aeolian Mode! Could be aweful if you don't resolve it to the 3rd or 5th. :-P
Go ahead
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Mar 20 2014, 11:38 AM
Very interesting topic! 
I would add a general, more live performance related tip : if you hit a "wrong" note, don't make a big deal out of and facial expression like you ate something really bad. Instead, just ignore it and maybe hit it a few more times and it will start sounding "intentional" and listener's ear will adapt (in most cases). Most of the times you'll be the only person to notice it.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 20 2014, 11:40 AM
I would add a general, more live performance related tip : if you hit a "wrong" note, don't make a big deal out of and facial expression like you ate something really bad. Instead, just ignore it and maybe hit it a few more times and it will start sounding "intentional" and listener's ear will adapt (in most cases). Most of the times you'll be the only person to notice it.
I totally agree with this!!!
Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Mar 20 2014, 12:28 PM
IMO a big mistake is playing a solo without sense of rhythm. You must have a full control of timming of your notes.
The rhythm has the same importance as the choice of notes. You could play live a solo, make a mistake and play some notes in an entirely wrong key but if your rhythmic phrasing is good, it will still sound good (of course, how good can sound with wrong notes?).
Posted by: Jouve Mar 20 2014, 02:43 PM
Sometimes playing a solo is a very big mistake 
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 20 2014, 02:50 PM
worst mistake?
- playing a solo when the song doesn't need it.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 20 2014, 02:59 PM
- playing a solo when the song doesn't need it.
or letting the bass player do one, haha
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 20 2014, 03:02 PM
hahaha nooooooooooooooo
Posted by: klasaine Mar 20 2014, 03:32 PM
The rhythm has the same importance as the choice of notes. You could play live a solo, make a mistake and play some notes in an entirely wrong key but if your rhythmic phrasing is good, it will still sound good (of course, how good can sound with wrong notes?).
If 'I' had to pick worst thing to do in a solo I'd say that Monica has nailed it.
You can get away with a lot of melodically questionable material when your rhythm, timing and conviction is strong.
My own contribution to the topic would be that ending too soon and/or not on a strong note is a common problem that plagues a lot of inexperienced soloists. Basically not knowing the form that they're soloing over.
*And of course any and all bass solos are just totally wrong all the time
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 21 2014, 09:55 AM
- playing a solo when the song doesn't need it.
Best one today
And I would also add - playing a solo that crams up as many notes and techniques as possible just to showoff how skilled you are
Posted by: Ben Higgins Mar 21 2014, 10:08 AM
1. Don't stay to long on the 4th in Ionian mode and the 6th in Aeolian Mode! Could be aweful if you don't resolve it to the 3rd or 5th. :-P
Amen ! I absolutely agree with you on this !
Yes, definitely.
There's a flip side to this which deserves special mention as well.
Playing a solo which is too uniform in its timing. For example, every single note is perfectly laid out.. all 8th notes, 16th notes.. all neatly wrapped in a bundle. Learning when to stray from the beat is all part of phrasing and feel.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 21 2014, 12:00 PM
Absolutely right!!!
@Cosain,
great one too!!! :-D
BTW good collection of worst mistakes!
I have another one:
thinking more is more!!!
There's only ONE guitar Player of this world who has the permission to think like that:-D
Posted by: waynedcoville Mar 21 2014, 12:36 PM
hey!
Posted by: Caelumamittendum Mar 21 2014, 12:41 PM
From my personal experience I think too much, so maybe this would go for an advice:
Don't think...feel!
Posted by: klasaine Mar 21 2014, 03:44 PM
Don't think...feel!
Yes, thinking is for your 'practice' time.
I had a teacher that used to say, "practice the method, perform the result".
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 22 2014, 03:10 PM
I had a teacher that used to say, "practice the method, perform the result".
Another good saying from Ken
Thanks man, as you know, I am collecting these And to come up with one myself: 'Don't play what's there, play what's not there!' As the great Miles Davis said
Posted by: klasaine Mar 22 2014, 05:19 PM
Thanks man, as you know, I am collecting these And to come up with one myself: 'Don't play what's there, play what's not there!' As the great Miles Davis said Yeah, that's xlnt advice.
My fave Miles' quote ...
*There's a really good John Frusciante interview in the latest GP mag where he talks a lot about playing what's not there or was never there there to begin with.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 22 2014, 07:07 PM
Don't think...feel!
This is the most important advice that an artist can receive. It's the basic one, the rule number 1 for me.
Posted by: AK Rich Mar 22 2014, 07:25 PM
How about soloing on a guitar that is badly out of tune? And then bending and stretching the notes to try to make them work.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 22 2014, 08:10 PM
Well, badly out of tune is a mistake but to make it work that the audience doesn't notice is a challenge! :-D
Posted by: Josh Adams Mar 22 2014, 08:40 PM
I think charisma/confidence is the key. You can be a master guitar player but you're only going to sound as good as the music you're playing. Ace that and don't act nervous when you mess up and you can't go wrong.
Posted by: verciazghra Mar 22 2014, 09:30 PM
Playing a solo instead of a melodic composition which reflects the mood of the song.
Worrying about anything.
PLAYING STERILE! YES "mistakes" are needed to make playing seem organic, play sloppily with melody and rhythm rather than be a pre programmed syntheziser!
Playing fast to impress. When you slow a lot of solos down and realize it's just major and minor arpeggios that a child practices for hours on the piano, it seems like a waste of notes to make most of your solos consist of that. (I'm looking at you Rusty Cool-aid and Andy James.)
Trying to fit it, trying to play what others want to hear, rather than letting yourself be yourself through the music!
I'm sure many people disagree with me but I don't mind, I've been known to be wrong on many things according to many people.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 22 2014, 10:25 PM
Worrying about anything.
PLAYING STERILE! YES "mistakes" are needed to make playing seem organic, play sloppily with melody and rhythm rather than be a pre programmed syntheziser!
Playing fast to impress. When you slow a lot of solos down and realize it's just major and minor arpeggios that a child practices for hours on the piano, it seems like a waste of notes to make most of your solos consist of that. (I'm looking at you Rusty Cool-aid and Andy James.)
Trying to fit it, trying to play what others want to hear, rather than letting yourself be yourself through the music!
I'm sure many people disagree with me but I don't mind, I've been known to be wrong on many things according to many people.
I totally agree with you! Well said! ;-)
Posted by: AK Rich Mar 23 2014, 06:54 AM
A challenge indeed!
Sometimes it can be made to work , but other times it just ends up being a fruitless act of desperation. Especially if you break a string at the beginning of the solo on your trem equipped guitar. Yikes!
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 23 2014, 09:37 AM
Oh yes, most definitely
I've been there a few times and it was EXTREMELY rewarding when I managed to pull it off. Maybe a bit out of topic, but in respect to guitars that fail you during a performance, here's the nicest way to save the day:Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 23 2014, 12:47 PM
Haha, great solution! But what if you don't have a trem bar and the guitar is (de-)tuned to high?
But Thx god guitars have the tendency to go flat on stage because of the Heat. So bending all notes a bit higher could help. :-D
Posted by: Mertay Mar 23 2014, 04:33 PM
Joe Stump once told me always be comfortable on stage as the audience gets bored if you have no movement or mimic.
Thats why we only know Joe and Yngwie playing on half speed seriously!
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 24 2014, 08:37 AM
But Thx god guitars have the tendency to go flat on stage because of the Heat. So bending all notes a bit higher could help. :-D
It would actually not be so badl, because the strings would not be de-tensioned when one of them breaks, in the situation of a fixed bridge
Another way to solo that caught my attention because it's creativity:Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 24 2014, 05:47 PM
Another way to solo that caught my attention because it's creativity:Great solo! :-D
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 25 2014, 08:16 AM
Guido, please tell us one good story in which you managed to save the day onstage in a difficult situation
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 25 2014, 11:11 AM
OK here's one:
Many years ago a keyboard player asked me if I wanna do some dinner music with a sax player. But he warned me that the sax player would have some weird timing problems. But I didn't care and the money was good, so I agreed.
So we three met the first time on stage and The sax player set up his Drum machine Boss Dr. Rhythm(one of the cheesiest thing you could think of) and then the catastrophe began. :-D
He was constantly moving the time, instead of starting a melody for example on 4+, he startet on 1 and all was moved a 1/8th behind, and then on the chorus he startet again on a wrong beat and etc. etc.. He did this in every song without obviously knowing WTF he was doing there. There wasn't also some logic behind this because he always changed something. So the keyboard payer and I everytime we had to react rhythmically on his strange behavior. :-D
We two stood behind him and we're constantly laughing during the whole show. So hard that I had heavy bellyache for hours. I almost pissed my pants, haha
Best thing: the dinner people didn't noticed anything :-D
Posted by: Caelumamittendum Mar 25 2014, 12:32 PM
Many years ago a keyboard player asked me if I wanna do some dinner music with a sax player. But he warned me that the sax player would have some weird timing problems. But I didn't care and the money was good, so I agreed.
So we three met the first time on stage and The sax player set up his Drum machine Boss Dr. Rhythm(one of the cheesiest thing you could think of) and then the catastrophe began. :-D
He was constantly moving the time, instead of starting a melody for example on 4+, he startet on 1 and all was moved a 1/8th behind, and then on the chorus he startet again on a wrong beat and etc. etc.. He did this in every song without obviously knowing WTF he was doing there. There wasn't also some logic behind this because he always changed something. So the keyboard payer and I everytime we had to react rhythmically on his strange behavior. :-D
We two stood behind him and we're constantly laughing during the whole show. So hard that I had heavy bellyache for hours. I almost pissed my pants, haha
Best thing: the dinner people didn't noticed anything :-D
I think it was Elton John who once spoke about a keyboard player he had with him, who tried to keep up with the chords, but was constantly an eighth note behind as he was figuring out the chords to the song. In the end Elton John just kept it the way the other keyboard player was playing it with the chords coming in 1/8th note "too late".
It's been a while since I saw the documentary where he described this, but I think it was Elton John.
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 25 2014, 08:18 PM
It's been a while since I saw the documentary where he described this, but I think it was Elton John.
I'm absolutely sure it wasn't Elton John's keyboard player on that dinner party, haha
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 26 2014, 09:00 AM
You got me laughing as well man
I remember this one time when I was playing with the Pantera tribute band I am in and while performing 'I'm broken' our drummer, who's one of the greatest in my country, somehow lost it. I usually rely on his groove a lot and I was never ever used to hear him lose it and if I would've payed attention while playing I would've most likely hesitated a bit due to the sheer amazement - 'Hey the guy is like a Swiss watch! What's happening??!!' ... instead I was thinking about I don't know what. I went through with the riff and suddenly I was the only one playing 
as the bassplayer had a moment of hesitation himself. The drummer yelled: 'Alriiiiiight man!!' and he came in in full force so that the audience thought we made that moment up intentionally I was very happy to see how a mistake can be turned into something great!
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 26 2014, 11:52 AM
I remember this one time when I was playing with the Pantera tribute band I am in and while performing 'I'm broken' our drummer, who's one of the greatest in my country, somehow lost it. I usually rely on his groove a lot and I was never ever used to hear him lose it and if I would've payed attention while playing I would've most likely hesitated a bit due to the sheer amazement - 'Hey the guy is like a Swiss watch! What's happening??!!' ... instead I was thinking about I don't know what. I went through with the riff and suddenly I was the only one playing
as the bassplayer had a moment of hesitation himself. The drummer yelled: 'Alriiiiiight man!!' and he came in in full force so that the audience thought we made that moment up intentionally I was very happy to see how a mistake can be turned into something great! Good story as well, hahaha
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 27 2014, 10:35 AM
I heard Dave Navarro talking about his technique of covering up mistakes, for the first time in my life: if you make a mistake, do it at least two more times so that people will think you meant it... and SMILE
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Mar 27 2014, 10:41 AM
Or if you are a bass player - just stop playing for a second, clear your mind and continue right in the following measure(s).
No one will notice
The above is not applicable (in scale of progression from most noticable to least noticeable) to the following instruments :
1. Drummers
2. Singers
3. Guitarists
4. Keyboard players
Posted by: Guido Bungenstock Mar 27 2014, 02:51 PM
No one will notice
The above is not applicable (in scale of progression from most noticable to least noticeable) to the following instruments :
1. Drummers
2. Singers
3. Guitarists
4. Keyboard players
Oh yes, stoping in between a solo(or in between a song) is definitely the worst case, haha
But i would like to continue your list:
1. Drummers
2. Singers
3. Guitarists
4. Keyboard player
5. Choir
6. Girl with big boobs at the merchandise(depending on the quality of the band could be No1 as well)
6. Sound engineer
7. Light engineer
6. Guitar tech
7. Roadie
8. and now the bass player!!!
Posted by: klasaine Mar 27 2014, 03:51 PM
This for you Bogdan ...
No one will notice
The above is not applicable (in scale of progression from most noticable to least noticeable) to the following instruments :
1. Drummers
2. Singers
3. Guitarists
4. Keyboard players
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Mar 28 2014, 06:21 PM
The drummer is the motor of a band! No drummer, no band! Truth is that I used to be very, BUT very upset 7 8 years ago when I was playing with a friend drummer and I always felt he was rushing and he was somehow stuck and not progressing. We were and are best friends but we had to split the band we started as kids, because I wanted more and he couldn't deliver. It was a true heartache. We didn't speak to each other from 2009 till late 2010 and then we sat down and talked, just to realize what fools we were. Now we're best friends again
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