Riffing And Soloing Options

[BM]

Hey Zsolt!

I know it's been a while since I last messaged you. I didn't have the funds to keep going on the site for a while but I recently paid them and all is well!

I have a question or two for you about how you write your riffs and your solos.

I am still working on my album. 3 of the tracks are completely done after 3 months of HARD work on them and the result is a pure thrash sound with my own touch to it. I have come to mix Dave Mustaine-like snarls with melodic choruses. The only thing I don't do is screams. However, the 3 songs I have come up with were pretty much improvised and were created out of chance. I feel that to finish this album I should figure ways to create riffs better. How do you approach riffs in general? Do you base them on the theme of the song or the album or do you write a bunch down and then decide what goes where? (Lately I go by the song's subject or mood and I try to make the riff fit that).

Same question basically with soloing. I'm not the best at adding solos that aren't improvised. What is your approach to writing solos? And how do I decide what sweeps are appropriate (in the right key) for the solo? I have been practicing 4 string sweeps (I started with 4 string) and I would love to incorporate them into some of my solos.

Thanks.

Connor

P.S.
I have a demo of my newest song on my facebook page. The link should be in our previous thread of conversation. The song is called Dementia. There is also a cover of the song Train of Consequences by Megadeth in which I nail Marty's solo (so that you can see my level of lead playing haha) Let me know what you think of them.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

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