10 Tips To Create Killer Solos |
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10 Tips To Create Killer Solos |
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Aug 25 2020, 02:47 AM |
It’s not always easy to come up with a killer guitar solo. It takes a lot of practice to be sure. Here are 10 tips that can help you to get from where you are to where you want to be. You’ll need to spend time writing solos, but with these tips in mind, even that should be a bit easier.
1.)SING THE SOLO FIRST This is a classic trick. As you are listening to a track that you plan to solo over, try to start humming a bit of a melody that might work as a theme for your solo. You don’t have to be able to sing well. Just working through some notes using your voice can help give you ideas of what to play. Once you have done this a few times, you will have some ideas on which notes might work well. Find those notes on the guitar and that can get your started on your solo. 2.)DECIDE ON A RYTHM PATTERN Your theme isn’t just about the melody/harmony. It’s also about the rhythm. Are you hearing it as longer notes, or hearing it as shorter notes? Hopefully your work from step one will give you some indication of what you might like to do. If faster notes seemed to work better during the singing part, then use shorter notes. If longer notes worked better, hold notes out a bit. You can mix and match as well. Find a rhythmic pattern that works well with the notes you’ve chosen. It should match or play off of the rhythm pattern going on in the song. 3.)SET LIMITS One way to keep yourself from playing the same solo over and over, is to set some limits on yourself. For example, If you find you are always using the same blues licks in your solo, set a limit of not using any blues scales/licks in the solo. It will force you to use other scales and play something you may never have expected. 4.)USE CHORDS INSTEAD A solo doesn’t have to be single notes. It can be created with chord shapes in part or in total. Try to find some cool sounding chord shapes that work in your solo. Two notes can be a chord. So it doesn’t have to bee full chords. Just more than one note. This too will force you out of your usual patterns of play which is a good thing. 5.)EMULATE THE PHRASING OF ANOTHER INSTRUMENT In what is known as “CALL AND RESPONSE”, a choir sings something that a lead vocalist just sang. The “call” is the original bit, and the “response” comes from the choir. The same thing works in instrumental music. You can match or play off off a phrase done on any other instrument during the solo section. You can play with the other instrument or before or after and make your solo feel much more like a duet with one of the other instruments. 6.)USE SILENCE Don’t be afraid to simply not play. The use of silence is a brilliant way to create a sense of dynamics in a solo. The less you play, and quieter you play, the more you can build the solo to a climax. It’s that building up that creates a memorable solo. If it’s non stop notes, it can blur together and not hook the listener. 7.)GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS One very old trick is to simply land on the root notes of the key you are playing in. Also, think back to the start of your time playing guitar. What players did you most respect? Is there something in their style of play that might work in this solo? If so, use it! 8.)USE COMEDY Do something unexpected. Use FX or the Whammy bar to make strange noises. Contrast very smooth playing with sloppy playing. Or very fast with very slow leading to odd harmonic noises. Be creative. Try to play something so unexpected it actually gets a laugh, in a good way, from the listener. Be clever. 9.)USE DISSONANCE Harmony and Melody are always a good idea, but, now and then, throw in a little dissonance. E.G. Play out of key. Create a harmony line that doesn’t match. Play against the key and or the scale. Playing “out of the pocket” can create a sense of theatre in your solo. It draws attention to it. Embrace it! 10.)MAKE A MOVIE Think of your solo as a MOVIE. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like any good movie. Also, it should have a theme. Something you can come back to in order to reset the listeners ears and let them know a new part is about to begin. Also, like any good movie, it should have a big finish. Save your best bits for last. Last impressions last longer. QUESTION: ANY OTHER TIPS YOU GUYS CAN THINK OF? Thanks to Guitar World Magazine for the inspiration for this post https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/how-to-...te-guitar-solos Some Great Tips from our own Monica Gheorghevici 1. Learn to listen yourself For me this is one of the most important things if you want to compose a solo/song or whatever. This is what stops our solo to turn into just a random selection of notes. To listen yourself and evaluate what you have just played it's the first step which make you go in a good direction. 2. Use more tools Each technique has a particular flavor. It's important to use a variety of different techniques because the more you will use...the more diverse and cool your solo will be. 3. Articulation How are you hitting the strings (very soft, hard, very hard)? Are you playing legato or alternate picking? Are you bending notes a little, a lot or not at all? All these are questions that should be treated in a very serious way because it make the difference in a solo. 4. Speed - don't use too much When we talk about speed, it's a thing that I don't understand why people don't see it. I mean, when you play fast from the beginning to the end, nothing will stands out and nothing will seems so fast as the player think. Also a constant stream of the same notes will sound veeery boring. BUT...if you have slower parts which go up in faster sections, the listener will feel the faster parts played much fast than are. It's all about contrast. You can "fool" the listener, just by learning to manage well the contrast. smile.gif A good tip from our own klasaine Play in time. EVH, Holdsworth, Yngwie, Rhoads, Gilbert, etc. One of the main reasons those guys are SO revered is because they grooved. All the ultra speedy and seemingly incomprehensible stuff they play(ed) - it's ALWAYS locked in time. You can feel the tempo and rhythm of the song in their solos even when the tracks are isolated. *You can also hear the chord changes. I mention this because I hear a lot of of just random noodling over tracks. It's not attractive. Thanks to Guitar World Magazine for the inspiration for this post https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/how-to-...te-guitar-solos This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Aug 27 2020, 02:29 AM |
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Aug 25 2020, 03:17 AM |
I'll add ... Play in time.
EVH, Holdsworth, Yngwie, Rhoads, Gilbert, etc. One of the main reasons those guys are SO revered is because they grooved. All the ultra speedy and seemingly incomprehensible stuff they play(ed) - it's ALWAYS locked in time. You can feel the tempo and rhythm of the song in their solos even when the tracks are isolated. *You can also hear the chord changes. I mention this because I hear a lot of of just random noodling over tracks. It's not attractive. This post has been edited by klasaine: Aug 25 2020, 03:22 AM -------------------- - Ken Lasaine
https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/foolin-the-clouds https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/surfin-at-the-country-hop Soundcloud assorted ... https://soundcloud.com/klasaine3 New record ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kenlasaine Solo Guitar ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...5iIdO2tpgtj25Ke Stuff I'm on ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...b-dhb-4B0KgRY-d |
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Aug 26 2020, 09:50 PM |
However even with bad timing and poor articulation, if you have a killer melody going it can still be a good solo. This is true. Sometimes it's even just pure 'attitude' that can pull you through. One of the most mesmerizing moments for me as a lad was watching Neil Young on TV (Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or the Midnight Special) play his 1-note solo on "Cinnamon Girl". I remember saying to myself, "this is one note, it's not particularly in tune or even in time ... but damn if it isn't one of the coolest things I've ever heard from an electric guitar!" But that's Neil Young. Few, if any, can actually pull something like that off. -------------------- - Ken Lasaine
https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/foolin-the-clouds https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/surfin-at-the-country-hop Soundcloud assorted ... https://soundcloud.com/klasaine3 New record ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kenlasaine Solo Guitar ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...5iIdO2tpgtj25Ke Stuff I'm on ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...b-dhb-4B0KgRY-d |
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