Rock Ballad Solo Lesson

Rock Ballad Solo

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  • Hello GMC. This time I have a rock ballad solo for you. Here I used some of my favourite techniques to demonstrate how various things on the guitar can be effectively used in a solo that has ballad feel.

    I included:

    - alternate picking
    - legato
    - arpeggio
    - bending
    - tremolo bar licks
    - vibrato using tremolo bar
    - tapping (two different kinds)

    My way of improvising on a ballad song is that I always start with some long notes and later slowly build up the atmosphere in the solo involving more and more different techniques. Somewhere after the middle part I am trying to make an "explosion" of fast licks and melodies and as I am approaching the last couple of bars I slow down again to announce the end of the solo.

    The idea for this solo came from one of my favourite rock bands - EUROPE. Europe had two guitarists - Kee Marcello and John Norum. Both have incredibly accurate picking and technique but Kee Marcello was one of my biggest influences in 80’s and 90’s. My favourite albums are Prisoners in Paradise and Out of This World with Kee on the guitar. I learned so many rock licks from these two albums that I can almost never run out of inspiration when improvising. Definitely check out these albums, it might work for you as well.

    Enjoy playing

    >PDF Score Download

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