The solo. Two little words, that when used together, inspire fear and loathing in many a guitarist/musician still on their musical journey. It is usually accompanied with things along the lines of "Well, I would if I could", or "I'm not good enough" or "I wish I could solo like you/him/her/famous artist". In three words or less, "That is bullshit!"... kind of has a nice ring to it. We all have to start somewhere, and you can only get better the more you do it. If your song calls for a solo, then do it you must.
Pitfalls
- You think you suck
- Almost every guitarist starts with getting jam tracks... you know who you are... you have 4 minute or 5 minute jam tracks and think this will magically solve all your problems
- You think you need modes cos they will also magically solve all your problems
- You think you need to know a shitload of scales
- You think every chord needs a new scale
- You think you need to have monstrous speed and technique
If any of these fall into your span of thinking (and as time goes on with updates to this thread, there will be more points), then you are waging war with your creativity. Let's tackle these things one by one:
You think you suck
This is the worst way to go about anything. This, alone, stifles creativity to the point of killing it off for good. You have come this far in your journey, so why create a mental barricade? What you have achieved to this point in your musical journey is a milestone in itself. You have your current knowledge and current creativity level, so use it. Use it to its breaking point. What happens at breaking point? Well, a new development occurs... a new level is achieved, another tier to conquer... brand new possibilities in all its forms. How can that ever be a bad thing?
How do you make use of your current creativity? By letting go of whatever is holding you back. (
If someone is going to throw a family excuse as a barrier, then this is not the thread for you... stagnate elsewhere). You
have to let go. Once you have banished that hindering thought process, you will be flooded with ideas and you can begin exploring them.
"Well, I can only write when I'm inspired" Bullshit!!! You will never learn with this barrier either. You cannot wait for inspiration because it always takes a detour to Ethiopia. Muse's also have their own agenda. You will never see it if you wait for it. Just write... and continue writing. You are better than any form of inspiration or muse. Do it like Nike.
Almost every guitarist starts with getting jam tracks... you know who you are... you have 4 minute or 5 minute jam tracks and think this will magically solve all your problems
A good old family favourite. So I ask you this question... In all your favourite songs you listen to, how long is the solo? Clicked yet?
"But I mostly listen to instrumental stuff" - Riiiight. Guess what... the track may be 5-6-7 minutes long, but it is not one whole solo. Each section is its own entity. The actual solo is still only 16 to 32 bars at most. The verse has its own section and melody, as does the chorus section. Go listen to it again. There will be parts that are instantly recognisable as repeats, but there is one section that stands out on its own. Has it lost its magic now? Definitely not! Now you just understand more of the construction process.
This thread will help you write solo's... you will have 8 bar solo's, 16 bar solo's and 32 bar solo's. But only as time goes on. So yes, this thread will be updated... it has to be, otherwise its pointless.
You think you need modes cos they will also magically solve all your problems
No, you don't. Modal music is higher grade. Also antiquated. But mostly higher grade. Case in point - Miles Davis. Are we at that level yet?
"I saw you have a thread that has modal jam tracks" - Yes... because they are modal and are there to learn the sound each actual mode invokes. It won't magically help you solo if you can't understand the underlying progression.
"But I read that if I separate my major scale into seven parts, they all get mode names" - well, it still is only a major scale from a different point. If your teacher said they are modes... get a new teacher. For modes to actually work, it (let's say E Dorian) needs to have a sustainable harmonic progression (chords) that never ever ever resolves to its parent scale (your D major scale). And as far as proper modes are concerned, they don't have a parent scale because they are their own entity... and they cannot be altered in any way - because then it is not modal (it's breaking the chain of command and we just can't have that).
Confused yet? Good... stay away from thinking you're playing modally... cos you're not. Learn how your chords function, how the notes you are playing flavour or compliment the chords/progression and work from there.
You think you need to know a shitload of scales
Nope... just the major and the minor keys. Two scales, all across the fretboard. One tiny adjustment for the melodic minor. If you've learned your fretboard, knowing where these scales are will not be a problem.
You think every chord needs a new scale
Nope. If you're doing jazz, this is not the thread for you. Chord scale theory is complicated and most often a waste of time. For the average guy just wanting to solo, all he needs is the major scale. When you know how chords are constructed, and know how an altered chord affects your progression - then one note change within your major scale will compensate for the single chord. Most times it is not even needed as you may be playing a note which is the chords 3rd or 7th, so the altered 5th won't even come into play so there is no need to adjust your scale. So don't even bog yourself down with learning a list, pee on it instead and stick to your major and minor scales.
You think you need to have monstrous speed and technique
Nope, you don't. All the skills you have achieved so far will do just fine. Bends, hammers, pulls and slides. You don't need to have a serious speed to pull off a well thought out solo either... or even a well improvised solo. Speed is a by-product of a lot of playing and a lot of practice. Your current speed you have is the speed you need to play at now. Your next level barrier will come when it needs to, and your technique/speed will adjust itself.
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So there is a bit for you to let sink in. This will give me time to make the necessary tracks to learn from. Various parts of the anatomy to a track will be looked at... so until then, get over yourself and whatever it is that is holding you back. Once a track is posted, you can make a recording of yourself and I will gladly listen to it and give some guidance if needed. All help is good help. NO high quality tracks will be listened to. Your production finesse will not impress me as it won't be listened to. Good solid workout sessions will be listened to and the tracks will be tiny to begin, and no repeats. You only have the allocated time to have your say and that is it.
For those who are going to put this on the backburner, this thread is not for you either. Kindly vacate this thread and find something else to do.
