# Playing a Solo



## Goeticmagick (Sep 3, 2011)

Hi, I play and write the music in a Melodic Metal Band. Musically I would Compare us to Stuff like Kamelot, Epica, Therion, And even Symphony X to an extent. Our old Lead Guitarist left the band. I have been mostly Leads and Rythems up till now, but I want to cover the slack left by him and really want to push my Solo skills to a new level. I can do half ass solo's but nothing impressive. I really want to shred. I have no clue what kind of techniques there are or how to do them, and am looking for some advice. Any and all advice will be appreciated.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Sep 3, 2011)

Before anybody comes in and starts talking about technique, I'd like to establish some things that are easy to overlook. First, recognize that a solo is a melody and nothing more. Secondly, where you place a solo in a song is just as important as, if not more important than, what you actually do in the solo. There are basically three good places to stick a solo - in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. I realize that sounds like all of the possibilities, but it's more dependent on form than just picking one of the three. I'll explain these in the order that I consider to be easiest to use to hardest.

Song form basically breaks down to a three-stage process: Exposition-Development-Recapitulation. Anybody that knows sonata form will recognize those terms, but it applies all across the board. This may be embodied in forms like ABA or AABA, where B is the "development" (loosely speaking). You may also see it in pop music as Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, which I'll represent as [ABAB]C*. Here, AB is the exposition, then the exposition is repeated, then there's something different in C, and we return to the original material in the last B. There are many variations on this form, like [AB]C[AB], which we will visit here:

Death - Defensive Personalities


0:00-0:43 - Verse 1
0:43-1:53 - Chorus
1:53-2:53 - Bridge (Solo is in here)
2:53-3:32 - Verse 2
3:32-4:47 - Chorus

This is a fairly simple and safe model. The listener hears the exposition and is ready for something new by the time the development rolls around, so placing a solo in the development is a wise choice. Typically, at the end of the solo, you kick right back into the recapitulation, which gives a nice driven sound to the form.

The next example is yet another variation on that song form, except with the addition of an introduction.

Conception - A Million Gods


0:00-1:05 - Introduction (Solo here)
1:05-2:02 - Verse 1
2:02-2:25 - Chorus
2:25-3:15 - Verse 2
3:15-3:39 - Chorus
3:39-7:03 - Bridge (Lots of solos here)
7:03-7:45 - Chorus

So, the form here is IntroABABCB, or if we bracket off the thematic material, [Intro][ABAB]C. The added difficulty in this sort of writing is that if you write a solo at the beginning of the song, you had better make sure that the rest of the song is worth listening to. You should always write a good exposition, so I'm not going to delve into that, but the development needs to blow the solo in the introduction away. Notice that the bridge is quite long and has many phases before we finally reach the recapitulation. The texture varies greatly from one moment to the next in the development, and thus gives the song a lot of gravity. If you want to think of it this way, putting a solo at the beginning requires that the rest of the song is fucking epic. The introduction solo is like an add-on to the established [Expo][Bridge (solo here)[Recap] formula.

Lastly, the solo at the end of a song. It's difficult to find examples of this, as the ear wants to hear some formal closure by the time you get to the end. Nevertheless, it happens on occasion.

The Black Dahlia Murder - I Will Return


0:00-0:34 - Introduction
0:34-2:20 - Exposition (I'm not listing the divisions of this section, since it'll just come out to ABABAB..., and it's not important.)
2:20-3:09 - Bridge (Solo)
3:09-4:42 - Recapitulation 
4:42-5:35 - Coda (Solo, same theme as the introduction)

Once again, you see the kernel of the song - Exposition-Development-Recapitulation, with the solo in the development. An introduction and a coda have been added, but the intro does not serve an important function other than preparing the ear for the outro; if we didn't have to solo at the end, we wouldn't need the intro. Furthermore, the intro creates precedent for the coda, as the riff is the same thing, so we still get a sense of formal closure here. Just try to end with the same thing that you begin with (or use the riff of the verse or chorus at the end), and you should be fine. I find that the ending solo requires a certain mood about a song: after everything has been stated in the lyrics, an ending solo leaves you contemplating, as though the statement still isn't finished.

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Actual construction of the solo melody is highly subjective. Depending on the texture, mood, harmony, and where you are in the song, it could have many interpretations. Sometimes, shredding all over the place is the only thing that will work, and other times anything but slow notes will ruin it. What I can universally recommend, though, is to learn to play off of the chord tones and study the construction of the melodic line, so that you effectively build tension and resolve tendency tones.*


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## SirMyghin (Sep 3, 2011)

Lots of gold there, I stress the a solo is a melody part. I personally don't solo in the traditional balls out sense, I find shredding only really fits if you build the song around wanting to shred but that is just my style. That said, arpeggios over a chord progression in the sweep picking sense is hardly a solo, you are just wanking, same goes for running scales this isn't exercise time. You have to make it memory and worthwhile in it's own right. If you have to think really hard to justify a run, it is probably excessive. 

Chord tones are also crucial, as Schecterwhore said last. I won't touch on anything else he said as I cannot add to it significantly.


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## SettleMoore (Sep 3, 2011)

Schecters post changed my life...


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## Trespass (Sep 4, 2011)

SW post +1, as always.

Another way to think of the importance of a solo:

A written piece is generally a roadmap of emotional events the writer and performers want to guide the listeners along. Having "simple", clearly defined structure is important.

The best analogy I can come up with is the silly English book report graph:







(Looks something like this, sorta) I have no idea who still uses that, but I certainly grew up with it.

Anyways, plotting out your emotional events leading up to the climax (guitar solo) will provide more emotional gravitas, purpose etc. in your solo. This is more songwriting then anything else, but a solo without any purpose behind it is just a technical demonstration: And we're here to make music.

(Dead tired - Will probably rewrite this later)


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## Goeticmagick (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for the input. We have a lot of really tight and good songs, just missing the guitar solo's when we play live. I have some solo's written for them but they are mostly just melodies. So what picking techniques would you suggest to start working with. I am very unfamiliar with this territory. I am a self taught guitarist, who spent the majority of my time as a guitarist working on rhythm and song writing. Perhaps someone could give me some good exercise tips on increasing my fingers abilities and helping me with my playing ability. Not all of our songs need mindless shredding  but some of them could use it occasionally. Thanks again.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Sep 4, 2011)

At the very least, you should have your alternate picking down. Really, I just go for whatever I need to do in context of the music in order to make everything flow smoothly. If you need to sweep, then practice that sweep. If you need to do a lot of tapping. practice tapping.


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## brutalwizard (Sep 4, 2011)

i am not kidding, i had the same improv skills, most of my theory knowledge and could generally solo pretty well.

but towards the beginning of the summer i borrowed this set out of boredom from a friend and totally loved it.

i did all of them in like a week, and just gained some new awesome ideas for phrases.

but i know someone just starting to get into shredding would learn the techniques properly and in a neat and fun way.

hope that helps.


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## Trespass (Sep 5, 2011)

Within the structure of a solo, contrast is powerful. While there is this bizarre expectation in metal for you to just rip crazy 3nps lines for the sake of 3nps lines, having a well constructed buildup with a melody that is quarter, half, even whole notes in the first half will make the shredding feel bigger.

John Petrucci does this a lot. In the Count of Tuscany solo, he alternates playing a strong melodic figure for 4 bars or something, then shreds for 4 bars, repeat. That's pretty much it. While I personally feel that this structure was pretty boring, it certainly has more gravity then just shredding off the bat, and would be something you could employ very easily.

Jazz artists are brilliant at providing emotional structure to their solo. Michael Brecker solos can captivate you for 5-15 minutes at a time due to his ability to alternate all the tools, techniques and colors of his instrument in a meaningful way. (If you haven't checked out Brecker, by the way, you must)

Check out this video:



Brecker starts soloing at 9:34. Listen to what he's saying with each phrase, and how they are all leading somewhere. He employs growling, overblowing, arpeggios, pentatonic scale licks, etc. to achieve different emotional events within the solo itself.

Check out Esbjorn Svensson's solo at 5:15 or so. He spends a lot of time just playing simple notes, emotionally building up after 3-4 choruses into a big, powerful and emotionally charge phrases. They would not have the gravity they do without the build time.

Great speeches are structured the same way. They setup and foreshadow the most poignant issues which are usually about 3/4 of the way through. Tone of voice changes gradually as well as spacing of words until bam! We get the most important thing the politician has to say. Followed by descending action, and conclusion. Including this into your solo is possible as well.


What I'm saying is, less is more. Well structured is better than shredding. Use the quick notes as a tool, and no doubt it'll have more power than just ripping random triplets on the high e string.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Sep 5, 2011)

Trespass has some great points. Although...



Trespass said:


> The good jazz artists are brilliant at providing emotional structure to their solo.


 
Fixed. 
I've heard some terrible soloists, ones that just go through the paces. I think that jazz, as an idea, respects introspection and therefore encourages thoughtful soloing. Just doing steady divisions or subdivisions and playing scales all over the place is really a shit way to solo, so don't be that guy. (By the way, the Brecker brothers are amazing. Everybody check 'em, yo.)

I tend to think of solos as multiphasic. That is to say a solo isn't just one long melodic line, but many shorter ideas linked together. Let's dissect a classic example:

Rush - La Villa Strangiato


Phase 1 - Slow and soft.
3:39 - Start of solo. Just two long notes with a volume swell.
3:51 - Development of the swell idea. Faster note values. Still very modest
4:03 - Disappearance of swell. Low volume, short licks.
4:09 - Slightly longer and more energetic. Terminates in a cadence at 4:14

Phase 2 - Mounting tension.
4:15 - Still short ideas, but presented with more strength and less space.

Phase 3 - Climax.
4:27 - Louder dynamic.
4:33 - Transposition of previous idea, higher register.
4:39 - Call...
4:44 - Response.
4:50 - Lots of repeated notes, preparing for...
4:56 - A huge increase of motion and energy.
5:01 - A peak, then a quick descent. Solo ends at 5:14

The important thing to note here is the differences between the phases and how they interact. In the case of this solo, there is an idea of ascension: soft to loud, slow to fast, low to high, and the compression of space. This example is fairly linear - you could draw a straight line from soft, slow, low, and spacey to loud, fast, high, and dense. This solo has a definite starting point and a definite ending point, and it sounds like it is trying to get somewhere. This isn't always the case, as a solo melody may have many peaks and valleys, places where each phase is a different mood and may repeatedly jump from one end of the spectrum to the other. Such solos tend to alter the listener's perception of time (although I feel that the Rush example I gave also achieves the same effect - but that's just good writing).

Jean-Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean: Part II


(Exposition is 0:00-0:38, development is 0:38-3:09. Recapitulation is 3:09-end. Solos are the totality of the development.)

There is a lot going on in this piece, and I don't really have the time to point out each bit right now, but notice where the energy goes - it isn't consistently rising. There are many high points as well as drops in the melodic energy, creating a non-linear texture. Every time a new instrument solos is the start of a new phase.

You can shape the energy of a melody at any given time by the speed of the rhythmic values, its range (how much intervallic space the notes span during a phase), its register (how high or low the melody is), volume, key or pitch area, and thematic versus episodic melody.


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## Solodini (Sep 5, 2011)

I support everyone's proclamation of melody and form. Sing a melody then transcribe it as a solo as an exercise to familiarise yourself w writing a memorable solo. Most memorable solos you can probably sing, to some degree. Similarly to what was mentioned above, a solo is comparable to a speech/monologue. Try transcribing some short spoken phrases for guitar (look up A Wild Hare by Spastic Ink on YouTube) and then go on to transcribe a rendition of a poem, moving on to transcribing a full speech. As has been said, the pace, spacing and accenting of things will build through the speech. 

In terms of technique things, in another thread where someone wanted exercises I posted this, which I think is equally applicable here:
For alt picking, warm up and synchronisation, play the chromatic scale from a low note up to the highest instance of it you can, using no more than 2 positions per string, 4 notes per position. i.e. from F on the low E string, play F F# G G# A A# B C then start on C# on the next string et c. It's also good to say each note name as you play it.
Pick each note and do so as slowly as you need to so that you can play it steadily, with the amount of time you take between positions to be the same as between the other notes, and perfectly. By perfectly, I mean that all notes are strictly alt picked, no notes are muted or unclear and the note names you say match up with notes you're playing.
You should be able to play it 6 times in a row perfectly before speeding up. First work on it with the first note downpicked then once it's perfect, start with an up pick. That way you can make your picking in both directions equally adept.

For economy picking work at it using 4 notes in the first position, 3 notes in the 2nd position on each string. You can use 3 notes in one position, 2 notes in the 2nd position or any other odd numbered combination.

For tremolo picking I'd suggest using Paul Gilbert's exercise of playing a short phrase continuously but playing every 4th time double speed. That should help to speed up your muscle contraction. Start off slowly so that the double speed variation is still manageable and you're still playing cleanly and speed up once that is perfect 6 times in a row, as well.

For legato, there's an exercise in my book (free chapters in my sig) in which you basically tap a table with your fingers in various combinations. Use that to build strength if there's no guitar around or copy it when you're at your guitar. Also, practise hammering a note and holding it so it sustains, rather than making a roughly pitched noise which dies instantly.

For sweep picking, I'd say to write a melody and split its notes across the strings so you have a rough outline of where you'll sweep, then fill in any gaps with some other notes which you think sound good to fill that space. If you make a habit of that then you won't run out of things to play and won't become bored of just playing arpeggio shapes all the time.


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## Solodini (Sep 5, 2011)

Double post.


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## anne (Sep 5, 2011)

Solodini said:


> Sing a melody then transcribe it as a solo as an exercise to familiarise yourself w writing a memorable solo. Most memorable solos you can probably sing, to some degree.



Keeeeey.


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## StratoJazz (Sep 5, 2011)

Alot of what's been said is really good.

As far as the advice i'd give. Try to learn some licks, then play them to a backing track(you can make it, or just play with the song). Try to get the sound as close as possible to the sound on the record.

When you actually start to write solos, play something less busy and get progressively more busy as you go. Build up momentum over time, don't play all the flashy shit at first.

Like i said, alot of the advice above is really good. Just continue along a path that you ultimately feel will get you to where you want to be. It usually will.


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