Help with making guitar solos?

Question

im having trouble thinking of guitar solos. can anyone help me. everytime a song my band makes needs a solo i get stuck. anyone help me.thx

Answer 1

Learn the scales, learn the scales, learn the scales.

Answer 2

I understand. Firstly you'll have to learn to improvise. Then you can expand your improvisation skills by studying solos of the master guitarists - Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page to begin with, a few years later Marty Friedman, Uli Jon Roth, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, John McLaughlin etc.

Let's learn the most useful scale in rock: minor pentatonic. It goes: T - 3b - 4 - 5 - 7b...

T mean 'root/tonic', and then just count in E major scale...let's have key of E:

E - G - A - B - D..and again E of course. This is the most often used scale in blues, rock and all other derivatives like punk, heavy metal, grunge, alternative, r&b, soul..everywhere.

This is how you find those notes on fretboard:

0fret-1fret-2fret-3fret (same if you +12 frets, only octave higher)

E - F - F# - G

B - C - C# - D

G - G# - A - A#

D - D# - E - F

A - A# - B - C

E - F - F# - G

(of course, F# is the same as Gb, and so on)

Here are some fingerings for the scale:

http://jguitar.com/scale/E/Minor%20Penta...

http://jguitar.com/scale?root=E&scale=Mi...

Now let's jam!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmEBTUbaW...

This is a song from 1937...very old, yet still cool and fresh (of course it wasn't originally played on electric guitars, but we'll do). It's the basic blues form and watch Buddy playing right in the beginning - he never played that solo before, he CREATED/WROTE it right at the moment of playing it...this is called improvisation and it's what I'm gonna teach you now (only the very basics of course).

Guess in what key that song is! It's the key of E...now you know why I picked this key for the pentatonic scale. OK, let's play with Eric and Buddy...play anything using that scale (but only that scale!!). You can experiment with bend techniques, hammer-ons, pull-offs...and try doing vibrato as well, it sounds much better (you can compare to Eric or Buddy..and Robert Cray is a great player as well). Experiment with melodies and so on, FEEL IT. This is what blues is about - 99% feeling it, 1% technique/speed.

This experience is the BEST (all advanced players will agree) way to help your soloing, so keep doing it daily for at least 30mins.

Another essential thing is learning how to read music notation (not tabs!) and a bit of basic theory. Here's a website that can help you:

http://www.smu.edu/totw/toc.htm

It contains everything you need and much more.

OK I think you could do with another scale, a major pentatonic this time.

It goes: T - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6

In the key of E: E - F# - G# - B - C#

Fingerings: http://jguitar.com/scale?root=E&scale=Ma...

Try using notes from this scale in that blues song. Plus, you can use it for any rock song in major key and you can use the minor pentatonic for those in minor key.

This should keep you busy for a while. If you have any questions email me at [e-mail].

Good luck.

Answer 3

go to myguitarsolo.com and there a bunch of different excercises that will help with what notes go good together and your inprove of a solo.

Answer 4

Start with the song's melody, and then see if you can come up with some interesting variations.