Soloing

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Soloing; Help please :)
Topic Started: Aug 28 2008, 07:12 PM (246 Views)
Thahair	Aug 28 2008, 07:12 PM Post #1
Newbie Posts: 10 Group: Members Member #8,777 Joined: August 28, 2008	I would like to be able to play good solos, but the thing i think i lack is speed mainly, so is there any techniques that helps people move there fingers around the fret board? Any help will be appreciated, thank you :).



monwobobbo	Aug 28 2008, 11:48 PM Post #2
Posts: 610 Group: Moderator Member #8,625 Joined: June 23, 2008	PRACTICE ok had to get that out of the way. fret board knowledge is a good place to start. like typing it helps if your fingers know where to go with minimum thought. (ie learn scales all over neck) how is your alternate picking? good control over this is a key to speed and more important accuracy. being fast is worthless if you're really sloppy. have you ever heard of economy of motion? many guitar players tend to let their fingers flop all over the place when this is a waste. keep your hand relaxed and right above the strings (just not to close unless you intend to dampen strings.) with some practice you will be able to hit the note, pick and be on to the next note with minimal movement. same thing woth your picking hand. just run the pick past the note and don't dampen the string but no farther and use alternate picking. this combo will result in speed and accuracy. this works best is you learn to hold your hand in a classical style. this means thumb in center of neck and fingers kind of like when you make a full barre chord. the rock and roll choke the neck method looks cool but often isn't fast until you get good at it.
	and now for something completely different


Thahair	Aug 29 2008, 11:16 AM Post #3
Newbie Posts: 10 Group: Members Member #8,777 Joined: August 28, 2008	Thanks When i get back home on my guitar, i'll get practicing more



phill1883	Aug 29 2008, 01:10 PM Post #4
Member Posts: 36 Group: Members Member #8,740 Joined: August 15, 2008	Hey Thahair, Monwo is right lots of practice and at least a basic understanding of scales is the key. I designed a few exercises in alternate picking and legato a while back for a friend I was giving a few lessons to, they will help you alternate pick on one string and it progresses to exercises over all 6, there are a few really simple but torturous legato exercises that progress onto stuff that you could probably dabble with and use in your own solo's. if you are interested get yourself the trial version of guitar pro (an excellent tool for learning in my opinion) and PM me your email address, ill send them over. Also if anyone else wants this stuff, I am no teacher but I think they are quite good and I am happy to share.



Zuchini	Aug 30 2008, 07:24 AM Post #5
Member Posts: 37 Group: Members Member #8,772 Joined: August 27, 2008	Practice and try and use the fourth finger as much as possible if you don't already.
	Love You Italia!


Metallon	Aug 31 2008, 01:32 PM Post #6
Member Posts: 50 Group: Members Member #8,784 Joined: August 30, 2008	It really depends on what you play. I love thrash metal, so to me it's always been imperative that I use all four fretting fingers and I always strive to improve my alternate picking. This is good especially if you're tremolo picking, and good alternate picking is a must if you're going to play interesting stuff (like alternate picking between strings and skipping strings) which allows you to play more notes in different octaves. Then there are numerous other techniques, like mastering slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping, sweeping, harmonics, vibrato, legato and staccato, playing arpeggios, bending, etc. etc. EDIT: Scales are cool if you want to have a certain sound to your soloing, but I stopped following scales strictly a while ago. If you notice your melody has a certain flavor to it, then naturally trying to stick with that flavor will elevate your solo instead of making it sound wrong. I never follow a scale when I solo as much as I just base it off of some of the key notes in the song and try to stick with them and some others that sound nice with them. My solo influences come from european, slavic, oriental and asiatic music (mostly eastern though) and some scales there are 9-tone scales rather than 7. Just an after-though: Music is very personal. There are studies about why some scales work and sound nice, but when push comes to shove, it all depends on what the person listening to your music thinks sounds good or bad. I grew up with arabic music, and I'm not entirely a stranger to quarter-notes or music otherwise that may sound false to a western ear. Edited by Metallon, Aug 31 2008, 01:43 PM.
	I express my emotions musically to impress people with music emotionally.


Statarian	Sep 11 2008, 03:53 PM Post #7
Newbie Posts: 13 Group: Members Member #8,818 Joined: September 11, 2008	Of course practice is very important when trying to get faster but if you really want to work on pure speed and fluidity then you have to practice the right things and focus at all times. I found that a good way to be able to play a passage faster is to play it through a few times and each time you play it, concentrate on one of your fingers and what it's doing (so if you're using all your fingers to play it then start with your index and end with your pinky). This helps your muscle memory and you'll unconsciously know better where each finger needs to be and when. Just remember to relax and play lightly without any tension in your hand.


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