Does anyone have any advice for a person who is learning how to solo on an electric guitar?
I find it really difficult because I don't know where to start and I don't know many licks.

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Sep 21 2006, 02:21 PM

Start learning your scales......
Major, Minor, Pentatonic, Arpeggio and the various variations like the Minor Harmonic and stuff like that.
Buy a scale book and start practising first.

learn scales, then use licks as ideas.

IMO, just wank the scale and get the feel........with some backing track.

learn SLOWLY

yeah i think i could use a backing track
where can i get them?

google them. But most of them are of crap quality (the free ones:p). Check out wholenote.com for all the scales and arpeggios.

Yeah.. like what they said above
oso do more finger exercises. like the chromatic...

from the low E to high E... 1 2 3 4
then followed by the other strings oso..

if u r just new.. dun go fast.. go slowly at first is okay.. most important is ur timing.. tempo must be balance...


yeah.. Pak Cik Salleh(Sham Kamikaze's dad) always tell me to do alot of chromatics when I went to c him last time when i was quite new to guitar that time... emm

Anyway, good luck. Correct Practise makes Perfect

Do you have Guitar Pro? i can send some finger exercising tabs for u. hope it helps u

This post has been edited by davidlow7: Sep 3 2006, 05:33 PM

plss send to me, i wanna learn too...

Also, get a Metronome. Playing fast isn't everything you know..... playing fast IN TIME is everything.....

Yes. It sounds scary....what with scales, timing, backing tracks.... but hey..... Being a guitar god isn't easy you know.....

those tips are useful but u all miss out on something

1. learn other peoples solo
unless u're a genius that can just magically come up with brilliant solos, theres nothing wrong copying from those u like

2. make ur own solo
using what u've learnt try playing a solo of ur own replacing the one u've known

3. solo over a backing track

i believe having more theory knowledge will give u a clearer idea where to go in ur solos.

If you have a recorder, record your improvisation. A cheap mp3 recorder will do, play back your solo and be extremely critical to yourself. Check if your bends are in tune, or if your vibrato sounds pleasant to the ears etc... Make sure you nail these basics before moving forward to more complicated stuff, otherwise you'ill have to take a step backwards later.

Most of all, enjoy yourself. That's what guitar playing should be, if you feel really down unable to near that Paul Gilbert lick, take out a Top 40 Green Day hit and play. If radio music isn't your thing, try learning the Beatles' songs. Lots of chord progressions and ideas you could get from their songs.

yeah, HAVE FUN!!!!

just look at our faces when we solo... orgasm expressions. lol.

no one could explain this better than the great led zep


a pic speaks a thousand words

Damn you...

Btw Fauzi was the one having orgasm. I was just plain high.

Oh man....... that's some funny s**t right there.......
I hope I won't look stupid when I ever get on stage and perform......

It looks stupid on photo only lar lol....

blacktrix, u seriously need to get on stage and perform. its the fastest way to learn and improve ur playing. not to mention the amount of fun we get.

led zep, no need to thank me.

Hook me up with a decent band, and then we'll talk.......

how to learn other ppl's solo?
get the tabs from the net?
most of them seem wrong and incomplete

Then fill in the blanks yourself. Like we said before, don't just COMPLETELY rely on tabs.

hmm but some of them are too fast to catch
i know the scale formations but lack ideas
and i'm also not familiar with the fretboard after the 5th fret for each string
does anyone know any method that can help me with this?

maybe one thing that can be added is to "make practice sound musical" --quote jaco pastorius--. For example when playing scales don't go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, but go like 1 2 3 - 2 3 4 - 3 4 5 - 4 5 6 in groups of 3 or in groups of 4 or 5 or whatever... Or when doing appregios, find a chord progression mebbe like C to Dmaj7 to Eadd9...etc etc or stuff liddet and shift around. You will see that these stuff will automatically come up in your improvisations. Don't make practice a practice. Or something like that...

I personally think tabbing is quite a waste of time. I think watching videos are a better way of learning. That way you can learn the hand postioning and the techniques being used rather than just where to press. The way i learned my first bassline was listening to a record in super slow motion with everything slowed down and distorted (some stupid function on windows media player lets you do that). It took me about a week to learn the entire solo. But things like this get better with time. It still takes me a lot of time to transcribe a solo piece by ear, but look at it this way, you are training your relative pitch and in my opinion it's more important than perfect pitch.

And blacktrix is right about getting a decent band. It's until you start playing with people who are better than you that you start learning new things. Which i think is one of the reasons why pros hate playing with noobs. Most of them anyway...

Start practicing scales after the fifth fret. There is sadly no other way i can think of right now....

Dude,practise is important.familiarise urself with the fretwork and tone.

appregios.and then start by playing C/Am pentatonic scale if u wanna start.Proceed slowly until u can improvise on songs.Go for simple 4 chord songs first...

i would however be very careful on pentatonic scales. Because this is a problem that almost every musician or better said guitarists and bassists face.

The first scale that i started practicing was pentatonic. I learned all the notes of every pentatonic scale all over the fretboard. And after that all my solos sounded the same. So umm, don't overdo pentatonic. It's so dangerous because that one scale usually fits over every chord in many modern tunes today. And i think i'm not speaking for myself when i say that we are all lazy after we find something that works all the time.

well fi you play the same licks of cuz they will souind the same....
look at ZW... SRV.... Eric clapton...
all pentatonics but they can something sound so different with just a few changes with bends... vibratos... and note choice

*sorry but putting ZW up with SRV (to SRV fans)

In the beginning it's like thatlar, take each step slowly. Try learning classic solos like Comfortably Numb, Stairway To Heaven, Hotel California, Cream's Crossroads and you'ill see the pattern. Then slowly you'ill start ripping off their licks.

It depends on how you use lar. Frank Marino, SRV, Frank Gambale, Eric Clapton, they are all users of pentatonic scales, yet they can use is all so differently and distinctively. It's how your approach it that matters. Just looks at SRV, he could play a whole show with pentatonics (With some mixolydian licks thrown into) yet he could keep it fresh lick after lick.

if its so i think i''ve made a mistake.i've not learned other scales other than pentatonic alone.Reason:lazy,too dependant.i don't have other resources to learn.i've learned everything myself.i don't have an exlectric axe also...sighs...no wonder what i play sounds boring..

Yep scales and pentas will always be useful. When slapping/soloing I normally stick to the circle of 5ths. As long as you stay within the circle, your solos would normally come out sounding right.

Yeah. I noticed that I mostly repeat my pentatonic paterns all the time because I rely too much on my pentas.

I now try to listen to a wider range of music besides metal for more lick ideas.... good examples are SRV and Prince..... yes. Prince. The Purple dude. Say what you want about his sexuality...... but he has MAD guitar skills.

And it's ok to put SRV and ZW in the same category..... why do you think it's a sin to do so?

Price is fjooking good, and he can play tonnes of other instruments, as well as a pro could!!! His bass and drums playing are pretty good too I heard. He's just plain underrated.

No, it's not ok.

Seriously, Zakk's a pretty accomplished guitarist, but SRV is much more hardcore. And I'm not talking about his drinking skills.

prince is a multi talent. He can play anything at almost pro level.

And to me most of claptons pieces sound the same. You can twist the pentatonics however you want, but until you throw in a few notes (chromatics are usually used to get some bluesy effect) to sort of alter the pentatonics all your solos will sound the same. If you stick strictly to the 5 notes on the pentatonic scale, you're doomed to a boring solo. It's the same with harmonic minor (aeolian?), dorian and lydian modes. These are some of the most overused patterns or scales used in soloing. I know, because i use them and all my solos sound the same . So it's just my tip to be very careful with pentatonics. It's useful when you get lost then you can always fall back on it and find your way into your solo again. But my personal view is, force yourself to stay away from it if you can. I even find scales sometimes less useful, because there is very little relative pitch training. This makes it harder to jump around the fretboard as you are stuck to always playing one note after the next. Appregios and intervallic exercises are in my opinion the hardest. Because you have to start thinking and counting. And after you practise that, scales will be a breeze. That's my opinion anyway.

I'm not saying pentatonics are bad. But just very very very very very overused by many many many many musicians....even the pros.

there we go.....sorry for preaching the long sermon....

This post has been edited by Bassix: Sep 4 2006, 08:06 PM

You need a knock in your head.

Put it this way, if I give you a guitar and you're only limited to te pentatonic scales, along with a 12-bar minor blues backing track, you'ill still unable to play it as tastefully as Clapton.

The blues is always limited to the pentatonics, it's not what notes you use, is how you place it over the chord that matters. Any blues fan would agree with this.

SRV Prince aiyo Michael Jackson wannabe
i seldom listen to his song ..when i were a bit young i saw one of his mtv... man he is so ghey and trutatratra ding dong 1999 after that i completely turn of the radio if his song been play by ghey DJ

Yes. I agree.... Pentatonics are DEFINATELY overused.... unfortunately, it's also one of the "easiest" scales to master..... but there are many different "styles" of Pentatonics also....... and it takes a super pro to make it their own.....

Take for exmple........ Zakk and SRV!!!!!
(editor's note: This is going to be good)

Zakk uses the basic pentatonic patern, but does super fast alternate picking to create it's own super choppy style and also mostly repetitive box patterns.....
SRV mixes up his Pentatonics with extra notes..... but plays it super smooth and goes through the entire penta scale.

Both using basically the same Pentatonic scale, but to each their own method and style of playing.....I respect AND admire both Zakk and SRV's style btw...... and yes..... have to agree.... SRV is waaaaaaaaaaay hardcore player then Zakk...... but then again, SRV is a certified LEGEND. Even Zakk will admit that SRV and Randy Rhodes are better players then him

And Shane........ MORE Threading the VERY thin line now...... Please don't dismiss Prince if you just heard ONE song.... Listen to the new 3121 album...... soulful guitar playing, some VERY impressive licks and a certified guitar legend in his own right.......

This post has been edited by blacktrix: Sep 4 2006, 08:20 PM

"i only know one solo, but i know a thousand different ways to play it" - Angus Young

He has this home studio that he sets up and usually he'ill invite musicians to jam/record in his house. Apparently he has made more recordings than he could ever remember and there must be thousands of songs in the vault.

Once he recorded a Steve Vai track (For the Love of God I think) just because he loved it. Michael Jackson wannabe? For starters, he doesn't dance and he's not interested in little kids.

And oh, he plays guitar very well live. Just check out the Grammy performance with Beyonce or the tribute to George Harrison.

who recorded 'for the love of god'?
clapton?
iirc that song requires a double locking trem to play it

Definitely not Claptonlar haha... Prince... I couldn't remember which Vai track, I'ill check, but it could be For The Love of God.

yeah that's why i quit guitar a long time ago. Now i only do strumming...hahaha. I didn't mean to insult clapton, in fact i'm quite a big fan of his. Maybe a better way to put it is, clapton has his own style. You turn on a clapton song and you'll know it's clapton.

However i have to sort of half agree and half disagree on the blues thing. The blues scale is not exactly pentatonic as in just the 5 notes. It's some sort of weird scale with a flat 3 and a flat 5 somewhere. and some chromatic thingy in the middle after the 3rd. But yes, it is based of the 5 note pentatonic scale. Sorry for the inexcusably bad bad bad theory. I'm working on it...hehehe

But i'm a stubborn guy and still insist on taking caution when playing pentatonic solos.

Nolar, I'm not directing at you. I mean even I give any guitarist a guitar, they wouldn't be able to play it as well as Clapton too.

Some can use the pentatonic tastefully, but some just sound like every other guitarist (Me included ). That's what seperates professionals with amatuers I guess.

well get a bunch of guitarist and jam together. Then you blend all the pentatonic skills together. Then it'll sound different. . Throw in a drum solo halfway and some honky tonk with a punchy bass and wualah....southern blues rock. hahahahah

I've got the perfect song for that... FREEBIRD!!!

Meh. I will probably play the same thing for 30 minutes........ No variation..... No changes.......

Same here LOL. I only know pentatonics (and some major scale) so far and I find myself sounding the same thing over and over again.

This post has been edited by MetalZone: Sep 4 2006, 11:36 PM

yup,

i studied the bluesbreakers album, now only left 3 songs unplayed (i can play the rest of them) and it staggers me how a 21 yr old dude can play around with the same licks yet still sound different every time.

in white room, almost exclusively in D pentatonic, but every riff still sounds so cool... could be th wah wah though

This post has been edited by dilin: Sep 6 2006, 09:21 AM

well it's not all about the choice of notes too. The feel is sometimes more important. Take for example knopfler. My all time favourite guitarist. It's not because he shreds a million notes per second or that he plays jazzy harmonies all the time. It's simple blues and pentatonic but it's his signature sound and feel that make him one of the greatest guitarist ever.

And i've heard some solo pieces with 2 note solos. Yes just 2 notes. With a suitable chord progression, these kind of solos will kill you. So why bother with pentatonics when you can have bitonics

I can only play the first song hahah... it's a simple track but to be able to feel the track as well as Clapton is the hard part. You're right, a 21 year old dude who has studied all the blues great and come up with something that's original. Clapton is God, indeed.

Feel is definitely important for me. I second the Mark Knopfler comment, love his stuff with Dire Straits and his solos always fit the songs perfectly. Amazing tone too.

first song.. all your love.. ha ha.. compared to stepping out and hideway that's pretty simple.

stepping out and hideway are my sig pieces.. use them to cheat lil gals ha ha!!

i can feel,but i cannot play what i want in my head because its just limited!

i can't reach that note and speed.is it caused by the overused pentatonic scale?

i'm getting worried.i only know 2 scales.,the pentatoni and the hamornic that i forgot the name.

Why don't you get backing track and record your improvised solo?? Then post it here and let the experts like Pix and Jemi comment??? Maybe there're flaws that you haven't noticed earlier or ideas you may have not thought of??

Recording quality doesn't matter.

there is no overused of penta, sure you can play it with your eyes closed and the guitar behind the back. but can you create the feel and emotion?

As a beginner can I give my opinion...

Yes you can learn soloing but at the same time learn scales, and for me it helps alot. There's one program called Guitar Speed Trainer that I used currently.

Knowing freat notes is important too. I do find changing cords quiet easy when you know the formation of cords.

But you can't rely on internet. You need a proper teacher, to tell you it's correct or not.

Just my 2 cent....

http://www.alloutguitar.com/education/less...to_rock_soloing

Registration required though...

i played any songs from a cd....then i try to figure out the key...right after that i improvise all the way... learn the major and minor scale, harmonic and melodic minor scales for a start...

juz my 2 penny!! anyone can correct if i'm wrong..

Scales are very important... can learn how to improvise them.. to create own solo...

Sometimes I don't really like those STARS-wannabe in those Cafe that sings Chinese Pop songs.. because they always said scales are "curi makan" stuffs..

They claim pop songs play repetitive simple stuffs is the most creative thing in the Guitar World!!...
LOL!

im trying to learn a solo while listening to the song with the help of some tabs but it is played at such a great speed, i can't catch what was played. is there any software to slow down the tempo of the song?

get a DJ program like PCDJ red that can slow down the tempo, or just load it in Adobe Audition and slow it down/

zomg i haet solos.

Have you guys heard the John Petrucci cover the prince's purple rain. Pretty whoresome!@!

If you hate solos (and you obviously hate the dictionary judging from your spelling), get the f' out of this thread.......

Seriously. Why do you hate solos? Personal opinion? Music industry brainwashing? What?

I hate people who complain without giving their reasons.........

And don't forget man........ you're in a thread FILLED with awsome guitarists.... led_zep is a meanie in SRV blues, Pix will chomp off your head with his Satriani infuesed licks, Jemi and Zero can solo faster then they can run, and I will personally unleash a Black Label beating......

what about me?

by the way, u can also slow songs down using windows media player.
enchancements>play speed settings

ok...... Echobrain can kill you with his equipment.....
not sure about his soloing skills though


just joking......

This post has been edited by blacktrix: Sep 8 2006, 02:09 PM

I agree with blacktrix, ruffstuff you should at least say why you hate solos. You first said you hate solos then you mentioned John Petrucci cover of The Prince's purple rain awesome (not whoresome!@!). You like listening to solos but don't enjoy playing them ?

Solos are very important for any kind of music, be it jazz, bluez, rock, classical and etc. Even in church, sometimes we musicians will solo a part of a song to allow the singers have a breather for a minute or two. You can't just go on singing, you'll run out of air.

It also allows other musicians to get ready, like pianist to change the page of the books, drummers changing from sticks to brushes, other guitarist/bassist to adjust their amps/pedals for the next song and etc.

So its not all about showing off.

true, solos not only give that little extra time for the other musician to prepare for the next riff, but also give the song more definition and more punch...rather than just strum the same ol' patterns over and over again, which can be boring and tedious at times...

personally, i also find that solos are hard to pull off...why? cuz i don't know a single bit of theory, even the major scale i also don't know...so now trying to learn from scratch...(4 years of playing without any knowledge of theory sure suck...)

btw, scale is best learn with someone experienced zit? my friend tried to write it down on a paper but i just don't get what those figures mean anyway...

after watching many many guitarists pro and non-pro, i have come to the conclusion (or rather assumption/hypothesis) that there are a 3 types of solo playing.

1) first type is that you know your theory and your scales and your appregios and your harmonies. And fuse them all together to come up with whopping solos all the time.

2) you know a million licks from a million different guitarist and chop them up and join them together to make sort of a frankenstein solo.

3) you are so full of rhythm that even a 1 note solo sounds cool.

So assuming i am right, i guess theory is just one of the aspects that helps solo playing....The best actually...

i don't have any ideas nowdays.all my feel went away.even i've got feel i can't catch em.i can't reach em,no electronic axe.i need one.desperately,no money,just had accident yday.sighs


i can only guess u hate it coz u can't play it? lol
john petrucci's a god anyway.,

ALERT:self marketing spotted!

Eh? When you're playing classical guitar songs, you're playing a solo. When you're playing a piano song, you're playing a solo. Its just another music instrument being the lead instead of vocals(another instrument). Btw vocals solo too.

Satriani, Vai, Petrucci etc play guitar songs...the main instrument is a guitar instead of vocals. The only thing different is the instrument. It is still music.

Indirectly when u say u hate solos, you are trying to say you hate music...any kind of music.

<to ruffstuff>

This post has been edited by winkybear: Sep 8 2006, 07:07 PM

chill out guys....
you dotn always need to have a reason to hate something
he doesnt like solos.... so what? how does that affect you? it doesnt

Woooooooo. Ruffstuff got a Musician's thread beatdown!!!!!
I bet he's tucking his tail and fleeing the scene already......
Way to go, defenders of the solo!!!!

Honestly.... if Dragonforce, Trivium, The Satch, Vai, Zakk all read his comment... I think they would comment the same thing......

Solos are here to stay and they are grand indeed!!!!

For me, I love solos that mean things. If you listen to the Beatles, George Harrison is amazing at inserting short solos that compliments the track so well. Take the solo from Something, right after a modulation bridge, George takes the track back to the original mellow key with his gentle weeping solo. finally he brings the track to a chromatic climax, which makes absolute musical sense, tell me that's whoresome! Solos aren't just about showing off and if that's what you think, it shows how narrow your thinking is. Time to break the barriers, mate.

Never heard of the cover before, but the irony is... Prince did a tribute to George Harrison few years back and his solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps was pretty whoresome too. Nonetheless it was great.

echo... the guitarist who could own me in guitar any day, any time.

Heh chill man, take it easy. When you have the chance, get an electric.
Sorry for the mishep, hope you're not badly affected by the accident.

This post has been edited by led_zep_freak: Sep 8 2006, 09:10 PM

as if. ive seen u play and u';re good. u havent seen me play yet. haha.

I've heard your recordings and based on the number of sessions you've been too, you must have gotten lots of experience. hahah...

Don't forget that you and Blacktrix scared off some kids in Bentley's.

I scared 'em off with the pings of death...... those were more like parlor tricks
Echobrain scared 'em off with his guitar skills.........

stop coverin la, being able to scare kids off = skillz

i cant do that

Yeah..
Like Zakk said in his interview..

If The Riff is the Cake... then the Solo is the icing...

Will a cake without icing tastes nice????

HEHE

This post has been edited by davidlow7: Sep 9 2006, 02:08 AM

well you always have the plain buttercake. Which has no icing... Tastes nice too.

i love solos btw...

This post has been edited by Bassix: Sep 9 2006, 08:49 AM

Sure it tastes good... but wouldn't it taste even SWEETER with a thin chocolate frosting on top? And then toss in some sprinkles..... a little vanilla whip.....

excuse me...... I'm going out for cake....
bye!

echobrainproject, talking of our skills : i've never heard to any song of yours ! anything available somewhere ?

solo is not mandatory to make great songs, but the more you master the riffs, the sooner you'll reach a dead end, where you need to add the extra-lick in your riff, or a richer harmonic development... so in the end, you'll be a great rythm player with all the background to be a soloist (but without the will to be one).

i'm listening to the last album "First impressions of Earth" of the Strokes (i'm a die hard of this band) and the guys are doing great riffs (with just one or two-strings rythm, with some tapping or legato, bends, etc...). Very interesting, very close to solo skills actually (i'm sure it was done by many other bands in the 70s, but i've not much musical knowledge of this era - i leave that to led zep )

The Strokes are fresh, I never dug the hype that surrounded their first 2 albums, but the last one was good. To bad the media didn't pick it up, probably because of the 'refined' sound, ah well the media are mostly ignorant fools anyway.

I like the riifs, very funky yet has that 70s rock feel.

pix, most of the recordings i post online are just very rough stuff i recorded on my own. anyways, wait a few more months as i will head off to the studio soon to do TWO recordings for 2 diff bands! one will probably be in december and another about a months time. i hope it all goes well.

i never heard anything of yours, rough stuff or not... i'd like to hear your style, your sound, etc...

anyway, I like it the rough way.

ahem...

We should start a solo-ing workshop...... maybe that can be the focus point for the next gathering....... we rent a studio somewhere and start properly discussing solo theory....... what works for you....... what doesn't......

led zep, I really dig the 2 first albums too... there is something in there that totally appeal to my teenager rebel side ! That, and the fact that I got a rib broken during the first seconds of their gig in Paris. Physical pain helps bounding to the music.

yes u have and uve given me some positive critism.

erm, anyone has any ideas where to learn scales n stuff?? online source...
constructing solos with no musical knowledge is really hard right?

sean, pm me on msn messenger and i'll send u an ebook on scales. i havent really read through it but only browse through quickly. should be good enough. i gave led zep one copy too.

scales will only give u a rough direction where to go. to solo, u need creativity to tell your 'story'. learning all the scales is like memorising all the words in a dictionary, it wont guarantee u write better lyrics but it does help.

i'm going nut then...

Yeah I remember, but Pix is old lar... cut him some slack. I remember him saying he dug the bass drum lol.

I think it's just a list of scales and doesn't explain much on how to use them in a song context. Great stuff though.

but ive never really read an article teaching how to use a scale in a song context.

Guitar Techniques.. i strongly recomment you subscribe for one full year to it, and then you'll have all basics of harmony and scales covered in the end... and you can spend your rest of your life going through all of the 12-months subscription's exercises

sigh...... just came back from class and realized how crappy a solo-er I am..... Take away my Pentatonics, and I can't solo for crap!!!!

Relying on Minor, Major and the Arpeggios while doing chord changes...... urgh...... somehow..... I just kept going back to the pentatonics......

I REALLY need some new inspiration WITHOUT relying on the pentas..... any recommendations???

Like Pix said, Guitar Techniques. Some lessons break down the structure of the chords and explains what note would work over them. But those are more advanced lessons, haven't really got around them.

When i first started electric guitar, learning scales and all, I really wanted to know how to utilize them. Up to this day, Im still looking for the answer... To be as melodic as my heroes. My teacher said I think too much.

Anyways, Guitar Techniques is good. Bought an issue a few months ago. Dont know whether I can afford to get a year's subscription though. Saving up for gear is already a hard thing for me to do >.<

soloing in my opinion is easy. Once you plan everything and practice your solo until you remember every note it's easy. That's probably why copying other peoples licks are easier. I just found out today that improvising is 100 times harder. And that i suck at it. Big time.... Not in a sense that you can't do it of course. But the key is to do it without getting boring or repetetive. That i believe is a skill that even many pros do not have.

?
pentatonics obviously 5 notes rite.
full minor/major scale 7 notes, so just learn which notes are missing from the relative major/minor pentatonic and fill them in.
those notes normally do not work anyway which is why no one uses it much in a pop/rock setting.
ie. in a major pentatonic - the 4th and 7th are taken out of the major scale.
for minor the 2nd and 6th.

anyway, back to topic.
solos are useless if the songs are crap.
you can do a great solo and if your song sux, no one will care, ie. malmsteen.
so the main point is you still need a good song, and the solo is just to complement it.
even guys who do instrumentals construct their solos like songs.
with a verse, bridge, chorus hook etc.
good example is eric johnson's cliffs of dover.

This post has been edited by Everdying: Sep 10 2006, 10:01 PM

1. like everdying said, add more notes in to play the full scale.
2. dont get stuck in one position, move around the neck (thats if u're playing just the box shaped pentatonics).
3. slow down...hang on to one note. with ur mxr overdrive pedal the note would sustain quite a while.
4. techniques. use techniques to make ur notes 'shine' more. dont overuse a technique, use a few and sparingly. u dont have to alternate pick every single note.
5. if all fails, whack the whammy bar or do some whammy bar tricks and pose. too bad my les paul doesnt have a whammy bar. oh ya, this trick wont work without the 'rockstar pose' to cover up that u ran out of ideas to solo. jk

Thanks for the tips, Hopefully, when holiday starts, I can REALLY settle down and practise.....

And for the Whammy trick........ why do you think I'm buying a Dimebag guitar?? FOR THE WHAMMY OF COURSE!!!!!

I LOL'd when I saw that... Anyway Malmsteen does have some good songs, Far Beyond The Sun is bloody amazing, but most of his other stuff are basically extension of that, sad to say.
What came into my mind was... Michael Angelo Batio. Solo without a song.

Any song by Eric Johnson is a great example to illustrate your point.

That itself is an expertise.