hey all/help with solos

[Ozzmike]

Hi all and this is a very nice site you got going here anyway i was trying to come up with a solo for one of my bands songs and my friend Jesse said when i play my solo's i play like if i was typing like this........ I.......was.......at......the......store......yest erday..... like pieced apart i hear it and i cant fix it any suggestions?

[Whiskey]

Trying to understand exactly what you're saying. Could it be that you cut the notes short by taking your finger off the string prematurely instead of letting it ring out for its full length?

Did I understand the problem correctly? Or is it something else?

[Ozzmike]

yea no its like if i made one riff then another one and went to put it together and it did not like flow the riffs it self are fine just i cant put them together i guess :confused:

[Whiskey]

aah. Any chance you can record it so we can hear what you mean?

[Ozzmike]

i dont have any mic's.......=[

[sheepster]

Without hearing what the problem is, I can only think of one way to help.

Maybe you could try playing it slowly, to learn all the notes and where they go. Get it sounding fluid at a slower speed. Then gradually work up to the higher speed. It's what I do if I have trouble with my timing...

[james]

did u jsut start playing? only thing that i can think of is that u just dont know the solo well enough yet or you might be taking ur fingers off too early when going to the next note. just keep at a slow pace until its natural.

[Ozzmike]

no i been playing for around one year.....do the solos have to be in the same key as the song?? and how do you no what key the song would be in? im new to that stuff

[angelicrock]

Usually (but not always) the first chord in a song is the key it is in. For instance if the chord progression is G C D Am Em the key is G. Therefore you need your solo to be in the key of G. A solo will always need to be either in the key of the song or a relative key.

[Ozzmike]

ok ok but what if there are no chords just riffs like if i was hitting the A# first then something else the key is A# right?

[angelicrock]

Not exactely. If you are playing single not riffs you would either have to know what key the song is in, or you would have to write out all the notes in the riffs and determine what key they are in. For example, if you have ABCDEF#andG you are in either the key of G major or E minor. Its all relative to the notes you are playing.

[sheepster]

EDIT: ^ Yeah. What he said.

[Ozzmike]

lol ok i need to read up on it i have no idea bout this stuff just started learning it. thanks guys :)

[angelicrock]

Google "The Circle of Fifths" it will bring up a nice diagram with all the notes in all 15 western keys. I say western because we use the western style music system. Then what you can do is write all the notes out and just reference the diagram until you know them by memory.

[Ozzmike]

oh wow... thanks alot

[AriadOr]

You are playing staccatos? Best thing for that is playing everything SLOWLY with a M E T R O N O M E, this little guy is the musician's best friend.
Try with it, if it doesnt work stop the guitar and start singing :rolleyes:

[Ozzmike]

ok i recored me playing a solo(very bad) :o off of the riff in the beginning..sorry bout the very bad quality all i had :o Click here to watch solo-68-75 (http://media.putfile.com/solo-68-75)

[AriadOr]

Whats the name of the song?
It looks like you only use down or upstrokes...

[Ozzmike]

holy outlaw...yea down strokes

[Ozzmike]

hopefully we will have some songs recored but its the lead part that i cant get down everything else is fine..:(

[Marshall Stax uk]

Not sure if I understand this correctly but to me it sounds like you are saying you play a lick that fits the song but then you pause before playing your second lick etc etc. Therefore as you have played two separate licks with a gap between them the two licks do not always connect correctly, although individually they sound ok. If this is what you are saying then this is quite common and tends to be rooted by playing within set positions on the neck.

For example using the minor pentatonic scale as an example you would play your first lick in position 1, then pause and then play your second lick in position 3. This ends up with two licks that sound fine on there own but don’t always connect with each other.

If this is what you are trying to describe then what you need to do is work on playing between the positions rather than in them.

This lesson might be of help if this is your problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_qw03-3gFg

Of course I might have completely misunderstood you but the lesson is good practice anyway. Just swap the scale for anyone you are using.

[Whiskey]

David has several lessons on this subject. Check this one out:
http://www.nextlevelguitar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=476&Itemid=50

[Ozzmike]

awesome thank you guys i got a lot of work to do:) thanks again

[slinger]

Marshall...... that's a great exercise in 2 string patterns and connecting pentonic scale patterns up and down the neck. Also a good finger exercise.:)

Whiskey..... that's a good link to relieve me of some of my money:rolleyes: ..... members only :confused:

I know, I know:D

[sheepster]

awesome thank you guys i got a lot of work to do:) thanks again Perseverance is the key. It'll come together one day. It may be tomorrow, or it may be in a few months, but if you persevere, it will come to you. That's what I've found with most things in life.

Perseverance.

[Ozzmike]

Not exactely. If you are playing single not riffs you would either have to know what key the song is in, or you would have to write out all the notes in the riffs and determine what key they are in. For example, if you have ABCDEF#andG you are in either the key of G major or E minor. Its all relative to the notes you are playing.

i have no idea about that.. any help?:(

[Marshall Stax uk]

Not my best area but as I understand it an example would be, the opening riff of Enter Sandman by Metallica uses the notes E - E - G - A# - A - E, which means that for our purposes here, this would be considered as being in either the key of F Major or D minor, as both the F Major and D minor scales are made up of the notes D - E - F - G - A - A# - C

Below is a link to a reasonable scale finder to help you identify what scale the notes in your riff come from, once you have them written down.

http://www.guitarists.net/scales/index.php

Here is another one to information on the Circle of Fifths.

http://home.austin.rr.com/jmjensen/CircleOf5thsFun.html

I’m sure that this information is also on the NLG site but I am still working out where everything is, so maybe a moderator can point you to where it would be on the site.

If you can’t work it out, post the notes from the Riff on here and I’m sure we can work it out with you. :)

[Ozzmike]

i think the notes are E(x8) A# B A# then it repeats

[Marshall Stax uk]

In that case I would say it is either B Major or G# Minor, as the notes in these are B – C# - D# - E – F# - G# - A#

[Ozzmike]

ok so all i need to no is the notes in the scales and if the riff as the notes in it then thats the key

[subcaptain]

Are you sure you're not playing a violin?

[Ozzmike]

Are you sure you're not playing a violin?

yea im pretty sure......:rolleyes:

[disobedience]

Oz..did you ever get this worked out?
I'm still waiting to hear the finished product :D