Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

How to learn guitar solos


Recommended Posts

Hello

 

I own an Epiphone SG G-400 for around 2 and a half years.....i am self-teaching guitar player. I know a lot of songs to play from metal (system of a down,metallica,black sabbath etc.) and rock (zz top,led zep,scorpions) a few others (nirvana etc.)

But i mostly play the rhythm parts.

 

But i dont want to stop there. I want to learn soloing in guitar,which i believe its the last frontier in learning very good guitar.

 

So,anyone here has some tips and tricks?????????? Some told me to learn Minor Pentatonic Scale

 

I need help please....tips and tricks to learn quick!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume you really want to know how to improvise a solo instead of learning one exactly the way it is played in a song.

 

The goal is to have an intuitive understanding of the sounds on the fretboard; to know how to play the notes you want when you want. There are many ways to get there, but they all involve commitment to long hours of practice. The most fun way to do it is by learning songs, either from listening or from TAB. Another way is to learn scales. Most rockers learn a pentatonic scale first, either major or minor (they both contain the same notes). What a lot of beginners don't know is that there are actually five shapes (or "boxes") in every scale. A lot of people learn the CAGED system as a way to link the five shapes horizontally. (You can google all of this stuff.)

 

To play most rock, I would recommend also learning the major scale and the blues scale. The pentatonic scales contain five of the seven notes of the major scale. A blues scale is a minor pentatonic scale with the addition of a flat 5. Sophisticated rockers also know melodic minor and harmonic minor scales, which are more often used in jazz and jazz-blues.

 

Another useful thing to learn is arpeggios. Arpeggios are simply key notes in a chord played sequentially. So you need to understand how chords are put together and to play the notes in the chord in different order. But in addition to chord tones, you'll also need to locate melody notes (played or implied) and include them in your solos in whatever random order you choose.

 

If you want to learn songs, or riffs in songs, you'd be best served to find the TAB for the song, but learning TAB and learning to improvise is MUCH easier if you have learned scales, as is sight reading notation. My recommendation is finding a teacher to help motivate you, fill in the blanks, and help you refine your technique. Many on this board prefer the learning songs method, playing with others, and watching youtube lessons. Whatever. All methods require time in the woodshed, lots of time in the woodshed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...