When one plays a guitar solo, it can be difficult to make it musical. This can be true of any musical genre, but it’s especially true in a worship setting, since you never have an extended amount of time to stretch out and really shape the solo. Usually, you have about 8 measures (sometimes less) to do your thing, and then you’re back to doing accompaniment stuff.

8 measures go by very quickly.

The showoff in me wants to use that time to show everyone how many notes I can fit into those few seconds. Unfortunately, that part of my personality wins over from time to time, even though it’s obnoxious and doesn’t add anything to the music. I want to talk about some ideas that we can use to make the most of our solo time while still playing musically.

• First off, don’t feel like you have to play a ton of notes, especially at the beginning of the solo. I like to start out the solo by playing a longish (at least a half note) sustained note. It can be really dramatic if you start out by playing a slow bend up to a note and then just hang onto it for a second or so before releasing it. Add some vibrato to the end of the note just before you release it and then maybe play a quick little descending lick (think about using one of the pentatonic scale forms for the fast stuff).

• Use chord tones! Don’t just look at the key and spend all of your time playing that scale. Take advantage of the chord progression and focus on the chord tones. For example, a G chord has the notes GBD and a D chord has the notes DF#A. If you start on a G note on a G chord, think about moving down a half step to the F# in the D chord. Of course, there are many different possibilities, so experiment with different chord progressions and voice leading.

• Limit your note selection. Just because your guitar has 22 frets (or 24 if you have a shredder guitar) doesn’t mean that you have to use all of them. Can you play a solo with just 5 or 6 notes? Try limiting yourself to a single string. Get away from patterns and boxes and start thinking melodically. Don’t let your fingers do the work that your brain and ears should be doing.

• Think about the contour of the line you’re playing. Where is the peak or climax? Many composers/artists/designers/architects/etc throughout the years have used what is called the Golden ratio, derived from the Fibonacci sequence. Basically, many artists have placed the climax of their work at about 61.8%. What this means for you is to think about making the high point happen at about 2/3 through your solo. It’s just a good place for it.

• Don’t have more than one high point. In other words, the highest note that you play should only be played once, and it’s a good idea to accent that note in some way. It should be longer or louder or something to make it stand out as being more important than the surrounding notes.

• Use different types of rhythms. Use long tones as well as quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. Throw in some triplets or sextuplets for some extra flavor. Mix things up – variety makes things interesting, and rhythm is just as important (if not more so) than melody or harmony.

Okay, that’s a lot of seemingly random information that I’m asking you to absorb. Don’t try to do all of it at once. Do one thing at a time. and don’t feel rushed to start combining these elements. Eventually, it’ll start to come together. Bookmark this page and revisit these ideas. I’ll try to do some basic recordings over the next few weeks demonstrating some of these concepts.

Alright, now get to work!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Guitar Lessons, Music, guitar, worship.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.