Ideas to improve my blues/rock soloing?

[Twinfan]

After really sorting out my gear over the last couple of years, I'm now looking to really sort out my playing.  Probably the wrong way round to do things, but hey ho...  :roll:

I'm really comfortable with my rhythm playing.  I can keep time, I know a lot of little 'tricks' to do with power chords and partial chord voicings etc.  I'm working on some backing vocals for Doppelganger at the moment which will allow me to play and sing at the same time, so making the rhythm parts very instinctive and I won't have to think about them.  No problems so far.

My soloing is 'OK', but just OK.  I can improvise to most blues/rock tracks as I know the Pentatonic Major/Minor scales and by ear over the years I've learnt what extra notes I can throw in.  I guess this means I switch into different modes and use the Blues Scale etc, but my theory isn't great.  I don't actually want to learn any more theory as I believe it has the potential to stifle creativity.  I'm also not interested in sweep picking, or two handed tapping etc.  I'm proper old skool where the notes are the focus, not the technique.

So I'm trying to find ways to improve my soloing, specifically my improvisation.  I'm really into harmony and melodic playing, such as Sloe Gin by Joe Bonamassa, Since I've Been Loving You by Led Zeppelin or Waiting For An Alibi by Thin Lizzy.  Songs where the chords and the lead lines complement each other really well.  Songs where the bends, slides and vibrato add atmosphere.  Other than picking a few songs and learning them note for note such as those above, is there anything else I can look at?  Do I actually need to learn more theory, much as I'm against it?

Any thoughts or comments gratefully received  :)

[Ian Price]

Great topic Dave - I was about to post something very similar to this. The only difference for me is that I suck at soloing and get stuck after a few bars! I'm fairly confident at rhythm playing but do need to tighten up on partial chords.

One of the things I have started to do lately is record a basic 12 bar rhythm, loop it and hum what I would want to solo over it (I never seem to get stuck for solo ideas whilst thinking about them in my head or humming them out loud). I then try to replicate the humming on the guitar. It has been pretty disastrous to start with but I reckon I'll get there eventually!

[Twinfan]

Cheers Ian, that sounds like an interesting thing to do.  I can probably get some backing tracks off the 'net, or use the Guitarist CD ones to do a similar thing?  The Blues Healdines ones would be good I guess?  I can put together a little compilation CD of backing tracks....

[Roobubba]

(I never seem to get stuck for solo ideas whilst thinking about them in my head or humming them out loud)

+1!!!!

Does anyone have any tips on getting more time to do all of the things mentioned above, too!? :)

Roo

[Madiac]

(I never seem to get stuck for solo ideas whilst thinking about them in my head or humming them out loud)

+1!!!!

Does anyone have any tips on getting more time to do all of the things mentioned above, too!? :)

Roo

We can get together and start working on a time machine! I need more time aswell haha (although i do think i have a bit too much time on my hands sometimes)
Or just quit your job.
As for soloing, well i cant really help since im probably behind you, but fret some random notes? No? Okay, maybe not..

[gwEm]

i've been listening to /alot/ of uli jon roth and actively trying to be more experimental with my soloing - trying to copy his style. i think its been paying off, but theres still a long way for me to go.

[Will]

I probably can't help much, but for improvisation sake, try learning a new little phrase each week, and it will slowly build up.

Something I find interesting is focusing on the key of the song, (ie C major) and playing the notes of the (C) chord in different manners, focusing on the C mainly. ie palm muting, dead note, and add the occasional octave, with three notes you have 4 different sounds, and you aren't overplaying (which is my goal with it)

[Philly Q]

Can't offer any tips, but strangely enough blues-rock soloing is the ONLY aspect of guitar playing I feel ever-so-slightly comfortable with (which isn't to say I'm any good at it).

I can't play rhythm to save my life.

I do agree with what Ian said about jamming over a 12 bar backing track (the only rhythm I can play over!  :roll: ).

[James C]

For blues rock soloing, i try and find a really strong melody line first, once done, record and embellish over it, slow arpeggios sound awesome for blues too and you can just find different inversions of the chord sequence you are soloing over to use as templates or starter points.

 

[dave_mc]

not that i'm an expert or anything... but i am more of a lead guitarist than rhythm...

if you ask me, refusing to learn more theory because it stifles creativity is a crock of shiteee, if you'll excuse the expression. it's a bit like saying that learning to spell and learning grammar will make you a worse writer. just because you learn it doesn't mean you have to slavishly use it all the time (if someone asks me to play a mixolydian mode i can do it, but when i'm just noodling, 99% of the time i'm in minor pentatonic, position 1), and also if you don't know more advanced theory, for all you know you're just using that advanced theory without knowing it. i always find it pretty funny when people say they get worse at writing songs when they learn theory- that's not true, they just now realise that they were using over-used cliches and progressions all the time! :lol:

that being said, learning more theory won't necessarily help your soloing, but it shouldn't do any harm either.

play and improvise a lot over backing tracks, songs, etc. etc. learn to play by ear, too- learn what sounds good, regardless of the theory- theory is a suggestion, rather than a rule.

concentrate a lot on vibrato (and by extension, bends etc. and other inflections which make a note sound more interesting)- you CAN practice it, anyone who says you can't is again talking utter cr@p. if your vibrato and bends are good but your chops aren't, it sounds like you're a kickass player but are tastefully holding back (lol, this is what i go for). however, if your chops are kickass but your bending and vibrato aren't too good, you sound like that dude with the shades and crazy wallpaper whose youtube vid was posted in another thread.

most importantly, which lead guitarists do you really like? listen to them. listen to them again. fast forward to the solos. listen really closely. etc. etc.

:)

[Johnny Mac]

How about hearing those notes in your head, then finding them on the fret board and see what scales they fit in to. Bryan May used this approach, otherwise all that happens is your fingers go where they feel comfortable. Its a case of getting out of the comfort zone for a bit. I do this from time to time and you can find new ways through the strings and frets.

[Twinfan]

if you ask me, refusing to learn more theory because it stifles creativity is a crock of shiteeee, if you'll excuse the expression.

Two schools of thought Dave - yours/Yngwie Malmsteen and mine/EVH.  Both valid  ;)

I hear what you're saying in the rest of your post though so cheers  :)

Good stuff folks, keep it coming!

[Dmoney]

i got a dvd called 'the guitar grimoire' which has a guy dressed like some satanic monk extra from a harry potter novel talking about fretboard positions and scales and using some enchanted keyboard to demonstrate stuff while sat in a chair surrounded by gargoyles...

...TERRIBLE!

i need to read thise thread more carefully. when i get to work later.

[Johnny Mac]

if you ask me, refusing to learn more theory because it stifles creativity is a crock of shiteeeee, if you'll excuse the expression.

Two schools of thought Dave - yours/Yngwie Malmsteen and mine/EVH.  Both valid  ;)

I hear what you're saying in the rest of your post though so cheers  :)

Good stuff folks, keep it coming!

No offence Dave but EVH was born that way, unless you are go the theory way. That was a Satch to student response not me!

[gwEm]

pentatonic and blues boxes are theory anyway - so you already know some.

can only echo the advice to learn a bit of theory and listen intently to some favourite lead players. you'll have some of their licks down in no time!