Tips for Guitar Solos?

[Mr. Vai]

ok I have sined, I ahvent been playing guitar as much as I should, but i've decided to dedicate myself to Metallica "One" solo and learn it untill i can play it with my thumb, but i've noticed like after 10 minutes the ends of my fungers get a little sore and make me uncofrtable to play, why is that, im only 15, but anywho, I need some tips for learning that solo, if you people know what im talking about, I can paly the tapping part really good, its jsut everything after that is hell, what are some tips you got for me?

[Joseph]

Personally, in the past Ive always had a habit of moving forward too quickly with my favorite solos, instead of methodically trying to learn them out. But we learn from the past, and that its important to play our favorite pieces right, even if it takes a little bit of time. Alot of the times we get overwhelmed because our friends have progressed much faster with certain guitar pieces, but you shouldn't let that bother you. Because we all work at our own pace, and in the end we all have our own special technique, (as well as hidden elements that no one else possesses.


The best tip that I can gve you is to use your ears as a guide, and listen to the song note by note and make sure you're not trying to play each piece way too fast...Speed with come in due time, but if you try and push yourself to the limit before you're ready, you might injure yourself. Just remember good tnhings come to those who wait, play each measure individually, and perhaps slowly. Be sure you have your fingers placed right in the most comfortable position on the fret board, and learn to excercise your level of patience...

-Joseph

[RuDeE]

Learn how to play some other Metallica solos first that you can get real easy. Then the other solo will come. They are all pretty much the same, just variations. So.. keep it up, you'll get it down. And keep playing, and your fingers wont get sore anymore.

[Mr. Vai]

well, basicly i was riding the bus when my friend is like "oh man I can play that Van Halen "Eruption solo" and i just about crapped my pants, i mean, when we played before he couldnt even play iron man and have it sound good and in the next month he cna play it, I mean, if u cant play somthing decent why say u can do it, I'd rather be a slow musician and have it sound good then just hit a couple notes really fast

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Mr. Vai
I'd rather be a slow musician and have it sound good then just hit a couple notes really fast [/B]

Well, the thing is that alot of people feel the need to impress their friends instead of impressing themselves. But in the long run, as the years pass us, we won't get very far until we ask ourselves what we want, and how we wan't to get there. It shouldn't matter to you how fast your friends have progressed with certain guitar solos, because different poeople have very strong convictions when it comes to certain songs, and these convinctions can't always be matched by others in the same way, nor the same pace. Just take your time, and you'll find your sweet spot. Playing the guitar is great experience, but it also tests your endurance.

-Joseph

[Led Zeppelin]

Ill tell you a little story.

There once was a chap. He played guitar. An acoustic guitar.The chap wasnt very good as the chap admitted himself although he could paly a ripping intro to Stairway To Heaven. One day the chap met up with his friend. This friend had been receiving guitar lessons for sometime. The chap was self-teaching and was needlessly anti-lessons due to bitter past experience. The chap didnt have much time or energy for learning his guitar. The chap remained admittedly not very good. The chaps friend often taunted and jeered the chap due to the chaps crapness while he was getting lessons for £30 an hour. One day the chap grew weary of his friends mockery and became serious in his playing. The chap obtained an electric guitar and began to learn simple songs. The chap moved onto harder stuff while still acting ****e in front of his friend. One day the chap set out to learn the Stairway To Heaven solo. Within 3 weeks the chap had learned it all. The chaps persistence payed off. A couple of weeks later the chap was ready to show his skills to the world. The chap invited his friend, who still though the chap was aload of ****e and that he was the dogs bollocks, over to his house for drinks. The chaps friend routinely picked up the guitar and started showing off in his gay little way doing Sunshine of your Love by Cream. The chap had long since learned this and moved on. The chap played his Stairway solo. The chaps friend was stunned.



What Im trying to say is be persistant and dont let what other people say or have done affect you unless it makes you try harder. My story...I mean the chaps story shows this.

[Edited by Led Zeppelin on 04-12-2001 at 06:34 PM]

[Joseph]

Hey, do whatever it takes to motivate yourself to reach higher goals in life..Ive always had a strong capacity to learn when it comes to the guitar (or any other instrument for that matter), not for others but for myself. I love the idea of creating music, and I wouldn't wan't to do it half-ass. Its great when you're willing to explore the many options with the electric guitar, and its definitely worth all of the time and effort, because once you feel comfortable with your technique, you've got it made.

-Joseph

[johnny5]

dude you should learn soem other solos besides metallica that stuff is to easy.not to disrespect you.

[johnny5]

are you taking lessons ????

[Mr. Vai]

ya im taking lessons i learn hendrix stuff all the time too its not like im going through every metallica album and learning ever note from every song, its just 1

[zepo]

Hey a tip to learning 'tallica songs is know your Em scales/key. Metallica sticks with Em in a whole lotta songs....oh yeah it doesn't hurt to know your Lydian and Mixolydian scales also.

[johnny5]

oh k

[Mr. Vai]

just a add on here, what solo really got u guys over the edge in thinking that you could never EVER play, and how did you learn it?

[Joseph]

Its just a feeling that comes over you, after weeks and weeks of practicing different techniques, it just gets easier. I don't we are ever completely satisfied when it comes to our own guitar solos, (and especially the solos of otrhers), but to feel comfortable, well thats an accomplishment in itself. There are several Metallica solos that I never thought I would learn completely, because of the weird timing and everything), but after a while it just kind of sinks in, its important to focus on your week spots. Record yourself playing your favorite solos slowly and listen those frustrating mistakes, and do whatever it takes to improve them. Because once we're in the moment, we sometimes think that our playing couldn't be better, where we think we're the greatest. But when we listen to ourselves on tape, its a whole different story, where everything comes into perspective...

-Joseph

[PonyOne]

There was this one night where I was playing with my first band where everything just sort of came down in the span of one hour. I'd been doing bass and one of the guys in the band goes to me, "dude, if you were like, half as good as your girlfriend's tits are big, we'd, like, be set, but, you kinda suck, i don't wanna offend you or anything, but we were supposed to sound like Metallica."
Well we had our words and by the end of the night, the band was quite dead. I was really pissed, went home and slept, sulked for a couple days, and then came to the decision that, if they wanted to hear metallica, I'd give them metallica, by god's sake!
I went onto tabcrawler.com and looked over all of Metallica's stuff and was either totally daunted or thought "why would i want to learn this?" My resolution as I sat in front of this computer was that I didn't give half a rat's ass what Metallica could do, or anyone else for that matter, and that I'd just do my thing.
It hasn't been easy; it's easier to plunge into the fastest solo in the world than to sit there and make your own a lot of the time. You're concerned it's gonna suck, you're gonna screw up a million times when playing, etc. But you don't have to play like Yngwie Malmsteen or Hendrix or Clapton or anyone to be good. None of them got huge playing metallica solos.
After you read this you'll probably laugh your ass off and think i'm a hippie or something, BUT i play what's best described as a mix between hardcore, surf, and classic hard rock, and many of the older players her will probably agree with me. What makes a good solo is when the artist can take an emotion or though or feeling and make it go from their head to their hands to their guitar to their pedals to their amp and then out to the crowd and do it with soul, balance and thought. Some of the stuff you hear on the Deftones CD Around The Fur is remarkably provocative both emotionally ("hey, you're right! Hell Yeah!") and physically (jump up and down headbanging) but it is not anywhere near intricacy. Probably the most emotionally charged song on the CD, Headup, took me about a minute and a half to learn, and that was about ten minutes after i brought my first guitar home from the shop.
As long as your solo is good and matches the song, nobody will care that much how fast you can move your hands. If you want to get into speed, downoad a song by Dick Dale and then get the tabs; simple, effective and faster than an F16.

BTW, you'll get used to the burning on your fingers, I've been playing three years now and I still don't have callouses. Get a bottle of FingerEase, that helps. And try using Jim Dunlop Mediums, those work really well for me when I'm shredding... A HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN PLAYING THE SKIN OFF YOUR THUMB.

[Mr. Vai]

thats a good post there, well, ya i had bad experiances too, me and my band were practicing and at the time i thought i was like ya, know, i thought i was the sh!t. but, it comes crashing down ocne in awhile, well anyway we were practicing and this lil guy comes in (the theater was empty) and he comes in and we all just kinda slowly stop playing, and the guy comes up to me and says "can i try your geeeeetar?" well i said sure not knowing he was gonna shove a ozzy osbourne solo down my throat, it was kinda funny though because i had been showing off infront of our other guitar player but i guess thats what u get, and ya know i went to guitar lessons the other day and instead of learning ya know a steve vai solo or a metallica finger tapping solo, we learned a simple song that was actually nice to play it was ozzy - mama im comming home, it really just made me relize that if you can play somthing simple and make it sound like a million bucks and kinda make people smile when ur playing it or making someone kinda say "hey, thats kinda cool" it can be a whole lot better then staying up till 4 a.m. finger tapping a metallica solo to make a head turn