Doing more...

[nateguitars]

Hey,
I've been playing guitar for a few years now... classical for about the past year... and just recently I've been starting to work more on electric lead guitar stuff. I'm just kind of wondering how I can make my soloing "better". I know scales and stuff quite well so its not like I play a lot of wrong notes... it's just my leads/solos etc. usually just sound like a bunch of notes played one after another... maybe with a random bend, slide, or hammer-on/pull-off thrown in... any tips on how I can do more with the soloing stuff... make it sound cooler etc?

[ren]

My tips would be:

1) Slow down - most people tend to try to play as fast as possible (myself included :o ) and as a result their playing can become pretty samey as they're concentrating on speed through scale shapes rather than the sound they are making.

2) Try a different scale - maybe instead os natural minor, try Phrygian... or instead of major, try Lydian... it might sound 'wrong' but once your ears get used to it you might find something interesting.

3) Keep going - you need to just play to become more familiar with the sounds you're making. Once you become more familiar, you'll play less mechanically, and more by feel...

Just a few thoughts. It'll come with time... :)

[CSchlegel]

... and just recently I've been starting to work more on electric lead guitar stuff. I'm just kind of wondering how I can make my soloing "better".
Since you say you already know the info necessary in "scales and stuff". Then I suggest two things:

1. Target chord tones.
2. Achieve better phrasing.

I did a couple of tutorials on targeting chord tones in improv here:
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=483
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=491

As far as phrasing, the clue here is what you say:
quite well so its not like I play a lot of wrong notes... it's just my leads/solos etc. usually just sound like a bunch of notes played one after another... maybe with a random bend, slide, or hammer-on/pull-off thrown in...
Even when you improvise you want to create a musical statement much like a melody.

Do this by making a "statement" with a lick. Create the lick as an "opening sentence". For example end it with a bend up to a chord tone. Next, do a slight variartion on the exact same lick but play it in a different part of the scale; or using a different position of the same scale. Then end with a bend to another chord tone (but not the same as the first one). You are making "sentences" that logically follow one another as if you are writing a paragraph in which each sentence proceeds from the last.

The point is to build thematic statements. Think about what makes a good melody: a good balance between similarity and variety.

The best way to learn this skill is by creating "building blocks" (small useful licks) and repeating them with slight variations.

I have some examples in these tutorials:
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=217
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=232
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=244

Hope this helps, let us know how it goes.

[nateguitars]

Hey!... thanks for the tips... I've started applying them and I think my soloing has started to get better already!... once again thanks

[Superhuman]

Excellent advice from the guys above.

I've never been great with theory but I my playing improved considerably when I stopped trying to improv everything. Try to listen to the backing music and imagine what a great solo would sound like over it. Then just spend time using your ear working it out without relying on repetitive runs and patterns. You will get a completely different type of solo from this approach than if you tried to jam over it. You can you mix it up with a bit of a jam/improv to get a nice semi-structure.
The thing with imagining the solo then working it out is that you would never usually be able to jam something like that out from from scratch, also by imagining what you want to hear you aren't sticking to stock patterns or particular scales. You learn a hell of a lot by working out what you can hear in your head without thinking about shapes or patterns. Just another method worth investigating, it could work for you too.