Got a bad case of the runs


kriszenith
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Joined: 01/13/05
Posts: 13
kriszenith
Registered User
Joined: 01/13/05
Posts: 13
01/13/2005 10:46 pm
Hey there! this is the first time I've posted and no doubt it wont be the last but, anyway here goes my problem. I feel very confident in my playing and have always concentrated on improvising and songwriting, over my own songs. My approach to improvisation is to look to find the key center of the song, study the chord changes and emphasise the root notes of the progression or second soprano note of the sequence. Sometimes when I solo I will look to gravitate my leadwork towards the last chord in the sequence or bend into the last chords soprano note or whatever, I also relate to blues traditions in my playing quite heavily, but the problem I have is I want to play fast sometimes you know a bit Slash/Perry influenced and can go at quite a speed but my playing seems fragmented to me, I don't seem to be able to get that fluidity in building up a long run ascending or descending that guys like Slash/Perry do, you know the kind of solo that goes on without a break for a good period of time. Though I can play in a Hendrix -esq choppy lead style that impresses people, I suppose it's quite blues rock style, but I'm not happy and have this wish to really let fly the way someone like slash does, can anyone give me advice on how to build up the technique for long runs, you know the principle behind many classic seventies style rock solos. I have heard many guitar runs that sound like they make the song take off, explode if you want at the right moments. Is there anything that I should be concentrating on when I go to make my own solo when I learn the chords that could help make the tunes fly in classic rock way? Or is there traditions in rock the way there are in blues in terms of how you highlight the chord tones? Any help would be well received.
# 1
crazyguy
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Joined: 11/22/01
Posts: 132
crazyguy
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Joined: 11/22/01
Posts: 132
01/14/2005 12:46 pm
My favorite run is the beginning of the second solo in "Good Times, Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin, which is pure descending pentatonic scale abandoned at the right moment. I'd say you're talking about something like the opening solo for the 2nd part of "Sweet Child of Mine", which is pure Slash going crazy. I've had the same problem at some point, disability to play fast runs longer than a few seconds. What pulled me out was not the mental ability to construct great runs I could play, but the physical ability to play whatever crashes into my head. Try the following (in terms of moving through 3D space): walk around, run down a slope, jump over a canal with one leg and back with another following it's direction, run to the edge of a cliff and dive into the sea, paraglide back up just before you hit the watter...
Enough. I think I need a walk in a park or something. Woof! Woof!
Impendance is fruitfull
while the buttons are circled.:eek:
# 2
Cookie monster
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Joined: 10/21/04
Posts: 69
Cookie monster
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Joined: 10/21/04
Posts: 69
01/15/2005 6:22 am
Yea the same thing happens to me. If i try to play fast for to long without stopping ill get too into the sound of my own guitar and kind of lose tempo. So I have to play some riffs, stop listen to the tempo, then start up again. I guesse I cant pay attention to both for to long or something.
damn straight
# 3
crazyguy
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Joined: 11/22/01
Posts: 132
crazyguy
Registered User
Joined: 11/22/01
Posts: 132
01/15/2005 5:28 pm
Make tapping your foot a habbit. Works for me.
Impendance is fruitfull
while the buttons are circled.:eek:
# 4

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