need help for performing good solo

Ok here`s the deal.

I can pull off a good number of licks from Malmsteen to BB king. I got good speed and good execution but I seem to lack an important part of "how to perform a good solo".

I know practice makes perfect but god help me, I seem to freeze when it's time for solos. It's like if I never knew how to play.

HELP ME OUT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do when facing this situation???

My advice is that you learn alot of scales and learn
when you should play them.
Then, if you freeze and totally forget how the solo goes, you can still just keep on jammin and no one will notice.
I think its BETTER to play your own solo to other peoples songs. Its much more fun than practicing someone elses.
BUT if you really want to play accurately, its like
you said:
Practice, practice and practice more.

I think everyone freezes sometimes when you dont know what to play or where to come in.
But if you practice enough, it will be there next time.

Kick out the jams!

I agree with mc9mm totally...I would add one thing to that...when you go to play a solo....forget everything you know. Don't try and think about what you're playing. The best solos are alwyas when the guitarist just let's go and plays from the heart...You can see it when a guitarist is in the "zone" or in their own world...it feels good to be there too! Obviously you have to build a strong foundation for this to happen so keep on jammin' and practicing!

Exactly right FM,IMO.Learn and practice scales,runs,riffs,etc.Play them until they become second nature.Play along with some backing tracks and improvise with what you've learned and try to really feel it.Put your emotion into it.Not only will you become more confident,but you will also develop your own style(much more important than just copying someone elses riffs).Then when the time comes and you're in the spotlight,forget everything and go from the gut.Sometimes your fingers know more than you do.(That's a quote from another guitarist)Best of luck!

A lot of good points here. Most people come from the improve path it seems. Improv is good, but I heard Steve Vai once say that he learns his solos so amazingly well through practice and practice and practice, so that when it comes time to play, he barely has to think about it and can just let the music take him away. Sometimes when pros look like their just playing from their gut, they're really just playing what it took them hours of practice to learn. Just a thought...

I think good solos should contain a good mix of memorized licks, and that the structure should be planned so as to be most effective against the background, but hell this is music, so you don't need to learn it note for note. A classical player would disagree however.

Of course improve is always fun, but that's more of a "jamming" thing (which is good too) then an actual solo over a song, imop.

I didn't mean to imply you shouldn't have some structure.I guess every guitar players dream is to have songs with melodic lead parts that are integral to the music(to the point that people know them note-for-note).You don't want to depart from the melody,especially in an instrumental setting.Having said that,I can tell you I've read plenty of interviews with popular guitarists who never play the same lead twice and,in the studio,don't plan for the lead and just "go for it."In blues and jazz,you see a lot of improv,but that's not mainstream music.Pop on the other hand is formulaic and repetitive and people always expect it to be exactly the same.I'm afraid I am not a jukebox.

P.S. James:You're right.You really learn the parts by repeating them over and over and I believe the pros,as you put it,do play by a script to a large degree(some more than others)But you can play the same notes twice and convey a different emotional intensity both times.So in that way I feel he"s playing from his gut,ya know?I also think that the song structure shouldn't limit you to only one approach,with exceptions.I should point out here that I make a clear distinction between riffs and leads.Riffs in a song are much more integral to it's structure.Peace

Thanks guys this helps a lot.

And James I also heard MR VAI say that he practices his solos. I also read (Can't remember the magazine) an article where he said he sometimes transform a part of his solo into a warm up exercice. I taught that was a good idea since we all should warm up good before playing. Helps you with those tricky turns and twists.

Personaly, a took part of a caprice for violin to warm up. I do it very slow to warm up my fingers and gradually accelerate the tempo. Good for building speed too. I still can't play the entire caprice but I enjoy parts of it :)

I have one suggestion. Use your ears and image the lines of melodies in your head , then you play it on the fretboard not scale but ears.

since there are only about 2-3 guitarists in the world who are realy playing their solos note by note, i believe improvising is the way:
you should have a base for the solo, and a chord proggresion behind it, and then just to play what your heart tells you, but of course its practice matter as well, because only if you'll practice much you'll know how to improvise a good solo
good example is led zeppelin's since ive been loving you, from the song remains the same video
there are a small part which is exactly the part from the original studio solo, and the rest comes straight from his heart to the freatboard

Joe PASS used to say he could sing along his lines, because he had such a close relationship to his instrument...
Without being even half as good as him, I have practiced so much that I can pretty much play on the fretboard what I sing in my head, and actually, I sing words, so my solo is like a story... Well if that makes any sense.... Hope I helped

This is a message sent to me by u10ajf on my e-mail by mistake, it was suppose to be posted on the forum. I found his way of seeing solos very useful. It will probably be the same for some on you guys. Really good advice.



Hiya Benoit!
It sounds to me like you have a problem relaxing when you play, you're
probably too self critical. If you actually think about what you are
doing it won't be half so good as if you just do it! I know that sounds
a bit odd but persistent practice of some mindless repetitive shapes
should make the technical side of it sufficiently easy that eventually
you will be able to improvise on the spur of the moment. When you solo do
you play to a backing tape? I recomend this, having other instruments
to fill in the spaces will reduce the temptation just to shred and the
extra breathing spaces in your music should make it flow more.

I have some technique suggestions for you. My personal favourite solos
mix fast and slow stuff, they're all about phrasing. All guitarists
like to show off if they can but sometimes this really gets in the way of
the music. Slower soloing can still display your technique and help
you improve. Try using volume swells with bending/harmonics/tremolo arm
or whatever for some kind of melodic lick, you can ornament it with
vibrato or whatever you want. This will still impress people in the know
and will sound pleasing to those who don't, then put that speed of yours
to good use! Little bursts of speed are better than a constant run, to
go from normal speed to supersonic in little bursts adds real rhythm to
your playing; if you've not heard it before I suggest you listen to how
Satriani breaks up his solo in Crushing day with little spaces.
Punctuate your solos with full on blazing chords too, Try 7th shapes with
plenty of distortion, they're really angry!
Just repeating and re-phrasing fragments of roughly the same basic
riffs help to give your solos structure. It's worth bearing in mind that
very rarely are the exact notes you play strictly necesary! It's only
when "resolving" a passage that you need to get to anywhere in
particular. I have found that sometimes it's nice to play something a bit
weird and make it fit in with what came before by playing something with
characteristics of both the weird phrase and the one that preceded it.
Well, that's all I guess. Happy soloing!

Told you it was good ;)