My solos are too silent : - (

I have the following problem – when I’m soloing I play quite silently compared with when I’m playing rhythm. Also, some parts of my improvisations are much more silent than others (the fast ones). Whenever I try to play them louder, I cannot achieve the same speed. It seems that as a whole my dynamics is pretty irregular. What do you recommend?

First, don`t try to improve your whole solo in one shot. Instead, isolate the parts that are really silents.

Once you've decided on which part to work on, crank up your amp to get the same level as your rythmn part. Practice a little that way. Then gradually turn down the volume of your amp (lead guitar). Try to compensate the lack of volume by adjusting your picking attack. Gradualy turn the volume of your lead down until you get both guitar at the same level and that your lead sounds right.

Here's an exemple :

Start at:
Rythmn at 6
Lead at 10

After go to :
Rythmn at 6
Lead at 9

Then :
Rythmn at 6
Lead at 8

And so on...

It's just an idea, I never had that problem but this is how I would approach the problem.

Remember to concentrate on the weakest part of your solo, otherwise you'll get discourage. You'll improve faster with smaller parts. And always remember you want to improve your technique and not your solo, try other parts of other solos too..

Tell me if it helps. There's a lot of teachers in here, some may give you good pointers too.

Originally posted by Slow Diver
It seems that as a whole my dynamics is pretty irregular. What do you recommend?

I recommend you get either a compressor or a volume pedal.

That was my pick too! Maybe try to have more gain, because gain smoothes things out (louder gets down, quieter comes up)

Single note solos are always going to be softer. I think it is a good thing that you are playing lightly. The best thing to do would be to get a pedal, even if it's a footswitch for your amp to switch channels.

Just thought of another option.

An EQ pedal. So you can just boost your entire signal, or just a couple of frequencies to cut through more while playing single notes.

blues players have a tubescreamer (made by Ibanez) to slightly boost their sound without coloring it (making it a little warmer maybe) that's what SRV used, and Kirk Hammett too...

As an audio engineer... I'd recommend a combo of EQ and Compression... make sure the compressor is the last item in your effects chain... (as it makes little sense to eq after compression)

Boost frequencies in the 2-6kHz range... and also around the 250Hz range if you like that chunky sound...

Compression should be mild... if you hear your signal "pumping" back off... I would recommend a 4:1 ratio at most... with about 5dB of attenuation... then use the makeup gain to makeup the 5 dB loss...

Use these pedals only during your solos...

I used to use 2eq's and one compressor... one eq for overall sound... the other for solos...

Guess I didn't approach the problem the right way :)

Originally posted by chyrd


Compression should be mild... if you hear your signal "pumping" back off... I would recommend a 4:1 ratio at most... with about 5dB of attenuation... then use the makeup gain to makeup the 5 dB loss...

errrrrr... Where the switch for that on my guitar???