So now I have the first half of the China Grove solo down...and of course I think "what was so hard!" :-). I also have found that my improvisation has gotten better.

There were some subtle timing things in this solo that I'm wasn't used to. Same thing with another solo I've been working on - Whole Lotta Love.

For China Grove, I kept wanting to put other notes in there, Whole Lotta Love I kept feeling like there wasn't enough "space" to get all of the notes in.

For me personally, this proves out the importance of learning solos and *striving* to get them exact. I say striving because there are cases where I will say "good enough" so I can move on and not get totally buried. For instance, the 2nd mini solo in WLL has a bunch of pull-offs that I still have to get my head around. In the mean time, I do hammer-on and pull-offs that feel more natural to me and sound VERY close.

So I've learned that it's worth putting in the effort to learn solos to help expand your vocabulary, get your fingers used to different patterns, and get your brain and fingers used to different timing. I have to believe that as you learn more of a variety of solos, it will get easier to learn new ones. In the end, it takes what it takes :-).