Mike gave you great suggestions about working through the blues & rock courses. Those are great paths to learn the concepts & skills in a step by step process.

I want to offer a few additional suggestions.

Originally Posted by: danyluk

I can solo to other instruments and I would like to be able to solo along with chords I play while playing alone on single guitar. Can you recommend any lessons or songs you have done on this site that could get me started on that?[/quote][p]It seems like the skill you are asking about could be one of two things:

1. Switching between rhythm & lead playing in a solo context.

2. Chord melody playing.

Switching between rhythm & lead is a useful thing to practice if you are playing solo. You can keep a steady groove going with the rhythm parts & then throw in some interesting variety with a few lead licks, quickly & seamlessly returning to the rhythm grooving.

This is a tricky thing to learn but a lot of fun to do! :) Depending on your current skill level, we have tutorials that can help you get there.

These tutorials are aimed at learning the basic skills of moving between rhythm & lead playing.

E Blues Rhythm & Lead: Series 1

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=170

E Blues Rhythm & Lead: Series 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=918

If those are too basic, then you might get more out of these that show how to incorporate these things into more of an overall orchestrated approach.

Blues Orchestration Series 1[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=151

[br]Blues Orchestration Series 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=274

Once you get those types of skills under your command, then it's a good idea to find songs that use that approach. Typically, this means bluesy type songs that use a single guitar to carry the whole tune.

Steady Rolling Man

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2145

Stop Breakin' Down

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2146

Deep River Blues

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2082

And don't forget that even though some tunes have bass & drums in the original recording, they stand up really well when done on solo guitar. This is a great example.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2353

This song has 2 guitars, but either guitar part could carry the tune & there are a lot of fun things to learn.

Before You Accuse Me

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=853

Chord melody playing is essentially taking the rhythm & lead switching approach to a whole new level. The idea is to play both the melody & the chords all at the same time. I do some tutorials aimed at learning the skills.

Joe Pass Style

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=149

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=268

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=708

And I've done some tunes that have a chord melody approach in the tutorial.

After You've Gone[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=644

[br]St. Louis Blues[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=759

Summertime (Jazz)

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2189

Anders does a great job of showing how this works in a ragtime style setting.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=975

While those are mostly jazz related, this style can be applied to any genre! For example Anders does a great job on a pop tune here.

Fields of Gold

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1150

[quote=danyluk]

Also I would like to get better at playing melodic solos. Can you recommend any of

these lessons that could be building blocks to learn that skill.

Again the style courses are a great way to learn those skills in a methodical way. There are also plenty of great tunes with melodic solos & mimicing them will go a long way to acquiring a vocabulary of your own to use in soloing.

With that in mind, I also have a series of tutorial that cover improvising in depth & detail focused on creating melodies from scales by targeting chord tones. I encourage you to start with the first one. But if you are more advanced, then skip ahead until you find the most applicable tutorial.

Introduction to Improvisation For Beginners[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=876

[br]Improvisation in a Major Key

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=483

Improvisation in a Minor Key[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=491

Improvisation in a Major Key Series 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2318

Improvisation in a Minor Key Series 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2329

That's a lot of info. :) But hopefully some of it will point you in the right direction. Please ask more if necessary. Best of success!