What i have to say is strictly my opinions and what I like to do, and I hope it can help you out... Soloing mainly comes down to what you feel and what you like to hear. I started out by gather a collection of licks from my favorite players that i liked and nailing them and learning to find the "box" to play these licks in so they fit in any key. When i say "box", I am reffering to the pentatonic scale they are found in which is like the power chord of scales. Obviously not all licks are found in pentatonic scales, but it's true that a large amount of lick you hear are. Part of nailing these licks was not at all about playing them really fast, but rather being able to play the lick with the correct timing and phrasing. Getting the bends right and learning how to make a solid vibrato sound, also other techniques like hammer on's and pull off's and harmonics and slides and the list goes on and on. Anyways, I use a lot of licks found in blues rock to hard rock (ie: Angus Young, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page to name a few) which are licks mainly found in major and minor pentatonic scales. The beautiful thing about these licks is that they will sound awesome whether you play them fast or slow as long as you have the phrasing correct. Obviously you don't want to play slow drawn out licks in a faster song, nor would I like to hear someone shredding in a slow song, it's a matter of what you feel fits and what likes you like to hear. I've seen people say you should start of slow, and then get faster, and fatser and I don't think that's such a great idea. Mixing the fast and slow adds a great effect and is what i tend to do, but like i said before, it all depends on the pace of the song. All in all, Soloing should be like telling a story, it's gotta have an intro, a solid body, and a conclusion and should be enjoyable to hear. How you would like to tell the story is strictly up to you. Another good piece of advice i've been told is never put all your eggs in one basket, meaning don't lay out all your best licks and all you've got in your first solo, you want to keep the "wow-factor" strong from song to song. You want to show your soloing ability in all of your songs..
That's some of my thoughts on soloing. Developing all this is another story and is a never ending process of learning. All you have to do is just keep working at it and it will come. Just practice you left and right hand techniques and speed and remember that you play guitar by ear, not by sight. You need to develope an ear for sound and recognize sounds. If any of this helps anyone reading and would like to hear anything more i have to say, e-mail me and I would be happy to keep talking. I don't play nearly as good as a lot of these people on here and I have tons of stuff i'm still trying to learn...but I would love to give any knowledge I have thus far in my experience if it helps someone else. Most my knowledge is basic but essential i think.
Keep on'a Rockin'
-Matt
[Edited by Cedarkill on 02-13-2003 at 01:41 PM]