How do you guys solo/shred?

Ok now my problem isn't speed (although it wouldn't hurt for shredding) its that i can't make any high notes sound good with each other...i need ALOT of help on this...i don't evenknow where to start...i know the keys and scales and stuff but i am so lost on how to make great creative solos and make them fast...also i can't them really sing or do anything...... PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!

That's where lessons can really help you out, private one on one instruction with a reputable teacher....these forums do have there limits.

Originally posted by chris mood
That's where lessons can really help you out, private one on one instruction with a reputable teacher....these forums do have there limits.

I concur...heh...I said "concur."

Even though you can't sing, and for what I'm going to suggest you don't need to. If your trying to put a solo over a rhythm, go throught each measure one at a time and hum something over it. Then figure it out on the guitar. You don't necessarily need to know each note you hummed by pitch. Just by looking at the chord your playing over and a scale that would go with that chord, you should be able to figure out the idea of what you were humming. This will train you to the highest level of any musician, being able to pull the music out of your head and onto the guitar. Practice this with your routine, just think up any melody in your head and then try to figure it out on the guitar. Instead of fiddling around until you come up with something cool. Works yes, but you will be a far more effective guitarist if you can pull ideas clearly out of your head.

HAHA YES!!!! thx alot i came up with my first real solo hahhahahhahaa ok now it would probably sound better if it were twice as fast but thas ok i think i got the hang of it :)

If I could ever play what I hear in my head I'd be a geetar god. Isn't there a famous Hendrix quote that goes something like 'If only I could play what I hear in my head....

Originally posted by The Other One
HAHA YES!!!! thx alot i came up with my first real solo hahhahahhahaa ok now it would probably sound better if it were twice as fast but thas ok i think i got the hang of it :)

Speed is not everything. I would rather hear a melodic solo than some mindless wanking. Think about the mood of the song and how the solo should apply. Don't assume because you use the word, "solo" that it automatically means "fast."

It also depends on the style of music whether you should shred or play some extravagant beautiful thing . Even though its kinda shreddy , the solos in Darkane - Convicted both were REALLY great sounding , I thought . Thrash and death metal (and grindcore when it has solos) are usually comprised of shredding solos , and shredding solos ONLY . They just suit the music .

I think children of bodom dose a good job of balancing the Solos to fit there music which is really heavy. they make ya just want to do the Air guitar thing.

Having a second guitar to play harmonys with can turn a simple lead lick into somthing that will really hit you hard.In Flames uses harmonys alot and there solos sound amazing(although a little the majority of there solo's follows a pattern and sound similar),yet there simple.If you can record yourself,make a rhythm and a lead track,Then harmonize with it(an octave above or below,or anywhere musically relative).Keep the solo simple.When youve got it down,add short trills,slides,bends e.c.t.A simple lick played with conviction and heart will can sound like a million bucks and be very memorable.
Ive been using this mind set of keeping it simple with great results.

Other One-
Don't fall into the speed trap; let me tell you, in 3 years, when you realize that speed doesn't mean ****, when you can't create innovative melodies because you've spent all of your time getting faster, more "efficient", etc, you'll regret ever doing so.

~Incidents

Evo- I think that's every geetarists :D ambition (I would have though hendrix had a grip on it), even guys who are just guitar drag racers. Problem is not too many peeps know how to learn such a skill, so they over-concern themselves with techiques instead. It's a hard skill to obtain though. One thing that really helps is sing the scales you know, you'll learn alot more about the scale than it's pattern if you do.

The Other One-

It's cool to add things to what you came up with when you were humming. You probably just came up with a basic melody, if you did that awesome. The point of humming is just to get those inner ear ideas out, and once you become alittle more familiar with this practice try getting a little recorder, play the rhythm track and then hum the entire solo into the recorder instead of measure by measure. You'll see then your solo idea will have alot more flow to it. Write it on tab, or even better midi (using powertab or something). Then you can easily go back and edit it, which is always the case when you start this practice. "Don't think too much and feel the music" is the best advice to follow when humming out a idea. If you make a mistake don't worry it, you can always go back and edit it with powertab. :) As you get better and practice this more and more, you'll actually learn alot about your own creative way of playing and soon you'll be able to pull out these things when improvising. Just like you learn other guy's solos and you become more like them. This way you'll develop alot of your own creative ideas and maybe even your own style.

As for the speed thing, yeah it isn't everything but it also isn't something to neglect. You should work to achieve speed just as you work to achieve everything else on the guitar. I know no one is saying to neglect speed, but it's not always noted that it is an important part of playing from those anti-speeders. I too don't like mindless wanking on the guitar, just because I don't feel it. I like guys like Slash and Page who use speed but also have a melodic outline to there solos.

I think some of the best solos are those that are very melodic but are difficult to play. Like when you're trying to learn a really good solo off a CD that seems simple, until one little part in it has you scratching your head wondering how the heck the guy did it.
Its like, the guy knows how to shred but he's resisting the temptation to do it just for sake of doing it.

Yeah me too. I like it when theres alittle shred in it, but when it's put in. It sounds like it's meant to be there, and not over done. Like the dewd/dewdette didn't put anything more to it than was needed to get the idea accrost. I dig that and I think that shows good musicianship. It's definitely harder to write a good solo with melodic and rhythmic variety rather than just fill in minutes of music with nothing but fast 16th notes.

Originally posted by Digit
I think some of the best solos are those that are very melodic but are difficult to play.

Like David Gilmour.

Speed isn't everything, but it's nice to have it when you need it.

Originally posted by Christoph

Originally posted by Digit
I think some of the best solos are those that are very melodic but are difficult to play.

Like David Gilmour.

Speed isn't everything, but it's nice to have it when you need it.

Like Yngwie Malmsteen.

Melodic solos difficult?
Slow to moderate speed=simple/easy(for me anyway).
Fast/insane speed=difficult/challenging...again that just me..

Anyone else feel the same?

"Melodic solos difficult?"

I think that what he meant by that is not slow=easy, fast=hard, but rather that the greats can take something simple and make it sound good. For example, a lot of the stuff Slash played back in GnR was simple note-wise, such as the solos to Don't Cry, Knocking on Heaven's Door, Civil War etc. Some of them are so easy that a guitarist that has been playing just a few months could play, but most guitarists have trouble making it sound like him. His phrasing, accenting, dynamics are what makes it sound good.

Yeah, thats what I mean. Of course it's harder the faster you play something, but it's hard to NOT write a solo that is just really fast pent licks or arpeggios. Taking the time to write something very melodic takes more consideration, and then it's even harder to resist the urge of filling in that space with fast runs and licks. Instead throw in a unpredictable transition or funky rhythm. Steady 16th note solos are very predictable, I like to be surprised. To me a solo isn't only where the guitar steps outside the music and just shows off what he/she has got, it's where the guitar steps onto the foreground but still keeps it to the theme of the song. Those are the sort of things I like in a solo; creativeness and innovations over skillfulness and technical skills. But everyone is different.

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 09-12-2003 at 02:03 AM]

Originally posted by The Other One
Ok now my problem isn't speed (although it wouldn't hurt for shredding) its that i can't make any high notes sound good with each other...i need ALOT of help on this...i don't evenknow where to start...i know the keys and scales and stuff but i am so lost on how to make great creative solos and make them fast...also i can't them really sing or do anything...... PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!

I have the same problem but I think I have found a method that works somewhat.The neat part is you dont have to have a doctorate in theory to do this.
This method is great for writing on a classical guitar or just an electric with some drums.
In a nut shell just simply found out how many different notes you are playing for a particular riff or solo and match them up with other riffs/solos that contain the same notes.I try to match at least 3-4 and no more than 8 notes.
Any more than that and it will need to be used for chromatic shredding only.
example;if we combine
waisted years intro/iron maiden
in my dreams intro/dokken
summer song main melody/joe satriani
barogue intro/joe satriani
we would have 8 different notes to play around with.
The hardest part of music which is modulation is easy in this way because instead of thinking in theory terms like
circle of 5ths all we need to do is replace 1 of the songs from list above and consider that a modulation.
Now the smoother the transition in the notes to other scales
the more natural the music will sound.
Just food for thought.
I love this method so much i may have to ditch the electric for a classical guitar=)