How to play guitar solo. Tips and examples for beginner guitarists.

How to play guitar solo, where to start?

What is a solo? In what place is it played and what does the concept of “Play solo” imply?

guitar solo – This is a separate part of the composition, which can be located in its various places. This means that one of the guitars moves away from the usual playing of riffs, and begins to play a solo part – a melody based on the main theme of the song.

Many guitarists consider guitar solos to be one of the most basic things in any song. And it is understandable – because emotions are expressed through it, it emphasizes the composition, makes it more tense, aggressive, or vice versa – more minor and sad. Even in the presence of sad text and beautiful enumeration – the whole mood is created by guitar solos.

It can be played anywhere in the composition, but as a rule, it is performed between the last verse and the last chorus. However, this rule is often violated in modern music – for example, in such a genre as progressive rock, the structure of compositions is generally heterogeneous – and there may be several solos in a row. But in such a direction of heavy music as sludge, passages may not exist at all. Therefore, it all depends on the situation and your flight of fancy – if you want to do several solos in a row, then why not.

Where to start playing? Theory or immediate practice

Let’s be honest – the best thing, of course, is to start learning theory. It includes various boxes of scales, pentatonic scales, frets, as well as knowledge of notes. This will make the process much easier for you. guitar improvisation,and, consequently, inventing passages. You will clearly know what to do and how, you will remember how the notes sound and where they are on the fretboard.

However, in general, you can learn just by practicing the game. You can learn how to think up solo passages and play by ear just by learning a lot of musical phrases, but be aware that this will take much longer than learning theory. Moreover, such an approach can simply lead to the fact that at one point you get stuck at a certain level, above which you can no longer rise – and only theory can help with this.

Ideally, you should devote the same amount of time to both practice and theory in music. This will give more space and data for training – and will significantly speed up the whole process. It is precisely the question of how to play solo and this article is about.

Guitar solo lessons. Can you learn to play on your own?

Short answer – Yes . In general, all the information necessary for the correct composition of solo passages is on the Internet. A lot of guitarists did not learn from teachers, but video tutorials and text guides, so learning to compose your own solos is quite realistic.

However, another issue comes into play here – in addition to musical lessons, you will also have to watch lessons and playing techniques. This is much more important, since all your possibilities directly depend on the setting of your left and right hands – and only a teacher can set them correctly. And without the right position, you can forget about fast passages, sweeps, and the like – because you can’t play it physically. Therefore, the best option is, of course, to sign up with a teacher. However, if this is not possible, then you may well be engaged in video lessons, the main thing is not to rush and follow the technique.

What does it take to learn how to play solo?

How a solo part is built and what it consists of

guitar solo – this is the most sincere and emotional moment of the song. This is the moment when the guitarist puts all his thoughts and emotions into the guitar melody, passing them on to the listener. He tells the whole story in this way, only he communicates in the language of sounds, tones and semitones.

That is why it can be said that there are no restrictions in composing a solo. It can be built in any way you like, and consist of as many parts as you need. For example, the famous Neil Young composition Cortez The Killer opens with a solo part that lasts three and a half minutes, not ending even when the vocals enter. Almost all of Paul Gilbert’s instrumental compositions have solos in them, each of which is unique in its own way.

The Most Important Thing in Solo Writing is to feel the music, to understand what you want to tell them, what thoughts and emotions to convey.

What are the types of solos? Examples

In fact, there are just a huge number of solo types – almost as many as guitarists, but we still tried to structure this question a bit and try to answer it.

1. Melodic. That is, built on the melody of the main theme of the song. Most often, the vocal pattern is taken as the basis, which is played out with various changes. Examples include the guitar solo in Solstafir’s song Kold, or some Kino solos.
2. Atonal. This is also quite common, especially in very heavy genres of music. Such solos, although played in tonality, are made in such a way as to cut the ears – in order to emphasize the aggression and rage that comes from the songs. Such solos can often be heard in such a musical direction as Grindcore, for example, Pig Destroyer’s song Towering Flesh, or, for example, in black metal, such as Juno Bloodlust’s song The Lord of Obsession.
3. Passage. This type of solo is often found in various acoustic songs, as well as in a huge number of rock compositions. Such solos are not based on any melodic pattern – they tell a story and convey emotions without being limited to anything at all. Examples include Blackmore’s Night – Fires at Midnight, if we talk about acoustics, as well as Pink Floyd – Dogs, Mastodon – Sparrow, various compositions by Metallica and other famous artists.

Can you play acoustic guitar solo?

Of course you can. Solo can be played even on bass, what can we say about the acoustic appearance of the instrument. There are a huge number of songs not in electricity, where extremely catchy solo parts are played. For example, Agalloch – A Desolation Song, Panopticon – Idavoll, many Blackmore’s Night songs, Led Zeppelin. Often, such solos sound even better than on an electric guitar – after all, acoustics have an incomparable depth and volume of sound.

What can you learn right now? Practice.

Boxes, pentatonic scales, scales

Guitar solo for beginnersalways starts with boxes and scales. Below are a few similar schemes that are worth learning in order to have a rough idea of ​​​​what to play in a given situation.

Playing with chords

Another effective way to practice after you have finished learning the boxes is guitar solo, chords to which they are looped. That is, relatively speaking, from a computer, you turn on a track in which a sequence of chords sounds in a certain key, under which you can play. The so-called One-Chord Backing Tracks will help you with this. Just google it and you’ll see tons of videos on youtube where the audio track consists of a small accompaniment and a repeating chord progression. See examples of such videos below.

Track in the key of Am (hard rock)

another track

Track in the key of G (pop rock)

Work on technology

In addition, it is worth doing various guitar training to improve your playing skills and technique. This is very important for playing solo parts, because the speed and your personal playing skill depend on it.

Learn a simple solo. In general – learn more solo

The advice is actually very effective. Constantly learn new solos that you can get your hands on. This will increase your stock of musical phrases as well as techniques that you can use in composing your own music. In addition, your technique will also gradually improve – the body will adapt to play what you learn at the pace and in the way it should be played.

List of songs with simple solos for beginners.

1. Gas sector – “Kazachya”
2. Lube – “Over there in the mists”
3. Agatha Christie – Fairy Taiga
4. V. Butusov – “Girl in the city”
5. Spleen – “Orbit without sugar”
6. Kino (V. Tsoi) – “Good night”