How do I learn to solo?

[Rexfordbridge]

I've been using tab sites for about 5 years now. Never really took lessons. I can play chords very fluidly. The problem is, these sites have not taught me to solo. I want to be able to know what solo to play over a chord progression. I've written a bunch of tunes with chord progressions, but when I got back in to play solos I'm hunting and pecking.

Where do I start?

[enalnitram]

That's a huge topic. Think of soloing as like speaking a language. You are learning how to talk. So how do you learn how to talk? If you don't know where to begin with learning about it, there's a lot to it, and I similarly don't know where to begin explaining it to ya!

The language comparison is appropriate though, because if you emulate others (copy them) you'll be doing what infants do when they learn to speak. Copy pieces of solos that you like, be able to play along. Try playing solos on your own. Don't judge yourself, just keep playing. Work in stolen licks that you already know sound good. Record yourself and listen back. Try to stop doing the things in your recordings that sound bad, and try to keep doing the things that sound good. It is a process that will take a few years, if you work at it, before you start to sound good, so don't judge yourself, just dive in to it.

[open-road-matt]

You might consider a looping pedal. I am by no means a skilled soloist but practicing with a looper got me to the point where I can jump in and add a couple of little licks here and there if I'm playing with someone else.

The looper allows you to record a chord progression and then it loops that chord progression over and over again and you can noodle around with solos over the top of that looped chord progression.

Matt

[Hotspur]

I would say it's a three-part process.

First, learn your scales. A lot of people start with the minor pentatonic, but you could start with the blues scale or major scale just as easily. Just make a small part of your practice every day drilling your scales so you can play them smoothly and cleanly.

Second, copy solos. Learn how to play a couple of your favorite solos note-for-note from memory.

Third, practice your scales over chords, starting to listen to the way the notes connect with the chords as you improvise inside your scales.

Rinse and repeat.

[enalnitram]

Practicing and knowing scales is excellent advice, but I want to stress that it's just as important to know the chord tones, and to accentuate those when playing solos.

It can be a daunting task for a beginner to suddenly learn the scales AND the arpeggios. but you don't have to go that far. think of the chord shapes that you know, and play off those. figure out the scale notes that go inbetween the chord notes. play off those. it will give your soloing a formal sort of architecture and framework, that only using scales, might not.

[Blitzwing]

I second Matt's advice on the looper pedal. Knowing the scales is certainly important but you can practice them along with a chord progression using a looper pedal. And its a lot of fun. Its tough to know what works without a little trial and error and the looper gives you the ability to hear what works very easily.

[jseth]

Ah, Rex! You are opening a big can of (very fun to mess with) worms here!

Learn your major scales, in all the keys; start with G or A and go from there. Eventually, you want to learn 2 and 3 octave versions, up and down the neck, for every key. Not that hard, really, as every shape is repeatable up and down the fretboard. Learn them with a metronome, playing REALLY SLOWLY, as perfectly as you can - when you speed up, it just kind of "happens" after playing slow. Do all the increments, speed-wise; whole, half, quarter notes... eighth notes (both even and 'swing' eighths), 1/4 note triplets, 16ths, (advanced) 16th note triplets and 32nd notes. Again, start slowly enough so you can "make" the 16th notes, clearly and comfortably. Learning pentatonic scales and the blues scale along with the major scale will give you more "colors on your palette', so to speak... or, in line with the 'learning to talk' analogy, more "words" from which to choose to express yourself.

Funny thing is, after you do all this stuff, you discover that you can pretty much play whatever you want, if it sounds good to you. There's a lot of advanced chord theory that you can get into, if you want to play/understand jazz... but if you just want to play more straight ahead stuff, it won't take you that long... although it may take a lifetime to actually replicate the sounds you hear inside!

Listen to other players, WATCH them closely when you can - steal from them! Listen to other instruments soloing, find what YOU like to hear.

It's a very fun rabbit hole that you are headed into, btw... enjoy the ride!

Get a good working knowledge of Modern Diatonic Theory... basically, how chords work together to form the patterns of the songs we play; how to interchange them, recognize certain patterns... this will give you a good place to start to know what will sound "good" over any given set of changes; after you get a grasp of this stuff, it becomes more about what you CHOOSE to play, rather than "Oh my God! What do I do here?!"...

[outhawkn]

Originally Posted by open-road-matt

You might consider a looping pedal. I am by no means a skilled soloist but practicing with a looper got me to the point where I can jump in and add a couple of little licks here and there if I'm playing with someone else.

The looper allows you to record a chord progression and then it loops that chord progression over and over again and you can noodle around with solos over the top of that looped chord progression.

Matt

Thas a good idea........

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by enalnitram

That's a huge topic. Think of soloing as like speaking a language. You are learning how to talk. So how do you learn how to talk? If you don't know where to begin with learning about it, there's a lot to it, and I similarly don't know where to begin explaining it to ya!

The language comparison is appropriate though, because if you emulate others (copy them) you'll be doing what infants do when they learn to speak. Copy pieces of solos that you like, be able to play along. Try playing solos on your own. Don't judge yourself, just keep playing. Work in stolen licks that you already know sound good. Record yourself and listen back. Try to stop doing the things in your recordings that sound bad, and try to keep doing the things that sound good. It is a process that will take a few years, if you work at it, before you start to sound good, so don't judge yourself, just dive in to it.

I couldn't agree more. I would add that like a language, you improve your ability to express yourself clearly by adding to your vocabulary. Find as many phrases as you can and systematically add them to your playing... just like a good linguist would do.