Guitar Solo Tips

Even though most modern guitar solos are typically just simple contextual musical interludes with little relation to the classic masterpieces of the past, there are still some basic principles to follow when soling in todays pop and rock tunes.

I will break things down to 3 basic elements in your soloing to think about as you record or perform some lead guitar.

SIMPLE MELODY

 Let a simple 3 or 4 note melody or motif be a good starting point 

to your solo. It can be something inspired by the song's melody or just

a line that adds to the existing material in the parts of the song.

CHORD NOTES OR TRIADS

Try to follow some of the outlines of the chord tones

throughout your soloing. Sometimes it's just a targeting the

first or last chord of the progression and highlighting those notes

to create resolution and musical poetry.

CLASSIC PENTATONIC SCALE RUNS

One can really tie things together with classic blues

and pentatonic runs. They seem to fit in almost any occasion

and give soling that classic element that everyone knows

and loves about the guitar. 

Put these three elements together next time you get to solo, and you will be pleased at the outcome. You'll have to work a bit to become quick at hearing and making melodies, know the locations of some basic triad (chords) shapes, and memorise some classic bluesy runs to begin playing like a pro.

UNTIL NEXT TIME....

Enjoying Music

When we talk about the enjoyment of food, we are not generally thinking about the 'grabbing' of a greasy hamburger from the drive-thru on our way to a ball-game that we should have been at 5 minutes ago. When we talk about the enjoyment on nature, we generally don't gravitate toward a picnic in the middle of a busy city street. When we talk about enjoyment of art, our minds don't lean toward discussing the merits of the 'visual perspective and composition' in a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, and when we think about a thing like Canadian culture, crime and poverty might easily take a backseat to Hockey and Peacekeeping.

So in considering music, the pure enjoyment of it shouldn't be: rushed, as in the way we sometime eat; cluttered, with peripheral noise of the busyness of life, like a busy street; frivolous, like the cheap art of cartoons and media; or 'out of context', like misplacing the virtue for the vice in music.

The context for this will be to slow down, let the music take the centre stage, feel it's full meaning and see the good and the beautiful within it's forms.

ENJOY YOUR MUSIC THIS WEEK!

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific. ~Aaron Copland

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die. ~Paul Simon

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius

Music can noble hints impart,

Engender fury, kindle love,

With unsuspected eloquence can move,

And manage all the man with secret art.

~Joseph Addison

What I need to play a gig?

If I run through my checklist of things I need to play a live show (gig), I immediately think of guitars,  picks, strings, cables, pedals, amps and maybe some appropriate stage clothes and maybe a book to read if there are technical problems that cause long delays.

The gear stuff always seems to take care of itself but today I want to talk about another side of the things needed to play a gig.... and that is: PREPARATION.

Preparing for a gig or a show for me is never just preparing my equipment or simply packing up the tools for the job at hand. The preparation I am talking about involves three main focal points that help me more than anything else to do a good job.

KNOW YOUR GUITAR

I am in constant need of resharpening, refreshing and reshaping my guitar playing 

to keep my playing from being stale, predictable, and sloppy. I was labelled a gifted

child at the age of 4 but I can't, and have not been able to rest on that assumption or

label to sweep me through the challenges, however small, of live and studio performances

that I have learned to not take lightly or for granted. I have to know my instrument and

know how to animate it to be an effective guitarist 

KNOW THE MUSIC

Knowing the music for a gig is essential to playing with some confidence and making
 a good impression on the artist or producer that hires you. Knowledge of things like
different chord voicings, memorizing main melodies, song-arrangements, tempos, and quick transitions from song to song can make rehearsals and sessions go smoother, leaving room to
be more creative and establishing a rapport with the other musicians and singers you're
working with on the gig..

KNOW YOUR ROLE

Sometimes your role as a guitarist can change with different producers,
arrangers and artists. It's important to get a sense of what the people you're working for
are wanting as far as the approach needed to fulfill the your duties and meet the expectations
of that musical situation or event. Try to find out some information. Mt role can change from
rockstar to quiet sideman or from main lead player to 'bread and butter' rhythm player depending on the expectations of the artist.

Preparation can involve more than you think and presenting yourself as being prepared will put you at the top of the list for being called back and gaining the respect of other players.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Careers for Guitarist

With the modern diminishing population of working musicians and the lack of imagination and soul in popular music, the possibilities of a meaningful and sustained career as a guitar player are becoming harder to find. In my opinion, the music business will soon face a crisis it could never have imagined at the time the Beatles surfaced on the scene over 50 years ago.

Career Options:

Guitar Teacher

As a succesful guitar teacher I see the trend towards teaching becoming either a part-time job or something to augment other income you make. Student numbers in the last 10 years are dwindling due to technology, lack of community support for the arts, economics, and the guitars absence from popular radio. It would be very hard to impossible to build a full studio of student in present times.

Recording Artist (Solo or Band)

We all (guitarists) dream of being a famous rock star and that our music would be the next big thing in the world of entertainment. The truth is that it is more like winning the lottery than anything else. The music industry is a corporate monster that can chew your dreams up like an over-ripe banana in it's "make money first" and "entertain at any cost" attitude. I really like the idea of a musician striving to be successful and to "make it" in the music industry, I just don't think it promotes a healthy and balanced life and existence for the individual guitarist or for those (wife, husband, children) that depend on them. It's a dream that can be pursued but with limits related of time, finances and integrity.

Studio Guitarist

The studio guitarist is specialist of sorts and needs the health of the music industry to sustain his/her craft and income. It's very difficult in smaller towns and cities and getting harder in the bigger music enters to make a living even remotely equivalent to 20 years ago. My studio musician friends all have other types of work they do to scratch out a living and keep their passion for playing alive.

Live Guitarist

I keep on hearing that all the gigs are disappearing to cheap DJ's, canned music, and disappearing live music venues. The live guitarist has dwindling options and in many cases very low pay to sustain any sort of consistent career.

YouTube star Guitarist

This is a possibility for virtuosos and big personalities to cash in on the growing population of Youtube watchers and subscribers.

Online Guitar Education

One can sell anything if there are interested buyers online. A guitarist can have some success in online lessons and media related streams but you have to have good business sense and cutting edge ideas and enough content (free and purchasable) to make a descent living.

SUMMARY

I am very skeptical of the possibilities for me personally and for students of mine of having steady work in the music industry in the present and future. Everything seems to point towards the corporate model of a few 'haves' and a tonne of 'have-nots'. We are in the societal business of creating "idols, stars, and viral entities at the expense of nurturing arts within our communities and sustaining a vehicle for musical development over time. There are too few to care for the 'soul of music' and too many who would use music as a material thing only to be crumpled and wasted.

One Man Jamming - The Art of Improvisation

For many of my students working on improvisation, I suggest that they learn to jam by themselves some of the time. The reason why I suggest this is that many guitar players are immediately disconnected to the chords of a song once they go to single note runs or solos. If you have to supply both the chords and the solo, your going to connect the two much better and think more in a conversational way: chord - notes -chord - notes - or statement - response etc... type of thing.

So, in a typical blues progression I can hit the first chord and respond with a run that takes me to the next chord then another run that takes me back to the first chord, and with each change I am challenged with fitting not only the timing of things but leading the notes in the direction of the next chord in the progression. This type of exersice not only helps me get a good balance between chords and notes, it brings out chords in my runs and the runs in my chords: it integrates all the elements of playing together, like what naturally happens on an instrument like piano.

Taking this skill into a band situation can bring out a very lyrical approach to lead playing. I can weave through the chords seamlessly, blow off a classic rock run, add a blues cliche, and finish off with a rapid scale passage for the climax. I become multi-dimensional and more connected with the musical surroundings or settings because of the awareness of the musical backdrop of a song.

The two main features ( music as conversation and music in unity ) of this approach are present in every great soloist I've ever heard. You can clearly trace or analyze the unity of chords and notes in players like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Slash and John Mayer as well as hear the obvious conversation going on between support musicians and soloist throughout the music of guitarist such as Jeff Beck, David Gilmore, Jimmy Page, Eric Johnson, and Angus Young.

Practicing jamming by yourself can be difficult at the start and needs some acquired skills of being comfortable with some air (space) between chords and notes: but it can help you achieve some great results in the improvement of your solo playing.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

Music : "Something to do" or "Something you do?"

Is music 'something to do' or 'something you do?' 

Pause for a moment and think about it before you read on...

To grapple with this question is both important and thought provoking; and to approach an answer will shed some light on the state of modern society and the health your own artistic pursuits. I used the word 'grapple' because it suggest a struggling or wrestling with the idea instead of a passive pondering approach, and because it rhymes with 'apple.'

An apple is a thing known for it's colour, flavour, texture, and health benefits. It's red, sweet, juicy and good for you: it's what an apple is. So when I think about the question above, my mind tends to leans toward the basic characteristics of 'who I am' (central or focal) instead of 'what I do'  (peripheral or subsidiary). 

Let's move on...

When music is 'something you do', it becomes a part of your identity and tends to grow in concert with the rest of your character, soul and natural creativity. When music is 'something to do', it's like fashionable clothing: in style one day, out the next, and something very much superficial.

What does this mean?...

If you want to play music and enjoy fulfillment in the journey like the great players you hear on your favourite albums you have to let the music become a part of 'who you are' and letting it sink deep into your soul. It's about developing taste and a hunger for the practicing, studying and playing of your guitar by making it part of your everyday experience of living, and knowing that by doing so, it will build a more whole and healthy person.

"Music is a moral law. it gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything" Quote: Plato

S.H.A.P.E. Your Guitar Playing

Spirit

We experience music as spiritual or metaphysical element

 that transcends the mere natural world. It's a common gift to all

mankind of uncommon power on our souls.

Heart

Our hearts are pulled towards enjoyment and participation

 of making music as recreation or vocation. 

Ability

We take practical steps to improve, expand and strengthen

our abilities by study, practice and perseverance.

Personality

A musical identity, style or sound develops.

Emotion

An emotive and dynamically quality

add vitality to the musical performance. 

Many guitar players and students never seem to S.H.A.P.E. their playing into something

 unique, special or dynamic. They remain happy with having what I would call a "S.H.A." 
and stopping at the ability part of the "S.H.A.P.E." an acronym" and never finding a style 
or dynamic to their playing. A culinary example of this would be like forgetting to add the yeast
to the dough - everything then tends to come out flat. 

To journey through music being a beautiful gift, (spirit) to dreaming of playing, (heart) and then on to participation (ability) is a good thing, but music is a dynamic and subtle language in need of added elements to communicate the spectrum of sounds and rhythms necessary for a meaningful interaction.

In plainer words: we love bands like U2 for their unique style and sound (personality) and the way their concerts excite the listener in a screaming, fist-pumping, dancing state of euphoria (emotion).

The solution for a musician is to go beyond a S.H.A. by adding some personality and emotive qualities to what they do on their instruments. You can start this by trying to add some unique or quirky qualities you see in some of your favourite artists, and by emoting some of the lyrical or dynamic content of the song in the way you strike or pluck the strings; bending your thoughts toward these things as you play will alter the music even without feeling much of a tangible difference. 

5 Tips for Beginner Guitar Players

One: "Do or Do Not; there is no TRY" (Quote - Yoda)

For Jedi warriors and guitar players alike this is an essential idea throughout your entire life as you fight the forces of the dark side or just the forces of your own lack of confidence. You will learn most of what you need to be a player just in the simple act of doing.

Two: "To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first" (Quote - William Shakespeare)

Patience with persistence is the right combination for this essential idea, and whether it's 'To be, or not to be" will depend on just taking things as they come. Each individual connects the dots at different times, and rushing and cutting corners will not get you to your destination any quicker.

Three: "The main thing to do is relax and let your talent do the work" (Quote - Charles Barkley)

Tension is always an obstacle to efficient motion and mental acuity, so relax and enjoy the process of becoming a guitarist and appreciate the gift of being able to play and make music.

Four: "Never lose a holy curiosity" (Quote - Albert Einstein)

Be curious in discovering things about music, sounds, different approaches to technique and the things that make great guitarist great. Be a curious student of the whole of music.

Five: "It's not having what you want but wanting what you have" (Quote - Sheryl Crow)

Enjoy the simplicity of making music. Just you and your guitar will create timeless moments that will be like 'vitamins' for the soul. Don't look outside the resources at hand for some sort of special inspiration or magical prescription for success. 

The Participation Factor - Part 2

In the 'Participation Factor' (Getting to the Next Level - Part 1) I highlighted that the main stumbling block to developing as guitarists and musicians is in the lack of any consistent realtime playing opportunities. Opportunities that tend to keep us sharper, steadily improving, and applying all the stuff we learn in lessons and private study. Unlike sports there is no league of musicians organizing gigs and jam session and 'keeping score' and creating the 'competitive like' situations needed to elevate our playing to higher ground. I will attempt to outline some solutions that can be be modified and customized to fit your unique situations and playing abilities.

Be Willing and Available

The secret lies in being available for all things that are related to music. Whether your roadying for a friends band, singing in the church choir, playing folk songs at an old-folks home, performing for family functions, volunteering for local concerts, bringing your guitar to campfire situations, starting a lunchtime jam session or a guitar club at school, atteneding local music workshops, joining an A/V team, hosting a jam session at you home, or altering your expectations or style to get in a band. It's about your willingness to put yourself in music's way and get involved. 

Jamming

Anytime musicians play together, whether making noise, noodling around, rehearsing, performing or recording, jamming can happen. Jamming is a term that simply means, making music together. This is probably the simplest and most laid-back way to get 'in the game' of playing. Try making an appointment with a fellow musician friend or two and improve your 'chops' through jamming. There are also local jam sessions going on in homes, pubs, and other public meeting places that you can discover through some digging and networking.

Gigging

One thing the modern technological world has failed in is in it's promise to expand opportunities and work for musicians. The amount of musicians gigging and performing for a living has noticeably declined in the last few years. Today, your rig can act like a super computer with bells and whistles that would make Jimi Hendrix's head spin and you've got the world at your fingertips but there's very few opportunities to let the 'fingers fly'. The ARTS are dying and being replaced by cheap entertainment,  fadism, and a sad societal state of 'undisciplined abundance'. The problem is that in our communities we tend to 'consume' more than we 'produce' and that seeps into our personal worlds as well, creating vast amounts of wasted time - time we could be producing our personal art. This is a troubling problem for established player and extremely deflating for young talented player looking to break into the scene.


The good news is that the creative minority can impact change. Try doing some home-concerts, playing outdoor events in your town, teaming up with other local bands (musical co-ops), letting other artist know your talents are available, and create projects and bands for specific local events.

The Participation Factor (Getting to the Next Level) - Part 1

I've had quite a growing number of students in the past few years having a tougher time getting to that 'next level' in their guitar playing. It's seems to be mostly in the areas of technique, creativity, and the practical theory(know-how) needed to be an effective live player and performer. In my opinion, the problem is a clear and simple one but the solution is more complex and illusive. As live playing opportunities dwindle in the age of electronic and canned music it's harder than ever for guitarists to sharpen their skills and keep in game shape.

Getting in the Game:

Imagine if you practised with your hockey, soccer, football, or baseball team but never got to play in a single game. Over the course of time you would improve in your skills and know-how but without the competition and intensity of a game situation your skills would eventually stagnate and never reach their full potential. In this situation, most people would lose their interest in the sport along the way, and with it, all the reasons why we play and compete; for a fun, challenging and healthy physical activity that can build fitness, character, friendships and self-confidence.

An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life. -Kristi Yamaguchi

Getting 'In the Game' for musicians is by participating in a real live musical situations like a; concert, recital, jam session, church worship, camp-fire singing, open-mic night, choir, or any event where you share and/or combine your talents with other musicians for or within a small or large group of people. How this gets us to the next level of our playing is easy to see. To share and communicate music well, we need an increase in our preparation (more practice), know-how (application of theory), commitment (faithful participation) and experience (long-term musical activity).

...but, unlike sports, for musicians there isn't a coach or manager mandating practice and holding one accountable for participation, preparation and for scheduling the games. We have to instigate our own involvement and be active in the musical and art community around us. This is the main roadblock of developing as guitarists our post-modern times and as I see it, the number one reason why so many students 'spin their tires' trying to reach that next level of playing.

Part 2 will look at some solutions... 

TAB vs. Standard Notation

Guitar TAB (short for tablature) is the most popular way of reading music notation for modern guitarist. Hundreds of website on the internet offer thousands of songs in this 'easy to use' notation format and the majority of published songbooks now prefer TAB because of it's universal appeal, practicality, and efficiency of use to the modern recreational and professional guitar player.

This modern TAB trend has had it's fair share of critics and dissenters mostly among music teachers and professional players for it's apparent "dumbing down" of the process or art of studying music in the proper traditional way with the result of creating a world of illiterate musicians. Hence the proverbial joke being, "how do you shut up a guitar player? - put a piece of music in front of him/her.

Lute TAB from 1554

When confronted with this attitude,  I truly sympathize, understand, and clearly see the results of a general musical illiteracy and the decline of most modern music to the lowest basest form of mind numbing stimuli and soundbites for the purposes of entertainment only. The problem is, that if we look at TAB in the historical context (dating back to the 15th century) it has been around longer than the invention of the guitar and deserves to be critiqued within a broader picture and context. The descent of music is a mirror of the decline other things in our modern culture and must be viewed in the context of art and technology and the participation and use of music in our local economies and communities.

The Big Picture

As a professional guitar teacher I use TAB notation for 95% of my students studying for recreational purposes and 50% of the time for university and college music majors. Using TAB allows me to get my students playing and doing music more and reading and thinking music less. To me, that's a great starting point that creates momentum, confidence, and openness in the journey and process of the enjoyment and making of music. Once that 'playing field' is open there are many opportunities to fill in some of the missing gaps during the 'game'. 



Final Thoughts

Unless you are studying music for the purpose of becoming a music educator, studying traditional forms of music like classical or jazz, or as a professional guitarist, standard notation can be bypassed in favour of TAB as a more efficient, enjoyable way of learning the techniques of guitar. You'll fly through the music 5 times faster and once your on your way, standard notation might be something of value later in your journey.

Have fun on UltimateGuitar.com

The "ART" of Practice ( part 2 )

In the Art of Practice (Part 1) I mentioned that there was no art to the 'getting to' or the 'doing' of practice. It's just the plain fact that the only sure-fire way of consistent practice for most people is scheduled practice: just like sports or theatre.

I think I can give some advice on the Art of Practice once a regular and consistent practice of the guitar is taking place.

Slow down

We can take our cue on this part of the art of practice from the legendary Canadian pianist Glen Gould. He would often practice new songs at half-speed so he would never make a mistake or error in his playing of a song. He thought (and I think he's right) that mistake our 'videotaped' in our minds only to resurface or replay later in time. So, slow down and practice perfectly and don't get in the habit of practising a mistake. It will only return and replay during performance.

Relax

Learn to work and practice with a healthy amount of patience a let the the success in what you do be just a by-product of doing the work with enough repetition to perfect it. Just like the famous quote, "eat the elephant one bite at a time".

Stradegize

Have a plan on what you want to accomplish during practice. An example of this would be: I want to get a certain number of bars of music down; I want memorize a certain lick or passage of music; I want to understand the harmony behind the chords; or I want to get to know the scales or patterns needed to improvise in this son. So you will practice until that element or part of the work is done.

Conquer (gaining confidence)

Personally, I build my confidence in my abilities by conquering the task at hand. The secret is really simple; "in competing the task I learn to do the task." We just get caught up in too many of the particulars that we're setting ourselves up for defeat.

Play

A big part of practising is having enough play time to keep the joy and remind ourselves of the reason we started playing guitar in the first place. Have unscheduled, spontaneous, and unstructured times of making noise or jamming on your guitar where you just let go and let the fingers fly. I sometimes turn all the lights off in my studio and just jam to mp3 without a care in the world.

Guitar Heroes ( Where have they gone? )

Some common questions I ask many of my young guitar students are; "who is your favourite guitar player?"or "can you name 5 guitarist who have had an influenced your playing?" or "what is the name of the guitar player(s) in your favourite band?" Most of the time the response I get is total silence or they might just blurt out a name like Eric Clapton or Santana even though they have no knowledge of any of their songs or description of their style.

In my youth, as a guitarist, I had 10 to 20 favourite players who I knew most everything about and who had a profound influence on my playing. These were the people who taught my how: to play, to work hard, to jump around on stage, to choose the right gear, to practice, to get good tone, to use different scales for different styles, to create, and with all that and more they inspired me to great things in music.

Fast forward to present times and besides a few Youtube 'guitar sensations', you have an industry of homogenous and faceless of musicians serving in a utility role of sounding like everyone else, who are trying desperately to figure out what the next "big trend"will be rather than being true inspirational artist
and taking up the guitar heroes mantle. It's like we are in the 'dark ages' of the electric guitar.

“I started out playing guitar because Jimi Hendrix was my hero, so my roots were really based on Jimi Hendrix and his style of playing.” ~ Joe Satriani