Aug 09
24

Guitar metal soloing questions? Help appreciated?

3 Comments

I am a lead guitarist in a Metalcore band. I am not a theory library because I haven’t taken lessons but I generally know about soloing.
So, for most songs we play Dropped D, and the key most commonly used would be D minor.

I know all 7 modes and how they work, what type of feeling they produce etc., but when I solo, I feel I’m just shredding through them or going up and down them. In other words, my solos lack depth because I am just going up and down the scales without stopping.

I have 3 questions;
1. How do the chord progressions behind the lead guitar affect the solo, or the key? I’d just like a general understanding of this.
2. How do I avoid running through the scales/modes without stopping and give the solo more depth?
3. Say I stop in a solo, if I start again on another chord, does the key change?
You don’t have to answer all 3, just #2 really is important

Well, sounds like you’re a guitarist LOL!!!!

…
No just kidding :D , please don’t take that seriously.

Anyways, to answer you’re questions:
1. Try this, go to a piano (or if not use your open strings) play one pitch and have that pitch ring continuously (sustain pedal on piano or open string on guitar) and start playing notes above that pitch. Pretty soon you’ll hear that not all of them sound the same, some notes are more consonant (have less tension like the root, 3rd, and 5th, generally the chord tones/arpeggios) while some notes are more dissonant (like the minor second) then try doing this over chords, you’ll definitely get a sense of how it affects the solo. Also, try playing some rhythm guitar behind another lead guitar player soloing and you’ll get some hands on experience with how that affects a lead guitar solo.
2. It’s great that you’ve got chops and know you’re scales, but now its time to put it together and turning these "tools" into music. So instead of thinking just scales, what I would recommend is to actually sing whats in you’re head and play it. That’s right, so like take a track that you could solo over and try singing a phrase, playing it back on your guitar, then repeat the process. Don’t sweat if you can’t hear anything in your head or if you’re unable to sing a phrase, you’re stepping into a concept that many guitarists (especially metal/rock) struggle with initially. It’s called phrasing. You’ll find that once you start doing this, you’ll start forcing yourself to think more melodically and in melodic phrases rather then hand patterns or what lays nice on a guitar fretboard. Since singing is the easiest method to getting out what you hear in you’re head thats why I said singing, but basically the point is so that you actually hear what you play before you play it, so you’re relying on your ears rather than your hands.
3. Depends on what chord and the preceding chord(s). So say the next chord you start on is F7 and the chord before that was Bb major 7, then no you’d still be in the same key of Bb. If the first chord was something like D minor and then the next chord is something Eb7 then probably not, though like I said it depends on the whole context.

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Posted in guitar solo lessons by Brian Nisbet 3 Comments

3 Responses to "Guitar metal soloing questions? Help appreciated?"

  • Jer-bear says:
    August 24, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    well instead of going up and down the scales you could use a method of picking two notes that are very far from eachother on the scale.

    Like pick the highest note and then the lowest note. Try that.
    References :

  • King Crimson says:
    August 24, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    Yeah, like the first guy said, don’t just go up and down scales, practice playing original melodies that move around the scale instead of just following it.
    References :

  • diaobrd says:
    August 24, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    Well, sounds like you’re a guitarist LOL!!!!

    …
    No just kidding :D , please don’t take that seriously.

    Anyways, to answer you’re questions:
    1. Try this, go to a piano (or if not use your open strings) play one pitch and have that pitch ring continuously (sustain pedal on piano or open string on guitar) and start playing notes above that pitch. Pretty soon you’ll hear that not all of them sound the same, some notes are more consonant (have less tension like the root, 3rd, and 5th, generally the chord tones/arpeggios) while some notes are more dissonant (like the minor second) then try doing this over chords, you’ll definitely get a sense of how it affects the solo. Also, try playing some rhythm guitar behind another lead guitar player soloing and you’ll get some hands on experience with how that affects a lead guitar solo.
    2. It’s great that you’ve got chops and know you’re scales, but now its time to put it together and turning these "tools" into music. So instead of thinking just scales, what I would recommend is to actually sing whats in you’re head and play it. That’s right, so like take a track that you could solo over and try singing a phrase, playing it back on your guitar, then repeat the process. Don’t sweat if you can’t hear anything in your head or if you’re unable to sing a phrase, you’re stepping into a concept that many guitarists (especially metal/rock) struggle with initially. It’s called phrasing. You’ll find that once you start doing this, you’ll start forcing yourself to think more melodically and in melodic phrases rather then hand patterns or what lays nice on a guitar fretboard. Since singing is the easiest method to getting out what you hear in you’re head thats why I said singing, but basically the point is so that you actually hear what you play before you play it, so you’re relying on your ears rather than your hands.
    3. Depends on what chord and the preceding chord(s). So say the next chord you start on is F7 and the chord before that was Bb major 7, then no you’d still be in the same key of Bb. If the first chord was something like D minor and then the next chord is something Eb7 then probably not, though like I said it depends on the whole context.
    References :

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