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Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:28 pm
by rob_on_guitar
When you guys do a guitar solo, do you have it planned when you record or do you jusrt go with the feel of the song?
i find i do a first take, then I kinda adjust things to try get what I want across. then ill record properly and try and double it. If I cant double it I find i scrap it then write/try a new one. Then ad the harmonies etc
What do you guys do?
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:35 pm
by Zaulkin
For Rock:
I jam over it for a while, and write down which bits of which jam was the best. By the time I've done 6 - 10 takes I find that I'm thinking more rhythmically and melodically than before (otherwise I'd just get bored) so it helps me get more interesting lines. Then I'll compile all the bits I liked together at the end. That part is still improvised though incase I stumble upon something awesome.
For Jazz:
I have to think really carefully about what scales I can use over which chords. Once I've done that I will choose the best and pretty much do the above ^
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:40 pm
by Basket Case
I just improvise over it a few times and find a few things that I like in certain places. Then I'll try to sew those bits that I like (once I've worked out how I did them
) together with more improvised parts in between. I'm too lazy to actually write a complete solo from beginning to end. I like it to sound spontaneous too.
Sometimes when I'm taking a break from working on something and doing something mind numbing, like taking a shower or doing dishes, I'll hear all kinds of stuff that would sound amazing. As soon as I pick up the guitar and play a couple of notes... it's gone
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 9:30 pm
by DarcyPerry
I'll relax my shoulders, breathe and play whatever comes to my fingers. Sometimes the results surprise me! Basically if I let my ears listen to the music without actively thinking about "sounding cool", then it's all good. For me, it's often what you don't play that counts.
Of course, I'm nowhere near as sharp as Basket Case, Zaulkin or you, rob_on_guitar! Still, I sound like me and that's a good feeling. As I develop as a guitarist, I learn more tricks about the instrument. As a musician, I've realised what I love and I keep exploring that. I'm still growing. I'm always learning something new. I'm sounding more and more like myself everytime I play!
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 9:45 pm
by Vorbis
I normally hear the solo in my head when listening to a track, then play over it a few times...then realise I'm a bit too shite to play what I've heard in my head...quite a perplexing feeling actually.
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:18 pm
by Timoes
Plus about 7.
I am still discovering stuff all the time. Should write some stuff down. Seems to be ever evolving. FUN.
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:24 pm
by Tsuken
Vorbis wrote:I normally hear the solo in my head when listening to a track, then play over it a few times...then realise I'm a bit too shite to play what I've heard in my head...quite a perplexing feeling actually.
What?? Are you me??
That is so very very what happens for me.
Generally I'm just too lazy to work anything out, so I just play whatever comes to mind and fingers at the time ...
... until Rob came along with the idea for Onfire/Ahi. My solos there are all pretty fully worked out. There's no one process I go through with them though. Sometimes it's figuring out what I just played, because it sounded good, sometimes it's trying to inter[ret Rob's direction and translate that into notes, sometimes it's an idea - either melodic or technical - that I work on and translate into notes ... or modify extensively because I can't play what I came up with
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:04 am
by ash
I do this:
Basket Case wrote:
Sometimes when I'm taking a break from working on something and doing something mind numbing, like taking a shower or doing dishes, I'll hear all kinds of stuff that would sound amazing. As soon as I pick up the guitar and play a couple of notes... it's gone
And on a good day I do this:
Vorbis wrote:I normally hear the solo in my head when listening to a track, then play over it a few times...then realise I'm a bit too shite to play what I've heard in my head...quite a perplexing feeling actually.
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:06 am
by El Chris
depends if you're in a recording situation or live
Live = pretty much from the hip maybe relying on some common starting phrases
Recording = improv over it for a while, trying out different ideas. After a while I'm happy and string together a solo with some key ideas that I like.. try to keep it loose and economical i spose.. depends how long it is
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:07 am
by Tsuken
Actually yeah - I do same as Basket Case too. Really frustrating
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:18 am
by sgt mukuzi
ash wrote:I do this:
Basket Case wrote:
Sometimes when I'm taking a break from working on something and doing something mind numbing, like taking a shower or doing dishes, I'll hear all kinds of stuff that would sound amazing. As soon as I pick up the guitar and play a couple of notes... it's gone
And on a good day I do this:
Vorbis wrote:I normally hear the solo in my head when listening to a track, then play over it a few times...then realise I'm a bit too shite to play what I've heard in my head...quite a perplexing feeling actually.
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:30 am
by Danger Mouse
I find I can sing a good solo, so have had medium success with humming it into a mic, then trying to play it on guitar... although my playing ability often isn't up to my humming ability.
If I try and play what is in my head without the above step, my fingers seem to refuse and just go off somewhere completely different, which I then don't like. I have spent hours and hours writing bad solos, mainly because I've spent hours and hours and hours playing without the accompaniment of music and so have learned how to solo pretty well... just not how to solo over anything (hence my recent NPD).
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:00 am
by nightmare
I improvise everything,I don't even worry about being in-key haha.In the studio I tend to record about 3 separate solos and then choose the best one from those 3,or record another (depending on the crudeness of the solo in question).
I also tend to use a lot of tricks that look cool when I'm soloing and sometimes they sound pretty cool too hahaha.
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:08 pm
by El Chris
nightmare wrote:I don't even worry about being in-key haha.
wut?
Re: Doing a guitar solo....
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:16 pm
by slash-ed
nightmare wrote:I improvise everything,I don't even worry about being in-key haha.
I don't know if there is a nicer way to say this, but improvising, while blatantly not caring about being key is quite an epic fail...
Oh, and in constructive-land, I loop the solo section and jam over it till I find bits and pieces that sound good at certain places, and try and shove them together like Basket Case said. It's much the same as songwriting sometimes for me, actually, I'll hear certain words going well in parts of the song and try and make some gibberish up that suits...