quick tricks
All you need for sweeter solos
Texture and melody rule
If you choose to use a cleaner tone, perhaps you might want to consider a more ‘textural’ approach to your playing. Crowded House famously created an unusual phasing sound on Weather With You, partly the result of a studio effect but also from two E notes ringing out together. In Tracy Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You Tonight the vocal melody in the last chorus is doubled with an almost sitar-like guitar tone, proving less is often more.
Learn to recognise chords by ear
Playing the individual notes of a chord is known as an arpeggio. It’s a tuneful alternative to scale-based soloing, guaranteeing that you’ll be in tune with the backing – you’re using the same notes, after all. Major and minor arpeggios are easy to memorise by ear and it’s really worth the effort. Play G-B-D to outline a G chord; C-E-G spells out a C chord; A-C#-E gives you an A; A-C-E is Am; and E-G-B is Em. Play the arpeggios on your guitar then sing them back to yourself.
A little bit of music theory goes a long way
Knowing the notes of the key signature you’re in can transform your solos. The key signature tells you the ‘right’ notes – notes that form coherent chord progressions and solos that ‘fit’ over the top. For example, our 6th interval lick uses notes from the G major scale (GA B C D E F#). 6ths are pairs of notes played six steps apart in the scale, G-E, A-F# or B-G for example. It’s a simple pattern – find the notes on the fretboard and the pattern unfolds.
Blurred lines… Mixing up lead and rhythm guitar
Listen to 1989 by Ryan Adams and you’ll hear a wide range of guitar tones, textures and melodies. These are often simple arpeggios embellished with a few easy to reach notes. Keep the idea simple and you’ve got a tasteful and textural rhythm part to sing over; add a note or two into the mix and you’ve got a lead break to take the song somewhere new. In this style, solos really don’t need to be a technical workout when you’ve got a solid melodic idea.