Skip to main content

Guitar Soloing - The Secret of a Great Start To Your Solo!

Grab my free jampack with lesson backing track and video lessons here: https://jamesshipway.lpages.co/jam-pack-redirect-page/

Guitar Soloing - 3 Tips for a Great Start to Your Solo!

Get a powerful start to your rock guitar soloing every time with these 3 great tips. A powerful start to your solo will grab the listeners attention and make them pay attention to what you're playing, a weak start to your guitar solo and they might not even listen at all.
Use these 3 tips for your guitar soloing which will make people listen and have more impact every time!

Guitar Soloing - 3 Tips for a Great Start to Your Solo!

Here's what you learn in this guitar lesson:

00:50 A bad start to your guitar solo can spoil it from the start. Here I demo how lots of players start their solos. It doesn't really grab the listeners attention and make them want to hear the rest.

1:21 When we play a guitar solo we need to 'set it up' and announce to the listener that a solo is coming. If we just stumble into our first lick then we're not doing this. How can we do it?

1:39 Guitar Soloing Tip 1 - 'Dig In'

We need to attack the notes and play them like we mean them! Commit to the notes you're playing and deliver them with confidence and conviction. This alone will make a huge difference to your solos and how they start. Techniques like palm muting, and vibrato as well as decorative touches like sliding into your first note can help make your first phrase much more compelling.

2:24 Guitar Soloing Tip 2 - 'Bending'

Starting your solo with a bend is an easy way to get a better start because bending can be one of the coolest sounds we can make on guitar.  I'm soloing over a backing track in the key of A minor and I'm using A blues scale to solo with. Here I show you some common and powerful bending moves from this scale.

4:06  Guitar Soloing Tip 3 - 'Pick Up Into Your Solo' 

'Picking up' into your solo is a very powerful soloing tool. Instead of just 'playing' your first note you can 'lead into' it with a simple phrase that sets up or introduces your solo. Hear me demo this soloing tip  this several times over the backing track.
Using a 'pick up' is something we hear in all the great players solos. It's a simple device but it really works.

5:45 Remember there are no 'rules' to playing a great solo so don't follow these guidelines rigidly! Just experiment with each one and see how you can use it. You'll quickly hear a difference to the start of your solos if you're not using these devices already.

Want to practice starting your solos over the exact backing track I use in this lesson?

Then grab my free Jampack with lesson backing track and video lessons here: https://jamesshipway.lpages.co/jam-pack-redirect-page/

Join my FREE Facebook group 'James Shipway Guitar Backstage'. Video broadcasts, lick challenges and a cool community of other guitar players to chat with and learn from. Request to join here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1148685825196179/

 Check out http://jamesshipwayguitar.com for hours of free guitar lessons, free e books and join my free onlne guitar community for a free 'video powerpack' of exclusive lessons.

Remember to SUBSCRIBE for more guitar lesson videos and future episodes of the Ask James Guitar Show:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgEEEz7ZNL8572YERffNfuw?sub_confirmation=1

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Guitar Solo Lesson - What nobody ever tells you (and makes or breaks your solos)

Sign Up for the Free Rock Training! Starts 11th July 2016. Grab your seat here: https://jamesshipway.leadpages.co/rock-lick-lab-opt-in-page/ Guitar Solo Lesson - What Nobody Tells You (Rhythm is KING!) What's the magic ingredient that makes everything sound awesome? The thing most guitar books and DVDs don't even mention? RHYTHM. Let me say that again. RHYTHM Rhythm is the key to sounding great on guitar! In this lesson we'll look at a really simple way you can start to focus on it more in your playing...with great results really fast! Guitar Solo Lesson - What nobody ever tells you about playing a great solo!  (guitar lesson breakdown) 0:24 Rhythm is the most important thing to nail when we play a solo. How do we know? Because every great sounding player has a strong rhythmic groove! The fact is the right notes with a boring rhythmic feel will always sound boring...but 'weird' notes with amazing rhythm- can sound amazing (John Coltrane, Scott Hend...

Beginner Rock Guitar Licks (Part 2)

Beginner Rock Guitar Licks Lesson Part 2 shows you 3 more rock guitar licks that are perfect for the beginner to intermediate rock guitar player. These rock guitar licks are great for beginners or intermediate guitarists...but even your favourite rock guitar legend is using them too! Guitar solos by Gary Moore, Slash, Schenker, Randy Rhoads, Kirk Hammett have all used licks just like these ones. So these 'beginner rock licks' are super powerful...whatever level of player you are so dive in and learn how to play and use them, and get them into your solos to build yourself an awesome rock or metal guitar style! These licks are in the key of E minor using the E blues scale played up at the 12th fret. 0:57  Beginner Rock Lick 1: This scaler rock lick is similar to something played by Slash in his "Sweet Child 'o' Mine' solo. Follow the picking and bending guidelines in the lesson (they're important!) and watch that 'blues curl' at the start! 4:15 B...

Pinch Harmonics Tutorial

This pinch harmonics tutorial shows you how to quickly nail those squealers every time! Grab your guitar technique and soloing  Video Powerpack here: https://jamesshipway.lpages.co/video-powerpack-page-new/ Pinch Harmonics Tutorial- How to Get Monster Pinch Harmonics! How do you play pinch harmonics? This pinch harmonics tutorial will show you all the secrets! Get those 'screaming' squealies like you hear in the playing of the legends,  In this guitar lesson you'll learn the technique for nailing pinch harmonics plus secrets about how to use them in your guitar solos. Grab your guitar and let's get pinching!. Pinch Harmonics Tutorial - How to Play Pinch Harmonics Lesson breakdown: 0:23 Check out this intro jam to hear a demo of what pinch harmonics sound like. In this guitar lesson you'll learn what pinch harmonics are, how to get them and how to make them sound awesome. Let's jump in! 0:30 Pinch harmonics...what are they? If you don't know wha...