How to Play Great Guitar Solos

Pyrotechnics, fog, light shows; bands go to great lengths to put on a show. One thing many guitarists overlook is the guitar solo.

That doesn’t mean that they don’t play them; even the worst guitarists in the worst bands play guitar solos. What it means is that they don’t put in the time, preparation, and hard work to actually play them.

Make sense?

Anyone can play a guitar solo. Technically speaking, playing by yourself is a guitar solo; regardless if you are playing a two note chromatic pattern or a full, neck covering diminished sweep run, you are still the primary instrument being heard. That being said, you can see how not all guitar solos are great guitar solos.

Playing a great guitar solo takes a lot of time on your part as the lead guitarist. First off, you need to ask yourself; self, what makes a guitar solo great? If you answer fire and back flips, you may have some trouble with this next section.

Playing a great guitar solo is all about preparation. All of the legendary guitar solos, from Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption to Jeff Loomis’s Born solo take a ton of time to write. Your favorite guitar players didn’t clap their hands and magically create a guitar solo.

The first thing you need to do is analyze your playing: Do you have great legato? Is your sweeping flawless? Do you have problems with guitar tapping? Is your tremolo technique clunky and broken?

The reason you need to ask yourself these things is because a great guitar solo should display your strengths. If you have techniques you excel in, use them to your advantaged. Likewise, if you have techniques that you struggle with, avoid them.

To play a great guitar solo, you need to avoid rookie mistakes. This means, simply, don’t showcase your entire life’s work in a single guitar solo. If you throw out all of your techniques at once --your tapping, your legato, your staccato, your economy picking, the listener will lose interest. No one wants to be bombarded.

Imagine going to your first guitar lesson, and your guitar teacher simply sits down and starts shredding up and down the neck. Then when he is finished, imagine that he points at you and simply says okay, so start off by playing that. It would be far too much, far too fast, and far too confusing. This is how your audience will feel if you assault their ears with a thousand and one different techniques within the confines of a thirty--sixty second guitar solo. Learn to be humble with your knowledge, and spend it like you would gold. Make a little technique go a long way.

Don’t try to compensate a flashy show for a great solo. Practice hard and take the time to carefully construct your solo and you will go far. Remember not to get carried away; keep your feet on the ground, and let your writing take you where it will, but always remember, you have the final say. Don’t let a little misguided writing ruin your moment to shine. Good luck!

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