Help me my Soloing is boring

[Chris Casket]

Hey guys, at the moment my band are doing our first recording and yesterday was it was time to do my solos. I sat down ran through what i had and we recorded and after a couple of takes i nailed it perfect.....problem was upon playback although my playing was great and all in key it didnt fit the song. We decided sure it was a good solo and the playing was impressive it didnt fit the song. So im here for some tips on how to make my soloing sound less of a shred-fest and more of a catchy solo that fits the song.

For the song i have problems with im playing over a simple D,A#,C power chord part with with a galloping thrash feel to it. What scales would you recomend and any techniques that may help me.

For reference Im really into the soloing styles of Alex Skolnick(testament), Alexi(bodom) and the Amott brothers(arch enemy)

Please Help im Back in the studio in a few days after the vocals are done for a second shot before we mix and master it.

[Thorsten]

Don´t think scale-wise or in terms of licks. Think of the solo you hear in your head and then try to apply the technique that´s necessary to play it.

If you can hum a certain melody in your head over a given chord progression it´s just a matter of learning it on your guitar.

Usually when you solo you just fall back on auto-pilot licks you´ve learned and that are easy for your fingers. If you wanna create something special you gotta hear something in your head first and then use the technique.

[curiousgeorge]

I was just reading something Joe Satriani recently said in a guitar mag. He said that 'you should try and learn new chord voicings, scales,licks, inversions every week ....but don't worry about implementing them right away. If you make your fingers go to new places, the music will come out of you.' That sort of makes things a little clearer for me too...I think.... :D I'm always wondering about how all this boring practice is doing any good. I'm thinking that maybe all of this stuff will just come out subconsciously in my playing...Am I wrong Thorsten?

[newamerikangosp]

Hey man. The problem (from what it sounds like) is that you are playing scales instead of actually "thinking" about what notes you want to hit. Try to listen to the solo backing a few times to imagine what you hear going on, then try to apply that to your playing. This is how I do it if my noodling on a rythmn (I have no idea how to spell that right now). This may work, it may not, but it hasn't ever "not" worked as in its helped me work out of a rut.

[fader198]

Well, if you like Skolnick and Laiho start thinking of the progression in the terms they would think of it in. Both of those guys play melodies based on the arpeggios for each chord. SO you could try some sweep picking arpeggios or some tapped ones or combine the two. Try to make a basic melody first. Once you haev that melody down think of different ways to embellish it such as rakes, string bending, vibrato, whammy bar tricks, hammer ons and pull offs. Get a base melody first THEN add the technique. That's what I try to do when constructing a solo.

[Chris Casket]

Cheers for all your help guys ive got a basic idea of what im going to play tommorow when i get there needless to say its alot more interesting than the straight out shred i recorded last week.

Ill let you know how i go

Chris

[scruffles]

Uh, Skolnick seemed to only be truly content with his playing once he started playing jazz. Perhaps look into jazz as another influence, and study the guitar styles of guitarists like John Scofield, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, Mike Stern, and whoever else you can find. Another thing to do is listen to other instruments--saxophone, trumpet and piano are good places to start. Try listening to John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Chick Corea.

[Chris Casket]

Well was back in today for my last chance and it turned out pretty good. My other guitarist and I worked through it and ended up doing a kind of trade off solo.....sounded alot better than the first solos i recorded. I took my time to make it more structured and have more of a melody rather than the fastest scales i could play. Thanks for the help

Chris

[live]

So this was what didn't fit? There was not enough melody? I made some experiences with soli where I played the wrong rhythm... But I don't know if that could be a problem in trash-stuff-soli because there are straight 16-Shred-parts most of the time I think?!

live

[Chris Casket]

Yeh the main problem was the lack of melody before it was just me shredding and although fast and flashy there wasnt really any structure. The backing to the solo is like you said pretty much straight 16th so the timing isnt really hard just fast