Need some insite

[ibanezzed]

Hey fella's! I'm new here, like the site. I've been playin guitar off and on for about 11 years or so, I just got a recorder, and startin playin around writing my own stuff and keepin it simple. I basically sit down play a progression (am/am7, d,cadd9) I'm just tryin to put a soft solo to it, not sure what direction to go, I have been playin around with just hittin the notes in the chord I'm playin(which is fine) but I want to put some kind of different sound to it, and I'm just stuck, any idea's, and just for some background, I never had lessons, can't read music, just tabs, Know basic theory and know the notes on the entire guitar well........I play a Ibanez RG(2004 model)

[Kinoble]

Hey bud, welcome to ibreathe!

Ok as far as your question goes, its a simple one :).

All the chords that you are using are diatonic ('belong to') the key of G major. The progression is a ii-V-IV in Gmajor.

Because the progression is based around the second chord in the key of G major, you could argue it was A dorian, but your progression wont sound dorian beacause of the lack of A in the bass of the chords. So it will just sound like it wants to resolve to G major (or at least it did when i played it!).

So simply play the G major scale- G A B C D E F# G.

Add some slides, intervallic leaps, legato, picking and some tasteful chromatic notes (notes outside the above key) and you should be on your way to developing a solo. Also aim for chord tones so you have the melody with a feeling of resolution, or stability.

Hope this helps,

Ben

[ibanezzed]

Hey bud, welcome to ibreathe!

Ok as far as your question goes, its a simple one :).

All the chords that you are using are diatonic ('belong to') the key of G major. The progression is a ii-V-IV in Gmajor.

Because the progression is based around the second chord in the key of G major, you could argue it was A dorian, but your progression wont sound dorian beacause of the lack of A in the bass of the chords. So it will just sound like it wants to resolve to G major (or at least it did when i played it!).

So simply play the G major scale- G A B C D E F# G.

Add some slides, intervallic leaps, legato, picking and some tasteful chromatic notes (notes outside the above key) and you should be on your way to developing a solo. Also aim for chord tones so you have the melody with a feeling of resolution, or stability.

Hope this helps,

Ben
Thanx BEN, this is a big help and it brings up a good point as well. You had said that it has the feel of Gmajor, no matter what I do(even starting with am/am7) so my next question is, which is my main thing here, you say to go outside the key of G. Is this something you just "GET" by experimenting? Or is there a theory to it, or I'm stuck to much on the way it should be? I did try to play some different notes outside Chromatically, but I must be out of time, cuz it just goes AWAL in sound, when I play notes not of the scale, am I missing something here? Frgive me I am Learning as much as I can, so if I sound alittle to intent on theory, please correct my mental issues! Anyway I'm tryin to get that sad sounding rock/metal ballad type sound like Metallica's Fade to black, which is very simple to play(intro solo) but sticks with ya the first time you hear it. that song intro I believe was in the key of d(I think from memory) but anyway thats the kind of song emotion I like to work with. Thanx, you were a big help already

[Kinoble]

Hey bud, no problem at all.

I see your point about fade to black-from what i remember, the opening lead is very diatonic, with no chromatic notes added in. It sticks to the key of the song.

With rock music in general, there is not much use of chromatic passing tones as they add a 'fusion' flavour, which is not too common in rock.

If you did want to add them in, i suggest sliding from a note outside the key of G major into a chord tone, or a note inside the key. So when the D major chord is played, try sliding (quickly) from F-F# (minor third to the major third chord tone).

However, for this genre, i would concentrate just on the phrasing of diatonic notes, and maybe use A minor pentatonic, as this is just a 'cut-down' version of A dorian, and will fit nicely.

Hope this helps a little,

Ben

[ibanezzed]

Thanx again I'll try that, and one more thing since I can see you know what your talkin about, when playing in minor keys, say aminor for example, I had read that the 4th and 5th can be major or minor in chords, so if I play a e minor progression, can I mix and match the 4th minor with the 5th major, or doesn't it work like that, standard eminor key has one sharp, also can I use a harmonic minor scale in a minor key and still sound ok with those notes, especially since like an a harmonic minor scale is a #7th, although I could play a key of c progression with that, but the #7th would still sound ok?

[Kinoble]

In minor progressions, often they are mixed between natural minor (aeolian), harmonic minor, and melodic minor.

In rock, it is common, especially in malmsteen-esque compositions, for the Dominant 'V' chord of the harmonic minor to be mixed with a progression from the natural minor.

For example,

E5-D5-C5-B7

I would treat this as E5-D5-C5 from E natural minor scale, as those 5th chords can be built from it, and the B7 borrowed as the dominant 'V' chord from E harmonic minor.

This progression can be built entirely from E harmonic minor, but like you say the #7, or natural 7th can be a bit too much for my ears, if used constantly, but thats just my opinion ;)

This is called 'modal interchange', which means where a root note ('E' in this case) borrows from its parrelel modes-E dorian, E phrygian, E harmonic minor etc.

(In this example its just using E natural minor, and E harmonic minor, but can still be viewed as modal interchange).


See this for more info on modal interchange



http://www.guitar9.com/columnist286.html

Hope this helps,

Ben

[ibanezzed]

Thanx alot Kinoble, you are a HUGE help!!!!!