Guitar Cool: Playing Solos (in proportion)

In my experience playing an improvised solo for most guitarists seems to be something to be cherished. It is very close to the heart of most, very misunderstood, the subject of much discussion, and overrated by many players to the degree that they seem to have a gunslinger mentality. Whatever your position, I am going to let out some secrets over the next few articles that will have many of you thinking and playing differently I'm sure.

In most modern music you can expect to play a solo about 5% of the time. The other 95% you will be playing an accompanying (comping) role so it pays to be great at that as well. Don't forget that statistic, as many budding guitarists tend to practice solos 95% and comping 5% of the time.
 
In popular songs there are normally two ways in which to play a solo. the first is to follow the melody of the song, and second is to totally improvise or make one up on the spot. We will discuss the improvised version in this and the next column.
 
First of all you need to know a scale called the minor pentatonic, which is prevalent in most rock, blues and other forms of modern music. Example 1 shows the F minor pentatonic. Make sure to follow the fingering exactly. I call this fingering the 'Death Scale' because if you only know this fingering of it you will drive your listeners 'sick to death' of it, as well as yourself. Hence the name.

Because this form of the scale can become boring very quickly to the listener if you just play it in the same position all the time, you need to know how to move it around and to play it off each string set to make it more listener friendly. To do this you will need to know what the notes are called at every fret on every string. Example 2 shows the F minor pentatonic played from every string using a one-octave shape. Make sure you learn this well and take it SLOW.

Once you have this mastered then you need to be able to play it in 12 keys. Twelve keys you may ask? Yes, all good musicians play in 12 keys fluently. It really is simple stuff. The best way to approach it is to play through a different key each day. For example, on Monday play F, Tuesday move up one fret to Gb, Wednesday up another to G, Thursday up another to Ab, and so on until you get to F again at the 13th fret.
 
If you know any minor pentatonic licks or ideas now is the time to play them through all the different shapes on each string set. If you don't have many licks or ideas, then don't worry as next issue I will show you some great licks using this scale that you can put into your playing straight away and sound like a real pro. Have fun.

To hear the midi file for this lesson go to http://www.guitar.co.nz/free_lesson.php3
 
P.S. In the last issue I talked about guitarists vs musicians and many have been asking why I signed myself off as a guitarist. I was talking about the definition of guitarists and musicians in the article. How you sell yourself is a different story, it is easier to sell yourself as a guitarist as opposed to a musician.

Kevin Downing is a professional guitarist, teacher, and author. He can be contacted through his website at www.guitar.co.nz or P O Box 4586, Palmerston North.