The art of Rhythm and Soloing - Part 2_Theory and Improvision

The art of rhythm and soloing - Part 2_Theory and Improvision

Welcome back. In the lesson before we talked about keeping a blues rhythm. The blues rhythm started slow and evolved into rock and roll. Because of that, the blues rhythm and blues scales are very common in a lot of songs. As my lessons progress you'll begin to see how the blues scales and rhythms fit into our music.

Lets talk theory. First off, your audiance is stupid... they haven't heard your style before. If you mess up they won't know, and therefore improving is not a problem!!!

Here is a band that uses the blues in almost every song but they change how the sound goes in each one. http://www.myspace.com/lowercaseblues

In the vidio of June Jam you can see it's all Improvised. I'll skip all the boring stuff and get you started on the solos.

You heard me mention the blues scale... and how it's comon in licks and solos. Well its also one of the easiest to learn too.

This is in key of A

e[---------------------------------5-8-|---|---|--|--|A-|--|--|C-|--|---------------

B[-----------------------------5-8-----|---|---|--|--|E-|--|--|G-|--|---------------

G[-----------------------5-7-8---------|---|---|--|--|C-|--|D-|D#|--|---------------

D[-------------------5-7---------------|---|---|--|--|G-|--|A-|--|--|---------------

A[-------------5-6-7-------------------|---|---|--|--|D-|D#|E-|--|--|---------------

E[-------5--8--------------------------|---|---|--|--|A-|--|--|C-|--|---------------

                                         1   2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

In the near future i will have a vidio of me playing a blues rhythm so that you can practice soloing whenever you want... it's extremly hard to practice soloing without other music. I went from horrible to great at soloing while playing with friends in a band. Playing with friends and handing off solos and licks is great practice and it boosts morale.

Improvising is makeing a solo that fits inbetween verses or spaces that need excitement. With a good band you can make a solo last forever and idealy (Depending on your ego) your band with start back on the verses or whatever without a hitch.

Think of a solo as a graph. It starts slow and gradually gains intensity as it grows. At the end it should calm down just a bit to let the band know that your ending.

Solos also have little tricks in them... solos arn't strait notes. Here are five easy tricks to try to advance your solos.

1) Hammer-ons pick the string once and tap the next fret u want on the same string. if done correctly it will end on the same note with almost the same volume as when u plucked it.

2) Pull-offs these are much harder than hammer-ons for beginners. you start on a fret and as you pull off that finger you pluck the string with the same finger playing the next note. (it helps to have your other finger already on the next note)

3) Slides This is when you want a nice sweet sound or if you want a hardcore fill in a solo. Slides are great in a major pentatonic when you want a sweet tone. Hardcore fills usually mean sliding from one octive of a note back down to the note you want to play.

4) Bends This is simple. After you play a note... bend the string.

5) Repatition If you have a nice riff, repeat it over and over. if it sounds cool then the crowd will cheer... even if you repeat it twenty times over.

e[----5h7------------------------------  -Thats a hammer-on in tablature

B[----------5/7 7\5--------------------  -Thats a slide... if the line slides up going left to 

G[-------------------------------------   right then slide up, and vise-versa

D[-------14\2--------------------------  -thats an example of a hardcore slide

A[-------------5-7b--------------------  -B is for bend 

E[----------5-7-8--5-7-8-5-7-8-5-7-8-ect.-thats repatition (by the way i wouldn't use that riff in a solo... example purposes only)

I won't shove too much down your throught today but i'll leave you with that.