The Building Blocks of a Great Guitar Solo

By Steve Stine Guitar Lessons

Community Score: 50% | 1.9K views | 1mo

0 community ratings: null thumbs up, null thumbs down

It's easy to get lost chasing scales, theory, and triads and never actually get to a solo that sounds good. In this lesson I break down what I think really matters, in order, starting with the one thing most players skip: connecting to the groove. Step one is locking into the pulse of the music — the eighth note, then the 16th note — before worrying about which notes are "correct." I use a backing track (a blues in B minor) and start with just two strings, using simple hammer-ons to fake a 16th-note feel if your picking isn't there yet. Step two is phrasing: thinking in terms of small musical sentences, with real pauses between them, the same way you'd pause when you talk or sing. Step three is dynamics — how hard or soft you pick, rolling your volume up and down — which matters just as much as which notes you choose. Step four is what I call "vocal tools": bends, slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, which is what keeps a guitar from sounding like a piano. None of this replaces scales

Tags: guitar lessons, steve stine, guitar lesson, guitar solo lesson, how to solo on guitar, steve stine guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons for beginners, guitar lessons for beginners, guitar licks, electric guitar lessons, guitar solo tutorial