Stuck Writing a Guitar Solo

[Remco Vos]

Hello,

 

I am the guitar player of a band who are writing their own music for two years now. I have basic music theory knowledge. So we wrote a nice rock song with a nice hook riff. For the solo we are playing two bars of a Bb triad followed by two bars D in repeat. But I got stuck writing a solo part.  I tried to play Dm over the Bb and just D over the D chord.  

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I can approach this another way?

 

Thanks in advance

[Remco Vos]

https://soundcloud.com/remco1996/rocket-chair-gravity 

 

Here is half of the raw song with a build up to the solo. Solo starts at 1:16.

 

[Cory Williams]

I was jamming to it a little and on the Bb chords i found myself alternately landing on D, Bb, and F each time the chord came up, with filling notes leading into the D chord where I found myself landing on A a lot(maybe an F# after using an F on the Bb chord). Ending it with a high A sounded good to me. I Hope this was of any help lol. I typically improv my solos and learn them after the fact. Maybe try recording you improvising several times and pick out the best of each take.

[MikeRobinson]

A good place to start is by playing a sort of arpeggiation of the 1/3/5 notes of each chord.  Then, as the chords change, arrange things so that you "reach" to a note in the next chord – introducing an interval that isn't a third or a fifth.  A sixth, perhaps, which will sound slightly dissonant.  You can also use the idea of a "suspension" ... hitting one-step or even a half-step above or below your target and then resolving to the expected note.

 

One idea that you can use is to change the starting note:  jam on 1/3/5 then switch up to 3/5/1 then (say) switch down to 5/3/1 and feel free at any time to re-arrange the order.  When a chord-change is coming up that's going to produce a different interval and there are quite a few intervals that you can choose from to add interest.  (Remember that anytime the base-chord changes, the notes that occur at the point of change will be regarded both in terms of the chord you left, and the chord you arrived at.  The same is true of key changes.  The "Bb chord" always slightly-suggests "the key of Bb."  So, where are the notes that make up the "D" chord, in the key of Bb ... a key in which Bb is the tonic?  Even though the influence is very brief, it is felt.)

 

That's your "framework," which has gaps left in it.  Now you can start filling-in on that framework, adding short runs and other ornaments to fill in and decorate those gaps.  Maybe you take one of those fills, treating it as a mini-melody, and use the same fill (maybe elsewhere in the scale) which the listener will recognize having heard it before.

 

Start the "voice memo" app on your phone and keep it running as you jam with these ideas, then go back and listen ... noticing whatever sounds good to your ear.  Lots of good riffs happen by happy accident.  But now you can "grab it, stick a pin in it, and put it somewhere else."  I think that the best approach will be to come up with a general plan, then jam, then take the best jams and try to work them into your plan.  I think the solo should have a recognizable structure, with plenty of room even to improvise while you are playing it.

[tim sol]

Remco Vos, it's nice that you asked that question because my friend and I also want to start playing together, and when we tried to do solo parts, it sounded not good. And thanks to everyone for suggestions, next time we will try to do such things.
I don't want to lose a chance and will ask someone more skilled than me for a piece of advice. Now I have Lucero LC100 Classical Guitar, but want to buy a new one. It's my only guitar, and I have not a lot of experience in guitars. I found a good and informative review you can find following this link and decided to buy an Epiphone Les Paul-100 Electric Guitar. The price is reasonable, and it has individual controls and TOM bridge so that I can play in any genre and technic. Has anyone played that guitar? I'll be grateful for advices!

[Jim Byrne]

You could always melodically hum over it - then work out what you did. That's something I've done often. 🙂

JIm

[Cody]

Humming and trying to play that usually works for me, that or just try a different tuning(open D etc) tend to make solos easier, for me at least...

 

And if really cant find that solo you want, ask yourself is the song is really made better by it? Or are you just adding a solo because that's what you're "supposed to do", just my two cents.