# Adding fluidity to soloing?



## crazydiamond (Dec 17, 2009)

Hi all,

I was watching some videos of Audley Freed on Youtube and was really admiring how fluid his playing is. So I wanted to see what techniques people would recommend to add fluidity to solos. Slurs, grace/blue notes, legato playing. Any recommendations or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


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## NIK0 (Dec 6, 2007)

I don't know how anyone could really answer this question :smile: I mean the only advice anyone could give you on this is simple.

Playing a smooth violin like gilmouresque type solo takes practice. It's all in the fingers as they say but if you really want a technical answer than it is really in how you train the muscles in your fingerboard arm/hand that is the key. So if playing magical solos, bending, legato etc. are what you are after, only practice (at least an hour a day) will get you there. Of course a good ear (ability to actually hear what you are playing) is also key or else you will never sound good. I think most would agree that a recording of your playing vs listening in realtime while you play sounds different. Kind of like listening to your own voice on a voicemail message . Eventually with practice you will find that while you are playing, you are actually copying/translating what you hear in your head to the fingerboard, that's when it gets pretty magical and the idea of the saying "a guitar should be an extension of your own hand/arm. For newbies a guitar is like a prosthetic limbs and will take years for them to start using it as if it were a part of their body. I hope you get my drift  

For blues, it is important that you learn the pentatonic scale and the theory. Google "blues box method" on YouTube, that will be a good start.


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## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe. Build up a lick library and listen to lots of music.


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

fluidity comes with a ability to blend several techniques seemlessly.


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## Phlegethon (Dec 18, 2009)

well, here's my two cents worth on the subject 

first off, make sure that all the motions(fret hand pressure, picking pressure/attack, and anything else you would want/need to do) that you're doing to sound a note are as small as possible while still getting the sound that you want from the instrument

to get to this point the best (and seemingly only) thing would be to be very hard on yourself and practice things that would seem to be relatively basic (going up and down a simple scale for example) but making sure that your playing is completely flawless. recording helps with this, although it's not necessary. I would also recommend playing this scale inside and out, all over the fretboard (both vertically and horizontally), using different intervallic skips when playing the scale (playing the scale in thirds for example), and don't stop practicing when you get it right. keep going until you can't get it wrong. 

difference between getting it right and not doing it wrong being that you could be able to do something right, but only once. what the goal would be is to make sure that no matter what happens you will be able to do it (almost) mindlessly no matter the distraction and do it with the same ease as if you're saying "hello" to someone you know

hopefully that helped out


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Khingpynn makes a good point. One thing that makes a solo sound fluid are the seemless blending of different techniques. Whether it's vibrato, legato, tapping, slurs, volume swells, sweep picking, arpeggios or whammy bar acrobatics, they all come together to tell a story. Listen to the players you love and learn how they do it.


Shawn


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Phlegethon said:


> well, here's my two cents worth on the subject
> 
> first off, make sure that all the motions(fret hand pressure, picking pressure/attack, and anything else you would want/need to do) that you're doing to sound a note are as small as possible while still getting the sound that you want from the instrument


Very important point.
this was something I stressed with my students from the start when I was teaching.


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## lbrown1 (Mar 22, 2007)

loud amp with reverb cranked to 11 - $1000.00

Distortion pedal at full gain - $200.00

Delay pedal, set with feedback cranked - $250.00

fluid soloing - priceless


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## did291 (Jun 30, 2009)

*get yer ya-ya's out*

I just got this album, and men , K Richard compare to Mick taylor , :Richard is a riff player even during solo, and mick taylor is very very fluide, like clapton ,so talent and practice. But men , with Richard you can ear almost every pick stroke, and with taylor ,he make is guitar sound fretless almost.
My point is , maybe touch is a big part of it, smooth touch must be a must.What do you think?


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## Tybone (Feb 12, 2006)

Definition - Smoothness in Playing Guitar - Appearing to be seamless or without breaks when perceived by the human hear. Connected. Heard to move naturally from one place to another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR9__w47Irk

1 – Bends and Glissandos - Bends and glissandos to start a phrase crate a smooth entry point. I tend to use these quite a bit. All you have to do is know what note you want to start a lick on and bend to it (up or down), slide to it or even hammer on to it. Guys like Carlton and a boat load of Nashville pickers do this. 

2 – Multi finger picking - I find using the middle and ring fingers on my picking hand as well as a pick (held between thumb and forefinger for picking, enhances smoothness in delivery. This is good for anyone who as ever studied classical guitar at all. A nice transition between notes is possible because no one finger on the picking hand is rushed to get to the next string. The effect is enhanced if you can preset the left hand position so the notes you plan to play are right underneath it. Love this for playing triplet riffs or banjo style "rolls" when possible

3 – Practice a lot . Same riff over and over. You want to get it seamless before you take it out. This means playing it over and over again....I like to watch tv while I do these kind of drills. That way I can try to fit the riff in to any soundtrack that comes during the commercial breaks (another chorus of "Golden Grahams" perhaps?).

4 - Build a catalog of riffs, scales, arpeggios. I know the term "riff" might be an over simplification but having a larger vocabulary of notes to play, being able to summon them up in different positions on the neck and in different octaves is a good thing. Even if you are just starting out and only know the riff from "Johnny B Goode" you should learn it in different positions on the neck. This will eventually lead to having a place to go for the desired smooth entry note wherever you are on the guitar neck (as mentioned in a previous post).

5 – Hammer ons and pull offs - Maybe I should have put this one higher. Most of the smother stuff I am accused of playing incorporates one or both of these techniques. Beck was a Master at these techniques seamlessly blending picked notes with notes played only with the left hand. I recommend using all of your fingers for this including the pinky. You can hammer and pull your way up and down a major scale for fun (yes in front of the TV). You can also play chromatic riffs for conditioning. For reference, the signature maga hook riff from "Midnight at the Oasis" (Maria Muldar...Amos Garrett on guitar) is a descending 4 note riff where only the first note is picked and the last 3 are pulled off (maybe a gliss or hammer to the last note....it's been a while). It absolutely does not get much smoother than that.

6 – Start one note before the other one ends. This is a legato technique I use where one note is allowed to ring until just after the second note is picked (or plucked in the case of finger picking). Once again, the riffs pretty much any Chuck Berry song is a case in point for this. When taken to it's logical conclusion you can get pretty close to steel guitar style sounds/feelings if you have enough dexterity in your fretting hand. Nashville double stop picking offers some fine examples of how letting notes ring can provide a smooth canvas on which other notes can be lain. (how poetic!)

7- Triplets help a lot. Think of the solo from Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" When I heard this back in the day a Knew triplets were cool. Playing 3 note patters over 1/8th notes is kinda cool too. I think the opening riff from "Blue Morning" is pretty close here.

8 - Steal without shame or remorse - For goodnes sake, when you hear someone else do something you like LEARN IT, use it, make it your own. How the heck do you think Clapton got where he is...playing like that and all. I suspect he listened to a great many records and played along with them and copied his favourite riffs. The clip below contains a riff that borrows heavily from Jeff Beck's version of "She's a Woman" from Blow by Blow (starts on the low open E string followed by a couple of quick hammer ons and things. 

http://trinityamps.com/clips/samples/Fusion2.mp3

9- For goodness sake, practice with a metronome!


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Fluidity is basically how smooth your playing is. Effortlessness I would say is a big part of it. 

I have been asked a number of times how I play the way I do. 
1. I try never to play as fast as I can 
2. I try to build on melodic themes as the great classical composers would always do 
3. If it's impossible to whistle, it's probably not memorable 4. Maintain your guitar regularly. Too many overlook how now strings help with effortlessness on the guitar. 
5. Study what notes work best under each chord. 
6. *** learn what the rules of writing great melodies are. Mostly step-wise motion, simple, harmonic repetition, rhythmic repetition, etc ..... 

Lastly, it's pretty impossible to play at your max speed and stay fluid. Any of the solos that you can sing probably aren't smokin, 

Comments? Thoughts?


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