# I can't play solos



## dmm30

I've been playing on and off for over 15 years. I've learned tons of riffs and 3/4 songs but every time I get to a solo it's like a dead stop for me. I was recently jamming on three days grace- chalk outline and I just can't get the solo up to speed. I can play it at about 1/2 speed but nothing more than that. Alas it doesn't really matter what song I try and tackle I just can't play solos. I feel like my hands just aren't in sync with each other to be able to play fast enough.

Any suggestions?


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## Swervin55

I'm probably the last person that should be responding to this but I've come to a conclusion over the past few years that it's not the fretting hand that is always the culprit. There's too little emphasis placed on the picking hand and learning proper picking techniques. If the picking hand can't keep up to the fretting hand you won't gain any vast improvement. At least that's been my experience but I'm anxious to hear what other (better) players have to say. Good post.


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## Jim DaddyO

I will watch this one too. I could not play a solo if my life depended on it. I do all kinds of scale practice that does not sink in. I can play a few riffs and fills, but that is it. Good thing the rest of the song takes up so much time.


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## Greg Ellis

Don't get discouraged.

I think what you're saying is probably closer to "I can't duplicate somebody else's solos".

Which hardly matters at all.

Trying working up a solo of your own.


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## bw66

If you can play it at half speed, you're most of the way there. Get yourself a metronome (or a drum machine) and start playing the solo in time with it. It will probably take some time to be able to play in time with the metronome, because it is very hard to focus on timing and getting the right notes at the same time. Once you can play it slowly with the metronome, speed it up a notch (about 4%).

From here it won't take long to get to about 80-85% of your desired speed by gradually picking up the pace. Once in a while you should slow it down again and really focus on what your fingers are doing and then gradually pick up the pace again. The last 15-20% will take the longest, but stick with it, it will come.


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## dmm30

bw66 said:


> If you can play it at half speed, you're most of the way there. Get yourself a metronome (or a drum machine) and start playing the solo in time with it. It will probably take some time to be able to play in time with the metronome, because it is very hard to focus on timing and getting the right notes at the same time. Once you can play it slowly with the metronome, speed it up a notch (about 4%).
> 
> From here it won't take long to get to about 80-85% of your desired speed by gradually picking up the pace. Once in a while you should slow it down again and really focus on what your fingers are doing and then gradually pick up the pace again. The last 15-20% will take the longest, but stick with it, it will come.


I do use a metronome but I get bored with it quickly. I guess I just need to persevere some more.


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## dmm30

Greg Ellis said:


> Don't get discouraged.
> Trying working up a solo of your own.


That's a whole other ball of wax that I'm working on!


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## zontar

Greg Ellis said:


> Don't get discouraged.
> 
> I think what you're saying is probably closer to "I can't duplicate somebody else's solos".
> 
> Which hardly matters at all.
> 
> Trying working up a solo of your own.


I agree.

And remember that while a solo can be cool to listen to & play, it's just one part of the whole picture.


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## bw66

dmm30 said:


> I do use a metronome but I get bored with it quickly. I guess I just need to persevere some more.


Yes, working with a metronome is boring, but its the best and fastest way to improve speed and timing. Try using it for shorter periods but more frequently.

My wife *hates* my metronome!


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## jeremy_green

Do you practice playing solos?? 
Starting with easy ones and working up?
Because if not this is where to start. I suspect you don't often.
Nobody is good at anything without a truckload of persistence and work.

This line:
"[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Alas it doesn't really matter what song I try and tackle I just can't play solos"[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]is a cop out. You telling me you can't play "Smells like Teen spirit" solo?

I am SURE you can after 15 years.[/FONT]


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## dmm30

jeremy_green said:


> Do you practice playing solos??
> Starting with easy ones and working up?
> Because if not this is where to start. I suspect you don't often.
> Nobody is good at anything without a truckload of persistence and work.
> 
> This line:
> "Alas it doesn't really matter what song I try and tackle I just can't play solos"
> is a cop out. You telling me you can't play "Smells like Teen spirit" solo?
> 
> I am SURE you can after 15 years.


I've actually never even attempted to play smells like teen spirit. 

Could you give me a list of "easy solos" Jeremy? 
I guess when I think of solos I think of like fade to black, or comfortably numb, or chalk outline. It never really crossed my mind that smells like teen spirit has a solo in it.


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## bluesmostly

I have come to the conclusion that playing solos well requires a lot of natural rhythm, not just a good sense of timing, most musicians have that, but a real talent for the groove. Slow or fast is not the issue. David Gilmore, you mentioned one of his songs, or Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) do not play fast but both have a brilliant sense of rhythm. 

That said, players like Neil Young, who has a terrible sense of rhythm, is not hindered by that at all it would appear. Like someone mentioned, play solos your own way. I will cop a solo to the note and phrasing if it is a very precise solo that carries a strong melodic line, like Santana or most of Gilmore's stuff. Otherwise, I make up my own stuff. 

On a more practical note, I practice scales a lot and then I play over backing tracks that are scale specific, say D Dorian or G Mixolodian, (you can find a bunch on youtube) to develop timing and phrasing. I prefer that over using a metronome, which is not as much fun.


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## hardasmum

I've been playing for over 25 years and suck at solos. I've managed to avoid them by being a really strong rhythm player in a four piece until three years ago when I started a three piece. 

Suddenly I had the responsibility of singing, playing rhythm and trying to write and play some solos. The added challenge of a three piece is how the song seems to fall apart aurally as I attempt to solo over bass accompaniment. I try to remedy this by playing a hybrid chord / lead line with lots of fuzz to thicken it up.

When writing solos I hum a melody over the chords and translate that to a guitar part. They're pretty simple but I try to keep them on par with my ability (or lack of!). I'd rather play a simple lead well than a complicated one poorly.

I seem to psyche myself out live though, I can play the line around the house all day but once I hit the stage I'm thinking about the impending solo all the way through the song and tend to blank once I get to it. 

As of late I really just try not to over think it. It's more a confidence issue rather than lack of skill and I just remind myself I can nail this tonight like I do every other time. I try to live in the moment and not in my head.

This post won't likely give you any answers but will hopefully remind you that you're not alone.


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## jeremy_green

dmm30 said:


> I've actually never even attempted to play smells like teen spirit.
> 
> Could you give me a list of "easy solos" Jeremy?
> I guess when I think of solos I think of like fade to black, or comfortably numb, or chalk outline. It never really crossed my mind that smells like teen spirit has a solo in it.


Off the top of my head i would say listen to a lot of Nirvana songs. Or Green Day, Old Sabbath, Tragically Hip, Neil Young, Motley Crue, Old blues is great like BB King's stuff is fantastic and simple. Pink Floyd has some real nice accessible solos like the intro to Wish You Were Here. Listen for anything slow enough for you to handle and start there. Whole lotta love is pretty easy... ish. I actually did a lesson on that one on my youtube channel, plus a bunch of others. Take a peek.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyostY3l4lrJ_t-gbFNEsrw?feature=watch

Don't be too hard on yourself or quick to give up. Of course you can't solo if you are picking fast finger gymnastic solos to try. You gotta learn to hear what you think you can handle and go for that first. Ya gotta learn to walk before you run.


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## mrmatt1972

bluesmostly said:


> That said, players like Neil Young, who has a terrible sense of rhythm, is not hindered by that at all it would appear.
> 
> sigiifa
> 
> Neil is a total feel player and his sense of time is rock solid. His solos are brilliant and/or primitive depending on the song. Listen to Down by the River or Powderfinger


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## Cartcanuck

jeremy_green said:


> Take a peek.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyostY3l4lrJ_t-gbFNEsrw?feature=watch
> 
> Don't be too hard on yourself or quick to give up. Of course you can't solo if you are picking fast finger gymnastic solos to try. You gotta learn to hear what you think you can handle and go for that first. Ya gotta learn to walk before you run.


I"m going to check out more of your stuff. thanks for the link!

I've only been playing for about 4 years (electric for 2.5 years) and i've struggled with the same thing and it scared me off trying solos. I do my scales religiously (to backing tracks mostly, I get too bored with the metronome). In the past couple months my teacher got me started on the solo for Hotel California and I've made it about half way through so far. My teacher walked me through it 3 or 4 bars at a time and I would work ahead at home. I learned quickly how difficult it is to learn a solo by tab alone, and how my ear doesn't pick up the intricacies of a solo and how they relate to the notes on the tab. I have a long long long way to go. 

But what I really learned from all of this is that it is POSSIBLE for me to play a solo. I'm a long ways from playing it perfectly, and I have no "soul" in my solo so far. But I am able to play most of the notes in time (well, almost) and without too many errors. My bending is getting more accurate too. I expect to spend a lot of time on this solo and figure it might have it nailed in about a year! LOL But that's fine. Playing this solo is kind of a wet dream for me, so it's worth the time and effort. 

Making the sounds from this solo on my guitar have shown me that all i need to do is really break it down into parts, and take it slow. Yes, I broke out the metronome and played each bar over and over and over and over again and a very slow pace and increased my bpm every so slightly to the point that I can almost keep up with the recording. In my mind, if I can play this, I can learn any other solo I want to learn.....all I need to do is put the time and effort into it. I have fat stubby fingers, but if I WILL them to do it, they WILL do what I tell them.....over time. 

The most difficult thing for me has been patience. (no one else struggles with that do they? LOL ) I want to play the solo fast and smooth RIGHT NOW. It's been super discouraging at times, but my teacher has kept me sane (I really don't pay him enough).


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## bluesmostly

mrmatt1972 said:


> bluesmostly said:
> 
> 
> 
> That said, players like Neil Young, who has a terrible sense of rhythm, is not hindered by that at all it would appear.
> 
> sigiifa
> 
> Neil is a total feel player and his sense of time is rock solid. His solos are brilliant and/or primitive depending on the song. Listen to Down by the River or Powderfinger
> 
> 
> 
> Ha! I thought that comment might get that kind of reaction. I am a big fan of Neil Young, esp his song writing and his singing. The 'unusual' singing style is the type that you either like or don't I suppose, I find it engaging most of the time.
> 
> When that style is translated thru his hands on an electric guitar, I just can't bear to listen. That's just me. In my experience the term 'feel' is too often used to refer to what I see as awkward players and old blues dudes who have trouble stringing together more than three notes in succession.
Click to expand...


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## dmm30

jeremy_green said:


> Off the top of my head i would say listen to a lot of Nirvana songs. Or Green Day, Old Sabbath, Tragically Hip, Neil Young, Motley Crue, Old blues is great like BB King's stuff is fantastic and simple. Pink Floyd has some real nice accessible solos like the intro to Wish You Were Here. Listen for anything slow enough for you to handle and start there. Whole lotta love is pretty easy... ish. I actually did a lesson on that one on my youtube channel, plus a bunch of others. Take a peek.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyostY3l4lrJ_t-gbFNEsrw?feature=watch
> 
> Don't be too hard on yourself or quick to give up. Of course you can't solo if you are picking fast finger gymnastic solos to try. You gotta learn to hear what you think you can handle and go for that first. Ya gotta learn to walk before you run.


Thanks Jeremy!
I've actually been meaning to try a few old sabbath songs maybe I'll start there.


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## allthumbs56

Sometimes the issue can be as simple as how you're playing the solo. Maybe you're using the wrong neck fingering position, or are trying to pick each note but the original author is using hammer ons/off, string-skipping, open strings, tapping, odd-tunings, or sweeps to achieve their speed. There's a lot of "cheats" out there employed by most guitarists....................................... 

Without these tricks I would most definitely be an extremely pedestrian soloist.


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## Budda

I didn't have to read the thread far to find out what's happening:

It's not that you can't play the solos: you can. You just won't put in the time and effort necessary to get them up to speed.

TL: DR

Laziness.

I suffer from it too


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## dmm30

Budda said:


> I didn't have to read the thread far to find out what's happening:
> 
> It's not that you can't play the solos: you can. You just won't put in the time and effort necessary to get them up to speed.
> 
> TL: DR
> 
> Laziness.
> 
> I suffer from it too


Not exactly,..... It's called 7 month old twin daughters, too many hours at work and a dash of being tired at the end of the day syndrome. I think my biggest problem is probably like Jeremy said that I'm taking on solos that are a little over my head, and I think my picking hand needs lots of work!


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## loudtubeamps

Solos are really just chords torn apart , the notes are played individually.
With that ,I would suggest humming a simple phrase, chord along to it, then try to disect the chords and play notes within the chord structure.
Something like a simple ballad that U know the melody to would be a good starting point. Hum the first few notes, then find those notes within the chord structure, once you've become comfortable with the first section , you can move on and build on it.
Don't worry about going up the neck too much initially.
Try playing the melody within the first 3 or 4 frets, all of the notes that u need are right there.
Eventually, you will have to know where the notes are by either familiarity of the fretboard in relation to the pitch of the note or by a written music score and the corresponding note on the guitar.
I am an ear rather than a sight player, not by choice, it's just the way I responded to learning.
If U play by ear,it all boils down to knowing the freboard and knowing that when you pick a note, you will know what that note sounds like before u get there.
Hope that helps.
Cheers, d


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## hardasmum

dmm30 said:


> Not exactly,..... It's called 7 month old twin daughters, too many hours at work and a dash of being tired at the end of the day syndrome. I think my biggest problem is probably like Jeremy said that I'm taking on solos that are a little over my head, and I think my picking hand needs lots of work!


2 and a half year old twin boys here. It get's easier. Hang in there.


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## Guest

start with Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
easy enough solo.


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## bluesguitar1972

I can see the value in learning other's solos, though I've spent very little time doing that myself. I'll learn signature licks (like the brief break for Could Have Been a Lady and the like, but for an actual solo, I prefer to create. A bit of advice I"d offer is when learning other solos, don't just look at the placement, but consider the why. If you learn your scales in different positions around the neck, the mystery of lead guitar will slowly fade. You'll see when they're using the major scale, or blues scale etc, or even a combination. 

How you attack playing lead will depend greatly on the style of music. I try not to get to caught up in licks, and try to focal more on melody and rhythm. Yet, Some players are more technical and focus on speed. Each can have their value for different styles. You just have to find what fits for you, and all things being equal, the more tools you have in the tool box, the more prepared you are for any given job.


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## Budda

dmm30 said:


> Not exactly,..... It's called 7 month old twin daughters, too many hours at work and a dash of being tired at the end of the day syndrome. I think my biggest problem is probably like Jeremy said that I'm taking on solos that are a little over my head, and I think my picking hand needs lots of work!


20 minutes a day, if you can swing it. Within a week you'll notice an improvement. Not necessarily easy with a hectic schedule (my week is work/sleep) but should be doable and you will notice improvement.

You've got a bunch of guys on here with tips and encouragement


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## Macki

The biggest change for me was to learn what I enjoyed to play "over". I grew up playing in the 80s all the metal hair flare stuff (and not very well), it was not until I realized I preferred different grooves and rhythms to play over that really I really started to enjoy lead playing.


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## FrankyNoTone

I know some guys who've been playing a while yet just can't get into "soloing" which I believe is going beyond strumming chords and a few riffs. I think we can set aside the "theory" aspect of it, i.e. playing chord/scale shapes, etc. and just realize that the mechanics of fast/articulate note picking is a difficult skill. Lots of talented, very successful guitarists don't know the theory let alone read standard notation so I think the mechanics need to be there first.

Just developing the mental and muscle memory map of the six strings under your fingers is difficult. Then there is the fine art of picking dynamics and timing, including swinging... crazy difficult and something I see even seasoned players fail at getting the "groove" right. I'm sure innate ability plays a large part but I believe hard work can get most people to "good/decent" levels.

And that hard work includes a minimum of an hour every day just to maintain ability. I'm cruising at the level where I need the amused indulgence of my audience to say I can play guitar and it will stay that way until my daughters get to the (teen)age where I'm an embarrassment to them and they start avoiding me. Then I just have work and my wife's honey do list as distractions.


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## Greg Ellis

loudtubeamps said:


> Solos are really just chords torn apart , the notes are played individually.


I was wondering when someone might mention this.

A great way to get started is to arpeggiate the chord progression. Think about the solo as a "musical interlude without lyrics" instead of a guitar solo. It really doesn't matter how you fill that space in the song, as long as it's interesting, and fit in well.

Also, there are loads of songs that use very simple extrapolations on the main melody for solos, or just dupe the vocal melody note for note.


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## loudtubeamps




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## HaydenMusic

Hey dmm30,

I have some tips for you:

Practice in bar by bar: One of the biggest mistakes I see players make - no matter what they're trying to learn - is that they try to learn to much at one time. Instead focus on learning small bits of solos at a time. Note by note, bar by bar. Once you get one snippet, learn the next, then combine the two together, and continue that process for you.

For improvisation, try my blog post: What Makes A Great Guitar Solo? Answer: Storytelling -- http://hayden-music.com/blog.cfm?feature=4316798&postid=3976707

It sounds like you're having some trouble finding time to play, so try this: http://hayden-music.com/blog.cfm?feature=4316798&postid=3907409

If you feel like you've plateau, here's some things to keep in mind and try out: http://hayden-music.com/blog.cfm?feature=4316798&postid=4059075

Hope this helps! Happy shedding. :wave:


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## dmm30

hardasmum said:


> 2 and a half year old twin boys here. It get's easier. Hang in there.


Thanks! They've actually been pretty good up to now, they've started teething badly in the last 2 weeks so there's lots of crying at my house. 

And thanks to everyone else here for posting their tips. I'm gonna try and at least get in 20 minutes of playing everyday, and the one bar at a time thing is definitely one that I need to do rather than trying to take on a quarter of the solo all in one chunk.


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## HaydenMusic

dmm30 said:


> Thanks! They've actually been pretty good up to now, they've started teething badly in the last 2 weeks so there's lots of crying at my house.
> 
> And thanks to everyone else here for posting their tips. I'm gonna try and at least get in 20 minutes of playing everyday, and the one bar at a time thing is definitely one that I need to do rather than trying to take on a quarter of the solo all in one chunk.


Keep us posted on your progress! If you have anymore Guitar related issues, you can head over to my forum section and ask me anything, located here: http://www.guitarscanada.com/showthread.php?56298-Let-Me-Help-YOU-Get-Great-At-Guitar

I'm more than happy to help!


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## Waterloo

First off, I'm not a great guitarist but I do love to play and I've had the same issue with soloing as the OP. I found an article online "How to Practise for Maximum Guitar Speed", parts 1 & 2; by Tom Hess. I'm not interested in speed for it's own sake; rather, playing single-note runs proficiently, hitting the notes accurately, and with confidence. I'm using this approach to bring some structure to how I practise leads & solo playing. It's keeping me focused on one solo element/technique at a time and it takes an incremental approach to developing speed/accuracy. 

I'm sure this approach is nothing but thought others might be interested in checking it out.


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## M3TAL

I would recumbent playing slow at first and you will build up speed as you practice. Playing along to a metronome will also help.


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## Budda

M3TAL said:


> I would recumbent playing slow at first and you will build up speed as you practice. Playing along to a metronome will also help.



7 month old thread homeskillet


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