Get a rush...play a solo!

We've all sat in our rooms listening to our favourite bands wishing that we could play solos like them.

Soloing is an amazing experience that can be related to extreme sports or anything else that gets your blood pumping.

You may have wondered, "I would love to write music but don't know where to start."

These questions and more will be answered in this lesson. We are going to take you on a journey to build your creative side.

Step #1:
If you are going to play a solo, you have to write one first so we are going to start this lesson with composition.

Composition's purpose is to make phrases (musical sentences) into melodies that sound good.

Soloing is a very popular form of improvisation (making things up as you go) and is a great definition for composing because that's what you are doing on the spot.

To help you relate solos to other types of writing, soloing can be compared to writing a poem or short story.

You want to get your feelings and emotions felt through your guitar. You do that by choosing a scale to work with and build off of. These could be sad (minor) or happy (major) scales that can really make the music tell you what the mood of the solo is.

I like to use blues scales mixed in with pentonic scales to make bluesy rock solos. The possibilities are endless.

You could sit in your room and play 12 hours a day for the rest of your life and never find all of the combinations of scales. I'm going to give you a blues scale and together we are going to run through it.

This is laying a foundation for your solo and you can then start to build off of this.

Common Blues scale in the key of G

E|-------------------------3-3-------------------------|
B|---------------------3-6-----6-3---------------------|
G|---------------3-5-6-------------6-5-3---------------|
D|-----------3-5-------------------------5-3-----------|
A|-----3-4-5---------------------------------5-4-3-----|
E|-3-6---------------------------------------------6-3-|

Step #2:

Now that we can play the scale lets try to work out a riff (tiny solo)

E|-------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------|
G|-5/-6\-5-3---3-----5S6\-5-3---3------------------|
D|-----------5---5------------5----5-6-5-3---3---3-|
A|-----------------------------------------5---5---|
E|-------------------------------------------------|

E|---------------------|
B|---------------------|
G|---------------------|
D|---3---5S6\-6s5-5--6-|
A|-5---5---------------|
E|---------------------|

Ok! Sounding good. It's just that simple. Now to finish composing that solo try something creative, it doesn't have to be fancy to sound good. Take a look at this ending for example.

E|---------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------|
D|-5-6-5-3---3---3---3---5S6\-6s5-5-6----|
A|---------5---5---5---5-----------------|
E|---------------------------------------|

Now all together:

E|-----------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------|
G|5/-6\-5-3---3-----5S6\-5-3---3-----------|
D|----------5---5------------5----5-6-5-3--|
A|---------------------------------------5-|
E|-----------------------------------------|

E|---------------------------|
B|---------------------------|
G|---------------------------|
D|3---3----3---5S6\-6s5-5--6-|
A|-5----5---5----------------|
E|---------------------------|

Step#3:
When you're writing your own solos you want to be able to scribble down your ideas. I recommend going to

http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/

and printing off some tab paper. Then anything you have pop into your head you can save forever and use it somewhere else if it doesn't fit into the current solo you are writing.

Always tab things out afterwards, even record it. This is so you will remember how the rhythm went. I also recommend using a metronome to practice with your solo so you won't be all over the place.