Help...guitar solos and jams?

[trippingbillie4]

I've been playing guitar for over then years now. I can listen to any tune and learn how to play it but I don't know how to do guitar solos or jam like Tim Reynolds and Warren Haynes do with DMB songs.....how can I learn how to do this???:confused

[tdowe99]

Learn some scales. Pentatonic, major and minor to start.
Then figure out the key of the song, and jam in that key.
Practice practice practice.

[earl]

Steal riffs.

[thatgirl224]

alllll about experimentation...and practice...and possibly help from someone who can do them.

[trippingbillie4]

Learn some scales. Pentatonic, major and minor to start.
Then figure out the key of the song, and jam in that key.
Practice practice practice.


where can I find these scales?

[unccrombie]

where can I find these scales?
www.looknohands.com

[Dancing Ants]

is it just me, or does all of this stuff not kind of wrap together eventually? i've been playing for five years, have a nice ear (if i do say so myself), and learned to solo pretty much on my own...

how do you have a great ear and have the ability to play any song you hear, but you can't string some notes and bends together?

[DMBand520]

where can I find these scales?

I just started trying to learn to solo. A friend of mine that is amazing at soloing told me the best place to start is to learn all the positions in the minor pentatonic scale. He said alot of guitars players play great solos only using that scale.

Here is a picture of the Minor Pentatonic scale in A. (http://www.iqmz.com/shared/minorpentatonic.gif)

He said to learn each part individually and then work on being able to connect them and to jump around between notes. You can see how the positions naturally connect since the right side of each position can be overlayed directly ontop of the left side of the next position.

The numbers in the circles are the suggested finger you should use (1-I, 2-M, 3-R, 4-P). The notes circled in red are the root note. The reason this scale is in A is b/c the root note is an A (see the 1st position, 5th fret on low E string). Once you learn the scale you can just shift it up and down the fretboard to change the key (ie. start on the 3rd fret to play the G scale)

One last thing. He suggested I practice using a pick and alternating between up and down strokes every note I play. He said even if it is difficult at first and I have to go really slow that this is extremely important and it'll come naturally at some point.

So anyway, hopefully that helps. I just started practicing that the other day and using Fretboard Warrior (http://www.fretboardwarrior.com) to help learn the fretboard better. I've been played for a little over 6 years and have really wanted to learn this for a long time. Hopefully I'll be playing at least half decent solos pretty soon!

[Dancing Ants]

the minor pentatonic scale is the one you hear the most in rock songs. it's pretty easy to learn...not a lot of notes.

[DMBand520]

the minor pentatonic scale is the one you hear the most in rock songs. it's pretty easy to learn...not a lot of notes.

Yeah it looks pretty easy. Right now I'm just working on playing each of the parts forward and backward and then transitioning from one part to the next at the top of the scale, the bottom of the scale, and random places in the middle.

I need to record myself playing a few basic progressions in different keys and then start working on soloing over them to see what sounds good.

[Dancing Ants]

honestly, the way i learned to solo the best that i can, is to jam with my friend who's very good at guitar and learn from him...just jump in and start soloing. at first it'll suck hard, but eventually you get respectably good. i usually learn scales/modes for songs, instead of trying to sit down and memorize all of them. seems to be easier when i have something to apply it to.

edit:

here's a good lesson. get the song Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers Band and listen to it..the one from The Fillmore CDs. This is a GREAT example of using the Aminor pentatonic scale, along with the A harmonic minor scale.

[onemanguitarban]

I've been playing guitar for over then years now. I can listen to any tune and learn how to play it but I don't know how to do guitar solos or jam like Tim Reynolds and Warren Haynes do with DMB songs.....how can I learn how to do this???:confused

If you really can play any song by ear (I don't believe you).....then all you have to do is "humm a solo in your head and play what you are hearing" No, I'm not being sarcastic....virtually everyone who writes great solos or improvises well, plays what they hear in their head.

[bbycrei]

www.looknohands.com


That looks like a great site. I'll have to start reading that a lot more.

Thanks.

[chr35919]

solo over any song you hear...no, not dave matthews. Other songs.

Also, I feel like people get brainwashed by playing dave songs all the time. It limits your own creativity because you start to see things in terms of dave.

If you(the op) have been playing for 10 years and can play every dave song but have never written one of you own, I'm sorry.

[unccrombie]

solo over any song you hear...no, not dave matthews. Other songs.

Also, I feel like people get brainwashed by playing dave songs all the time. It limits your own creativity because you start to see things in terms of dave.

If you(the op) have been playing for 10 years and can play every dave song but have never written one of you own, I'm sorry.
indeed, but one thing playing dave has taught me is different ways to look at chords and such.

solo over anything mr. young plays

[Carbon Copy]

solo over omar rodriquez

[stratocoustic05]

if you don't know how to read music, such as myself, just listen along with your fav music and play single note stuff to it, out of boredom you'll start to experiment with hammer ons, pull offs, bends, key changes, etc and soon you'll start to develop some lead guitar backbone. also, try to vary the types of music you play to if you want to be diverse in your playin. listen to a lot of blues if you like, a lot of rock, a lot of jazz, and everything in between, and soak up as much as you can. start paying attention to the differences in different styles of playing, and mimic until you can take it in your own direction. and of course, have fun.


i <3 the guitar

[jimibadfish]

is it just me, or does all of this stuff not kind of wrap together eventually? i've been playing for five years, have a nice ear (if i do say so myself), and learned to solo pretty much on my own...

how do you have a great ear and have the ability to play any song you hear, but you can't string some notes and bends together?

Good question.

[jdub104]

start off by soloing over Giant Steps by John Coltrane

[Dancing Ants]

start off by soloing over Giant Steps by John Coltrane

definitely. if you can't do this the first time around, just give up, cause you'll never accomplish anything. ;)