Guitar Soloing Tips
By Ryan Gloman

Who doesn't want to be able to play a mind-blowing guitar solo? Even people who don't play guitar want to play guitar solos. In this article, I'm going to give you some guitar soloing tips that will help you on your way to playing those mind-blowing guitar solos.

The first tip I am going to give you is to build your solo up. Think of it kind of like sex. The best kind is the kind that takes awhile to get to the finish line, but when you get there EXPLOSION! The same is true of guitar solos. Don't just unleash a flurry of notes right away. Force yourself to leave space in the beginning of your solo. It will make your rapid fire more effective.

The second tip I am going to give you is to vary you dynamics. That means to vary your volume. You don't need to play at full tilt all the time. In fact, if you start off playing some quiet notes it can really lay the groundwork for the storm that you release later.

The third tip I am going to give you is to memorize whatever pattern you are using on the fretboard. This mainly refers to an improvised solo. I don't mean to memorize your solo, although this can be helpful if you don't have a lot of experience. But you should memorize the scale form on the fretboard in at least one position. You can't play much of a solo if you don't know which notes to use.

The fourth tip I will give you is to use all the registers of the guitar. That means to use both the high and the low notes. A lot of beginning guitarists think that they have to be playing in the double digit frets to express any emotions. This is far from the truth. You can play very expressive and meaningful notes down in the lower registers of the instrument.

My fifth tip is to use repetition judiciously. Repetition can be a great tool for building up tension. For a perfect example, just listen to Free Bird by Lynard Skynard. There isn't a much better use of repetition in a guitar solo. Obviously though, if you use it too much you will put your listeners to sleep.

My last tip is to NOT use everything you know in every solo. Some of the best solos are the simplest. Just because you know one-bajillion scales doesn't mean you have to use all of them. So what is the take home message from this article? I think you can tell by now that it is VARIATION!! No matter what you are doing - fast notes, high notes, behind the head notes - try to vary it up a bit by doing the opposite every now and then. Showing that contrast will make the technique you are using much more effective.

My name is Ryan Gloman and I have a passion for guitar and a passion for sharing information. I hope that this article helps you on your way to becoming a great guitarist. I understand that learning to play the guitar can be a daunting task at times. Luckily, you can find tons of helpful info on the net. Check out this site for some great tools.

Source: Ultimate guitar blog.