BLUES-ROCK
This month Jon Bishop is looking to supercharge your soloing and add interest to your lead work. If you feel it’s time to explore some new ideas then look no further.
VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/4a7AmPe
Welcome to this month’s feature centred on playing better solos. In it we aim to identify core techniques and soloing concepts with a view to supercharging your vocabulary. There are 15, four-bar examples to study complete with backing tracks to practice with.
We have split the examples into three sections, each with five examples. The first section is based around technique. Section two is more music theory based and the third section concentrates on taste and feel.
Each example is four bars long and there’s a two-bar drum break to allow you time to prepare for the next example. As an added extra there are two 16-bar jam solos to learn, again with a corresponding backing track. The jam solos will help you to contextualise what you have worked on, and also provide a canvass to come up with your own ideas. We have linked and adapted the examples to create functioning jams so you can see how smaller bits of vocabulary can be pieced together to create a real-world solo.
To keep things simple all of the examples are in the key of C. We have catered for both Major and Minor soloing so the main scales in use are C Minor Pentatonic (C-Eb-F-G-Bb) for the C Minor examples and jam, and C Major Pentatonic (C-D-E-G-A) for the C Major examples and jam. The ideas have been notated with a C Major or C Minor key signature so you can clearly see the various note choices and chord/scale relationships.
The main focus of this feature is to work on enhancing various articulations and embellishments, but it’s good to be mindful of using the correct Major and Minor Pentatonic scales in just the right places to fit the underlying chords.
Some of the many ways we can add interest to the notes and phrases include string bending, sliding into notes, various types of harmonics, finger vibrato, and whammy bar vibrato. There’s also whammy bar manipulation, including slide guitar emulation and vocal style phrasing, plus hammer-ons and pull-offs including legato phrasing. You’ll also encounter finger tapping using both fretting and picking hands, and of course one of the most important aspects of all, rhythm.
Each of the 15 examples has been designed to highlight a key technique or articulation type and many of these examples are in the style of famous players that helped to progress the world of lead guitar playing to where it is today.
If you are working on a new technique or concept it is well worth taking your time and starting slowly. Rushing forward can be a false economy in the long run.
