how can you spontaniously make guitar solos?

Answer 1

Louis Armstrong used to say that at least six hours of practice went into every spontaneous solo he ever played. Knowledge of major, minor, modal, pentatonic, chromatic, and exotic scales helps quite a bit (especially that lovely Hungarian scale) but the secret to a great solo is to find the alternate melody within the same chord structure.

Some people can do this off the top of their heads, but most of us have to work on it. The process is simple, but time consuming:

1. Learn the song. Learn everything you can about it, every nuance, and every alternate melody line.

2. Remove the chord progression from the melody. I use a sideman (Band in a Box or a similar program) Play the chord progression over and over while you play over it. Incorporate bits of the melody, alternate melody, bass line, and even quotes from other songs, within what you are doing. Notice that I did not say cram every note that you can into every measure until your fingers bleed. Make an alternate melody, with spaces, pacing, a buildup, a climax, and a release. Just like any good movie, just like any great joke.

3. Memorize the best bits and string them together into a comprehensive solo. Write it down in a notebook if you can. Keep track of all the great bits.

4. Repeat the process

Eventually, you will learn that most chord progressions are very similar, and that there are many "one size fits all" phrases that can be used in soloing. You can't just use them all the time, but interspaced between bits of genius, they can get you through the night nicely.

You can also listen to the great soloists and borrow little bits from what they do. This is called quoting, and the more you do it, the better you get. If you tell people who you borrow from, they will inevitably start comparing you to that musician. It never hurts to get your name mentioned in the same breath as someone famous. This is called borrowing someone's authority and it is legitimate and cool. Remember, a plagiarist is a person who steals from one artist. A genius is a person who steals from everybody.

Mostly, you play. You set up a side man and play on your own. You go through the solo part over and over again with your band until you get a sound that everyone agrees is complete genius, and you keep track of everything that went right in a performance so you can do it again. Many lead guitarists record every performance they possibly can. It isn't because they're vain. It's because something might go right and they want to make sure they can do it again! Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Know your scales. Major and minor pentatonics are a must. The scales can be moved up and down the neck, transposing the key you're in. The same shape on the fifth fret will give you a scale in the key of A to solo, but move it just one fret down and you're in A#. Even when improvising, though, you may have a basic idea of where you're going with it and what you want to accomplish. Learning solos of other bands can help, because you'll learn a few tricks, bends, slides, etc. that you can cannabalize and use as your own.

Answer 3

I suppose the scales come in handy for spontaneous solos, but knowledge of chords and their progressions in every key is a must. I simply pick a few notes as I go along and it turns out to be decent leads.