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A solo is like a song within a song. This means that it needs to have a beginning, middle and an end. Once you have grabbed the listener’s attention with an ear-catching intro, you will need to keep their attention by implementing a well paced Solo. This could mean starting off slowly and building the solo in speed and intensity, until it reaches a climactic ending such as in Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” song (Led Zeppelin IV) 1971. Or just groove through the solo, letting melodic ideas and catchy phrasing hold the listeners attention to the end as in Bob Marley’s “I shot the sheriff” and “Stir it up” songs (Legend-Best Of Bob Marley). The middle of the Solo or its body should include interesting melodic ideas forming a motive (a short, recurring musical idea) in the form of a repeating melodic or rhythmic phrase. Phrasing: Playing lead Guitar is similar to everyday speech. When you speak, you use pauses, speed variation and dynamics (loud and soft) to make what you are saying more interesting and easier to understand. The same techniques can be applied to playing lead guitar. Phrasing Repetition:

An easy way to add length to a phrase is to repeat the musical statement over and over again. For example, if the rhythm is being played within a C major chord and the lead guitarist is playing a phrase in the key of C then when the rhythm changes chords to a F Major the lead guitars can repeat the last phrase verbatim in the key of F, and so on. As played in the solo of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 1970.

Written By Jeff Grossi 2007
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