How to write a Guitar solo?

[Ebywyld]

Wow... too bad there aren't people like you near Las Vegas. Out here, its almost impossible to find a drummer who would be willing to go online to "aid his guitarist", much less AFTER he helped write the entire song! Geez man, keep up that work ethic, and something will click eventually...

[thesilentdrummer]

Originally Posted by Ebywyld

Wow... too bad there aren't people like you near Las Vegas. Out here, its almost impossible to find a drummer who would be willing to go online to "aid his guitarist", much less AFTER he helped write the entire song! Geez man, keep up that work ethic, and something will click eventually...

thanks man. I'll try

[scribe]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I've had some great results by comping together a bunch of takes that were just a bunch of messing around.

Brandon

Yep,
This works wonders for me. (<......bassist) I almost sound convincing at times too.

[dannyman]

Memorize your scales, learn how to tap, tremolo pick, sweep, bend, etc.., and then you will have no problem making kick ass solos off the top of your head.

[ryuincubusa]

ok.. so i don't know much about your song and therefore it's gonna be hard to give any specific advice. however, what i usually do when i hit a block in my songwriting is that i take a little time off ya know? don't worry about it for about a week and here's what really helps during this time.. listen to a lot of other music!!! don't make it all the same though once when i had to do this i listened to nothing but red hot chili peppers for a week straight until i started just hearing it in my head.. random licks coming together to make a coherent and badass pattern! but!!! i still didn't pick up my guitar for another couple days after until i had all this randomness sorted out in my head and had a general idea of what i wanted. at this point i picked up my guitar and started at the 2nd chorus right before the space i'd reserved for a possible solo and what do you know? it works pretty damn good lol. i'll be the first to admit this isn't the best way to write a solo.. it can end up sounding either really bad or really good just depending on your skill on a guitar i suppose.. another thing i can tell you is to keep it simple for a while.. you can make your solo into anything you want later but for now just find those key notes and get those down and build your solo around that and before long it should sound exactly how you want it to

[JWhis]

Apart from all the info here, here is what works for me (when improvising doesn't):

1) Identify the key of the song (for this example let's say A major)
2) Identify the chords you will be soloing around (is there a modulation in the song? Many songs switch emphasis to the 4th etc during instrumental breaks - your song may be in A, but the break could be based on C# or E and then you could solo in any number of scales, including A, C# 12 note etc. An example of this is a song I have on my page called "The Traitor", it is in E major, but the solo is in C# major, you can see my link if you want to know how that turned out, i'm no hendrix .
3) Choose a scale(s) to solo in, for this example, you could go A minor pentatonic for a blues/rock sound, A major pentatonic for BB King blues sound/or folk chicken picken sound, or Major/Minor, Dorian mode, whatever depending on the mood of the song
4) Try to place the key notes of the solo around the notes of the chords they are on top of. If there is a strong bash on A for instance, you might want your solo to contain an A, C#, E etc at that point - this is not hard and fast, but will make your solo sound normal. You can add oddball notes for effect as needed.
5) The chord pattern and vocal phrasing will suggest a melody, like the others said, maybe start with something similar to that, then on round 2 expand into something for elaborate, kind of like Sunshine of Your Love by Cream, nice and easy going in, then builds.

[ChicoBluez]

Let yourself have fun!

I very seldom have a set thought for a solo live or recorded. The solo takes on it's own life and develops into a full blown idea by allowing it to do so. The honest translation from your heart, head, to your hands will do the rest of the magic. Once that process happens, you've got something worth while regardless of technical skill level.

Chico

[Strangedogs]

I usually do my SOLOs in my head - then hum or whistle them - then attempt to duplicate them on the guitar... when jammin' live I just improvise something - whatever comes into my head.

[brandondrury]

I very seldom have a set thought for a solo live or recorded. The solo takes on it's own life and develops into a full blown idea by allowing it to do so. The honest translation from your heart, head, to your hands will do the rest of the magic. Once that process happens, you've got something worth while regardless of technical skill level.

Yeah, but it takes a whole bunch of technical skill to get to that point, unfortunately!

Brandon

[Cailyn]

There is no one way to write a guitar solo. Being from a blues background, I tend to improvise endlessly until I get what I want. Working in the DAW, I can play through a solo a dozen times or two dozen times, record the results, and then pick through the recordings. I take the pieces I like and string them into a coherent solo. These solos have the best "feel" as I try and maintain the improvised atmosphere even if it ends up being a highly structured solo.

Sometimes I sit down and write the solo musically start to finish. These solos tend to be more melodic as I've spent more time thinking about the chords I'm playing over and what unexpected twists I can take.

Sometimes, the solo will just play in my head and then I have to rush to capture as much as I can. This can be some of my best work but I can't really explain the process.

Regardless, all require a good knowledge of scales, a sense of melody, and a vast store of riffs. I really feel improvisation is the heart of writing and I do it whenever I can, at least an hour a day. I'm not sure this is a skill that can be taught.