Solo writing frustration

[Isaac Moss]

Hey guys so I’m sitting here at one in the morning pretty frustrated not gonna lie trying to write a solo under a riff I have looped in a pedal. I came up with a tapping lick a week ago for it that I thought sounded pretty cool as a solo intro but after that I’ve been tying for an entire week to come up with other parts but I just can’t do it. Nothing I play sounds connected at all and I don’t know if I’m just stupid or what but I can’t come up with anything that sounds like it fits. I just want to be able to write solos as good as Syn but I freakin suck ass at writing lead stuff,I can write riffs easily but solos are so hard it’s like my mind goes blank which I hate because they’re my favorite part of most songs. Thanks if anyone has words of advice because idek if I’ll ever get there.

 

[Andrew Saunders]

Hey bud here is a link to a post dedicated entirely to this. There’s quite a few people on there who have made videos detailing how they write their solos so hopefully it is helpful for you.
Solo Trouble

 

[idssdi]

In short, try to have some kind of melodic theme in it and do the shredding around it. Remember a good solo isn’t just a collection of a bunch of licks it’s usually Melody mixed with some licks.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Remember that you want to try to carry a melody through the solo. It doesn’t really matter how you connect the dots as long as the main melody relates. Tempo can play a big part in that too. Honestly all I do is think what notes create the picture u wanna paint.

 

[Jake Arnold]

Syn said at one point to try and sing a melody to what you are trying to write your solo to. That’s what I started doing and it helps a lot because You don’t really have to do anything technical to come up with a cool melody, you can just hum something to it until you think of something you like.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

A pretty cliche thing to do is just start the solo off with the melody of the chorus vocals. It usually appears near the conclusion of the chorus, or where ever the message of the song appears. But you can get away with just playing that melody over the solo, and fill in the caps with maybe some alternate picking or economy picking.. sweep your way there.. maybe tap? THere’s lots you can do to get from one point to another. But usually, the same melody or notes seem to appear in the landing positions inthe solo. And since you can play the same notes all over the fretboard, you can easily expand your licks alll over the place by playing the same melody on another string 2 octaves higher or whatever. It is literally the same notes, but I bet the casual listener wont catch that, and the ones who do are just gonna know that you know your theory rather well.

 

[Isaac Moss]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I feel a bit stupid for not thinking melody mainly but I probably need to incorporate one. I’m. It very good at playing what I hear although I do practice it every day so hopefully something will come out! I’ve thrown in some other stuff, a big horrific unison bend sequence kinda like bat country and few repeating licks I’m moving around which is kinda like melody I suppose and a lot more tapping.

 

[Isaac Moss]

Hey @jake Arnold I like the idea of trying sing a melody for ideas, do you normally try and sing out an entire solo or just a base melody for like a foundation and then build on it? Thanks !

 

[Jake Arnold]

I usually start with just trying sing out a base melody and then once I put that on the guitar I will try to dance around that theme and figure out some cool stuff to put around it, but I’d say most of the time (since I’m not very good with theory) I do end up singing out most of the main parts of my solos.
I don’t know if this will help you at all, but I also like to think of a guitar solo kind of like a book. You want there to be an introduction, then introduce a “problem”, have it climax and then make a resolution for it. That might help you break it into sections so you don’t feel like you are trying to make this one big thing that overloads you all at once.
Sorry if that sounds like it way over complicates it, like I said I’m not very good with theory and that’s kinda how I break it down in my head. Haha
It of course differs with each song and the length of your solo but I found that it helps me make it fun when I’m getting frustrated.

 

[Isaac Moss]

Thanks dude! That’s really good advice, just by listening to a lot of great solos it seems there’s a general theme that’s put around it, kinda like the outro solo from so far away it all seems to fit so well.

 

[idssdi]

Good that you mention that. Make sure you listen to the song before you write the solo. A solo usually is like 10-20% of the song and it should compliment the song well(in other words it should fit the song). A solo that is great on its own but does not really fit the song (or doesn’t fit the vibe of the backingtrack you play over) is usually kind of a bad solo IMHO