By now, perhaps you are coming along well with the exercises. But you may wonder how on earth do you apply technique to soloing? This is a difficult question and is similar to the equally difficult question, "How do you play lead"? There are no strict answers to these types of questions. Some people prefer to learn a handful of riffs, and then their playing becomes dominated by their riffs. I prefer to view solos like vocal sections. Whether it is a solo, or a melody, I feel that something is always being communicated, and what better way to communicate than treating your guitar like a voice. So when I write solos, they usually are inspired by a melody and are dominated by the melody. A solo may have several main parts, and technique comes into the picture when I try to connect the parts meaningfully.

The exercises that follow show riffs from a few songs I recorded (some in dire need of a re-recording!). In the included audio files, you will notice that you don't hear the riff until several seconds after you start playing the file. I did this so that you can hear the musical context of the riff (i.e. what led up to it).

I find that ascending scalar runs are a great way to add tension and that descending runs are a great way to resolve tension. So why not combine both? This next concept ascends with tension and then descends to a resolving note. The accents are placed to make it rhythmic and more interesting. You'll want to have your alternate picking up to speed for this one!

Do not focus on playing this note for note. Just focus on the notion of ascending and then descending. Also, use legato or alternate picking wherever you want.

Note: I re-recorded this song, and played this lick a little differently.When it comes to fast licks like this, I usually don't play them the same each time. But the tab is still fairly accurate.