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.

Another technique I love to use are descending legato runs with intelligently placed pauses (i.e. accented at down or upbeats in the song for instance). They tend to make for a great ending to a solo. Vai and Satriani do this a lot too. The key is to make it fluid sounding. The sweep arpeggio at the end of this lick adds to the descending feel of the lick and adds variety to the legato phrasing.

For this exercise, the most important things are to be fluid with the legato, and to focus on the accents. The arpeggio run at the end can be tricky, but like everything else on this site, it can be nailed with practice.

Note: I re-recorded this song and played this lick a little differently. You'll notice in the clip that the pauses during the descending legato part are longer than what is shown in the tab.

I find most Pentatonic riffs to be overused, so when I do play Pentatonic style lines, I try my best to add some sort of twist so that it doesn't sound like every other pentatonic riff out there. In this example, I add sweeps to build an ascending pentatonic run. I think you'll agree that this doesn't sound like a typical penatonic riff. Indeed it is pure Pentatonic though. This toughest part of this lick will be the rapid position shifting that is needed. Futhermore the sweeps make it somewhat asymmetric, in that each sweep has a slight different shape.

Like I said above, the position shifting and sweeps are the toughest part of this riff. When you play this one, really build up aggressively to that final bent note.

It is so easy to sound immature when it comes to tapping. For some reason people think tapping gives you a license to play as far outside a key as possible, if you know what I mean. I rarely tap, but when I do, I try to make it melodic and harmonically interesting sounding. I prefer tapping passages along the lines of what Vai or Nuno Bettencourt would do. In this example, there is a repeating pattern that descends for closure of a solo. The repeating pattern involves a quick trill with the tap finger and a tapped slide. It gives the riff a nice flowy sound. Make sure your tapping skills are up to speed!

There is a lot of position shifting going on in this riff. So make sure you are shifting to the right positions. It is very easy to hit a few wrong notes here and there with this riff (as I often do!).

Yet another technique I love are pedal tones. They are a good way to prep, for instance, a fast descending run, as is the case in this concept. They fit nicely in the middle of a solo, connecting a preceding and following section. In other words, they help you transition a solo to something new. Use of accents in these types of riffs is a must!

This one is pretty basic. Just go with it!

Ok, this one really isn't as long as it looks! I have said it many times. I love harmonically interesting lines. I particularly like wide intervals. I like coming up with interval-based riffs and repeating the pattern. It really helps put a solo in motion. Sometimes when I am lacking solo ideas, I just create riffs at random til I find something pleasing to the ear. That was the case with this one. The pattern I suppose can be viewed as arpeggios executed with legato and picking. The placement of accents is crucial to the feel of these types of riffs. You want to create a rhythmic mocement with the riff and then lead it into whatever you desire - in this case a descending run. Note that if the descending run was played with strictly alternate picking, then it would sound too agressive and would lose the fluidity that legato gives it. You'll want brush up on your legato and picking skills for this one!

The toughest part of this riff is the stretching needed to play the wide intervals, and the position shifting between the 2 interval licks. Try nailing the interval licks by themselves before playing the entire lick.

The use of bends and vibrato in a solo is a major component of phrasing. It can adds a sense of intensity. And it is a good way to lead into another riff. In this case it leads to a quick picked, descending run (what can I say - I am a sucker for quick descending riffs!). The descending run itself also illustrates a nice technique. Notice the accented pauses. Try to create your own riffs like this. They really sound much better than just playing in even time.

Make sure that you are accurate with your bends here. And play the descending run using alternate picking.

Earlied I said I like to use descending legato runs with pauses to resolve tension. At least, I think I said that anyway. Well, I also like to play ascending legato runs with pauses to create tension in the first place. Note the placement of accents in this riff. It really helps with the tension building. And then after, it leads nicely to an agressive picked passage, and finally a sweep arpeggio riff to bring the idea to an end (i.e. from there it goes to the verse of the song).

With this riff, make sure that you are applying a lot of finger pressure to the slides so that those notes are sounding strongly. And for the picked passage, make sure you are picking smoothly and accurately.

As I have said before, I have a strong affinity for using wide intervals in my playing. I find them to be amongst the most harmonically interesting sounding lead lines. Especially when played nice and smoothly with legato.

As I said above, licks of this sort really shine when executed with smooth, fluid legato style. They also shine when played at a relaxed speed so that you can really appreciate the harmonic movement. Don't pay too close attention to the timing I indicate in the tab. The tempo is correct, but being the horrible transcriber I am (pretty sad that I can't transcribe my own music, huh?), it was tough for me to capture the feel of the lick. It is fairly close though. Of course, this lesson section is not about note-for-note playing of licks - it is about ideas. So walk away from this one with an appreciation of smooth legato and intervals!

As I have said many times before, I can't get enough of wide intervals in my lead playing. I especially like using wide intervals to take a lead section through a harmonically interesting progression. In this example, I use a series of ascending and descending lines which lead logically to an ascending scalar run to finish things off.

This is quite an involved lick that uses a variety of techniques. Most importantly, the first 2 measures are played entitrely with the left hand - purely hammer-ons and pull-offs. The way I play these types of licks is I reach my picking hand over my fretting hand and I enclose my hand around the neck to mute the strings (necessary to play these legato lines cleanly). This will feel very awkward at first. But after a while, you will appreciate how amazingly fluid you can play using this technique.

The rhythmic feel of this lick is also very important. As you listen to the audio, note where the downbeats are taking place and be sure that you capture the rhythmic feel that you hear.

As if the first 2 measures won't keep you busy enough, the last measure features a scalar run which requires some serious alternate picking chops. Again, note the rhythmic feel of this lick. I tried to capture that feel in the tab, but as always, I had a hard time tabbing the part. I think for the most part it is accurate enough to get the point across.

It has been a while since I used one of my own songs as material for a guitar lesson. And so I have gone through some of my songs to find examples of technique being used as the basis for a melodic riff or phrasing. Since so many of the guitar lessons on my site are rather challenging, I wanted to provide a guitar lesson that is much more easily digestable, but at the same time being challenging enough to make it worth your while. And so I settled on a riff that exhibits good use of legato (i.e. hammer ons and pull offs).

Above you see the tab for the riff. I am by no means a skilled transcriber and so the above tab is just a general representation. The notes are pretty much note for note, but you will just need to listen to the audio clip to get a better feel for the execution.

The toughest part of this riff is the rapid position shifting. I find riffs tht cover a wide range on the neck to generally be very interesting sounding and I think you will agree that this riff has a certain appeal.

Later,

Brian Huether