From
the many years of teaching I've done over the past
25 years, I've seen a lot of players struggling with
the same kinds of problems in a single string soloing
situation. Simply put: how to move from point 'A'
to point 'B' on the guitar neck in an interesting
way. One good idea is to start playing all your scales,
including Pentatonic, Diminished and Symmetrical scales
playing three notes per string. You probably won't
use it 'as is', but from this perspective it's easier
to see the four note per string options, even if you
don't use the 'four fingers per string' scales. It's
also very clear from the three note per string perspective
how to start skipping notes in the patterns, (playing
'1-2-4' instead of '1-2-3' then going on to '1-4-2'
and 1-3-4 etc.) eventually moving horizontally up
and down the neck, even without making slides. Using
the middle and index fingers of your right hand makes
for better control playing large intervals across
different strings.
I've transcribed a few lines I've recorded in the past for your enjoyment. It's a good idea to play the lines for all the scales you know, reverse them, change the rhythm around, etc. Make sure to always practise with a metronome or drumcomputer and before you know you'll be ripping your fellow guitar player's head off. I hope you can find some useful information in here. |
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Here's one I did on "Cullera" (René Engel - 'Spheres Of Samarkand'). The solo starts off with a Db maj 7 flavour.The first bar outlines Bb (minor) Pentatonic, for a 'home' Db Ionian feel.Then I take it out with the F diminished scale, eventually going back into Db maj 7, but making it Lydian this time around for even more harmonic interest. |
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This line is from piece called 'Equator', which I played exclusively on the VG-8. It's not released yet. It features some extended F# diminished lines over a pumping 'E' bass. It's a good idea to start involving the fingers of your right hand here to facilitate playing those large intervals.
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Here's another line from the song 'Equator'. Lots of harmonic movement over an E bassline. First I start off by creating some tension, adding a D# for a E Melodic Minor flavour. In the second octave I play around the D# with some chromaticism to emphasize that note even more. Going on to A diminished leading into an Ab 7 arpeggio downwards, everything still happening over the same E bass note. |
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Taken from 'Dirt' (Generator) this one is a sweep. It's an A diminished scale over an Ab 7 flavoured bassline, outlining the chord tones of an Ab7/b9/#11 chord. It's a great idea to apply this form through different scales and sets of strings, it will surely open op new possibilities within scales.
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Here's a nice sequence in D pentatonic. Performing sequences might be a 'mathematical' approach, however, the outcome is very musical if you get a feel of how to 'break' the sequence and move it around the neck in an interesting and musical way. The sequence here is 2-3-1, meaning in a three note per string situation, the second note is played first, then the third note, etc. Performing this choice of notes with a two note per scale comfortably at a higher tempo shape would be a lot harder and it would sound way more 'practised' than this relaxed shape.Cool thing is that if your fingers know the 'reflex' you can apply this shape in any three note per string scale. Note how the line is displaced by skipping a few strings in the end. |
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Here's kind of an interesting sound over a standard sounding rock riff. The riff (D5-C5) implies a D Dorian character. At the end of the first measure I change that to a D7 by playing an F# (major third) instead of an F and I add a bluesnote (G#) You can also look at it as being an Eb diminished scale which always works good for creating some tension over a standard riff like this. |
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A nice example of connecting modes while playing through changes.This is played on a demo of an older original called 'Seasons'. Note how the line starts of on the 2nd position of the A string, ending on the 12th fret of the high E string, all connected without making slides, which is a sound that I don't like to make much. The scale is Ab melodic minor played over a B maj7 #5. |
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The sequens 1-6-2-4-3-5 is one of my favorites. I play the last three notes a string higher to make the intervallic leaps even bigger. Note the various rhythms that are used to create a feeling of excitment. The line starts of with 8th's, speeds up to triplets and on to 16 th's, all rhythms are played in an upgoing contour, in ideal way of creating tension and excitement. Make sure to use the fingers of the right hand for extra-ease in playing the larger intervals. |
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An example of a 6-note sequens 7 - 4 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 6. Repeating un uneven number of notes makes for a nice displaced rhythmic figure.
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This one is played on guitar synth. The idea is based on 3-2-1 but the line jumps one string and moves up in Eb pentatonic.
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Here are some cool rhythms to use with all the above phrases to get some variation. |
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