Solo's - my strugle

[bucketorain]

Ok, here it is...i feel pretty confident that i can solo to most any song...what i do is follow the chord structures for the melody and almost take an arpegio approach to it but not exactly.

My struggle is that i seem to only use strings 1-4 for the the most part...is that common or am i missing out? i just cant see to hear solos on 5 and 6. granted i do use them but not as often.

what can i do to fix this?

thanks!

[Tennessee Jedi]

Yo
The low notes can be cool - yer definitely missing out.
Maybe work on scales just on the E and A string.
I love when Jerry gets on the low strings like on Other One.
Check out Pete.Bs Eyes vid.He gets wicked on a 5 string- and sounds great when he hits those low strings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR8f0Do9tAQ

[KCJones]

Here's an awsome article on soloing/improvising. I suspect Jerry would agree whole heartedly and even learn from.

http://www.jazzguitar.com/features/sharrock.html

[BuddhaG]

Great article, KC!

Very non-technical except when he says he finds all of the appropriate scales and modes within a few frets. Great advice.

As for your specific question... find the notes you would be playing on strings 1-4 and play them on the bass strings. You should be able to hear that they are the same. It may be a matter of practice in your scale runs so that your hands are comfortable using the top strings in quick transition from the bottom ones.

I also found myself using the top 3 strings on solos but when I realized that was boring, I push myself out of the comfort zone during practice.

[cunamara]

Good discussion! I think that there is a tendency for guitarists to gravitate towards higher notes because they are easier to hear over the band. Lower notes get lost in the bass, keys, rhythm guitar and even the drums. But a good soloist trains him/herself to use every note on the guitar. And a good band knows how to make space for the soloist to play in any register.

Jerry made a lot of use of lower notes at different times, as others have pointed out, and also played on the low E and A strings up above the 12th fret to get a fat horn-like sound from the wound strings.

[qiuniu]

I usually try to start a solo on the 6th string and kinda 'creep' into the solo, I also think its a wonderful place to resolve (or disappear).

When I'm down around the 12th fret I also like to go back and use the 5th and 6th string if I can, I think the notes there are very sharp and rich for low notes.

[High Peaks]

Try playing some bluegrass. This forces you to start and mostly play in the first position. That way you can't help but use the E and A strings.

[weirimpressed]

high peaks, do you have any specific examples you could point out, im trying to incorporate more bluegrass into my practice routines, but cant find tabs/sheet music to learn and study from (at least some traditional, typical bluegrass solos)

[mutant_dan]

Check out this site for some basic bluegrass/newgrass lessons online..

http://www.musicmoose.org/

[KCJones]

What a cool site Musicmoose.com is, thanks for the tip. You gotta check out this videe on there, holy shit, these dudes are insane:

http://www.musicmoose.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=32

[weirimpressed]

yes, def. a great link, thanks for the tip

[d-v-s]

What a cool site Musicmoose.com is, thanks for the tip. You gotta check out this videe on there, holy shit, these dudes are insane:

http://www.musicmoose.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=32

WOW! thanks for pointing out this video clip. these guys just play way to fast for me. my brain doesn't work at that speed!!

[charliehornsby]

great posts here. loved the improvising article. if you guys have any links or posts particular to piano improvising, please let me know

[crazyfingerssotm]

musicmoose is gone. Anyone know where it may have gone? I wanted a good resource for bluegrass lessons.

**UPDATE** I guess there are a bunch of videos from them on youtube still.

[astroman99]

I was the opposite of you, always played the lower notes, forced myself to go higher, still do!
good luck...