wtractor wrote:how do i learn to solo like that? or how did you learn to solo like that?
Hey wtractor - I guess first thanks - it's flattering that you'd like to emulate this.
Well as to the first part I've been trying to communicate my approach for about 4 years on this board, and w/o much real tecnical musical knowledge it hasn't been easy.
As for the 2nd part it's pretty much a combination of things. 1st I have a pretty good ear. Once I have something in my head I usually do a pretty good job of getting it to the fretboard. I've also been playing for about 26 or 27 years. As long as you have passion, and in my case a good ear, pretty good sense of melody, some decent dexterity in the fingers, drive to keep learning new things, and keep at it, you're gonna be pretty good after 27 years! Anyone who plays also want their music to 'say something'. To have some kind of rewarding impact. I'm often playing 'off of myself' in the sense that I'll play a phrase and then try to complement it, often by either having the complementary portion vary from the initial phrase to varying degrees, all the time conscious of what notes tend to evoke what sentiment depending on the song. Another big thing is trust which comes with becoming more and more comfortable with scalular sensibilities. We start a sentence, whether speaking (or typing!) with an idea of what we want to say but without really knowing what words we're going to use but with the trust that we will get our point across. I view soloing similarly. I may not know exactly what notes I going to play but I'm confident that with the scalular sensibilities I have that I'll be able to make it meaningful in some way.
For my money the most important things are to have a sense of melody, a good ear and curiosity.
Back to the first part. If you're speaking specifically about the verse lead boy you picked a good one! Yikes! It's always be one of the most challenging for me. I suppose it's about finding and adjusting to changing keys or modes or tonal centers. I find it to be important to really be cognizant of the chord I'm soloing 'over'. With Deal there's a whole lot goin on. In a way an extreme of my approach would be like arpeggiating throughout a chord progression and then with that in mind adding in notes (here's where that good ear helps) with the arpeggios to produce scales that reflect the tonal center. And then add in some chromaticism within that framework as well. At times (I've noticed along the way) a note may not sound right in a given context, until other notes are added in to change or expand the context.
Not sure if this is making any sense to you, or anybody else for that matter, and much depends on where you are in learning the instrument. So tell me a bit about where you are in learning to play.