[lle7]

now that i have a better idea and direction of creating a solo over a piece of music. so im trying to make my own solo for the song House of Rising. This song has a nice chord progression and just simple. i thought that if it's easy enough for beginners then maybe i could come up with a solo. it turns out not as easy as i thought. it's stressing me out because when you sit down with your guitar knowing chords tones is the way to go and i was also trying to apply some of the A natural minor scale into the solo because i know it best but i just cant come up with any creative riffs . it's like when you trying to write a paper and you have writer's block. i listen to a lot of music that has really smooth solos and i get ideas from them. At the time im listening to it, i thought i could play something that sounds like that but when im holding my guitar, i dont remember anything i listened to.

is there any tips on how to be more creative?

[allthumbs]

I have played long enough that sometimes the melody tends to just float up out of the chords I am playing.
Sing or hum over the chord progression. Find the notes you need to and embellish them. It is not uncommon for a solo to mimic the melody of the lyrics. Don't forget that you can use bits and pieces of barre chords up the neck to add diversity to your solo.

[solidwalnut]

Yeah, I just want to echo what AT is saying.

Think away from the guitar. Sing or hum the melody or a counter melody. Better yet, one way to get creative is to learn how to play the melody, then embellish it. One thing's for sure, learning to sing or hum the melody will be a baseline for you from which to be creative.

Or think of a counter melody, or just a theme. You can make your own series four or five notes and call that your baseline and take off from there.

[hb]

If you can read music, perhaps you want to take a look here:
Sheet Music Downloads & Books | Musicnotes.com
There's very few songs they don't have and some of them come in different formats. Some of them, you can even change the key it's written in. They sell the sheet music, but you can view the first page of the music for free, but if you want the entire song you have to buy it. The reason I'm saying this, is a lot of the time you can get 90% of the melody line by looking at the first page (which is free). This might speed up working on the melody. Just my 2 cents worth! Good luck.
hb