[scotty_b]

We have had many discussions on note choice in soloing - perhaps we could discuss another part of the equation, which is phrasing. How do you work on phrasing, and which players do you admire for this. I think it is the first lick that EC plays in White Room between the vocals - the note choice is ok but the inflections he brings to it make it really sing. His tone on that track is also amazing.
Miles' solo on 'So What' (Kind of Blue - an album everyone really should own) is also built from some incredible phrasing. Cannonball Aderley's solo is also very sweet on that take.

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi, Scotty. Not many takers for this topic, eh? Phrasing is such a subtle aspect of music that it's hard to even think of a way of discussing it.

I think the main thing I do when playing melodically, whether it's off the cuff or a set melody line, is really try to imagine singing the lines. Singers need to take breaths, the same applies to playing; singers are singing actual phrases of English language, players need to emulate that ... play phrases of music, in other words deliver the melody in self contained chunks that add up to the whole; singers tell the story of the song, so should instrumentalists; singers don't sing scales, they sing melodies, so try and emulate that too.

Apart from all of those aspects, there's the question of how you play the phrases ... on the beat, behind the beat, in front of the beat ...

Good question, but it's a hard one!

[WernHalen]

I always thought my phrasing was ok, till someone came to me and said: "... could you please rephrase that?" lol

Phrasing is probably the single most important thing that puts us as players apart form easch other. I listen to a player and I think "wow I wish i could sound like that..." and that same person says the same thing about my playing... it is cause we all phrase things differently. We interpret music in different ways. I might think it is a fast choppy piece when the next person brings a nice laid back sound to the front...

I just wish my phrasing could be better, I find that I do nice mellow songs nicely but faster choppier songs I have some trouble with.

[Justapicker]

It is hard to discuss! I guess an apt analogy would be someone delivering a soliloquy. A good speaker, one that will grasp and keep your attention, knows how to create drama by inserting pauses, emphasising certain words through changes in volume and inflection and changing the cadence of his delivery.

The same techniques apply to making a musical statement. We want to avoid deadpan, montone delivery, run-on sentences, and we want to create a sense of drama or anticipation.

[si16]

The following three posts came up in another thread a week or two ago discussing phrasing and so I thought it would be a good idea to reproduce them in this thread in a slightly edited format.

[si16]

Originally posted by GT

Originally Posted by GT

1-Look, phrasing is EVERYTHING on a solo. Its a CHAT between the performer and the outside. When i play a solo im creating i start by SINGING in my head what i want to reproduce on the guitar.

2-You wont say the same thing (as an "I love you") to your girl 10 times in a row and you wont xpect to bore her. I mean, you can try and move on the freetboard up and down. I ussually start on the lower freets and then increase the intensity by moving forward. Also, on the other half, you wont speak to a girl 10000 words in a second..... thats what happen to shreaders as Yngwie...they dont say anything, they just express a feeling, "a-la understand it as you wish" but is not comunicating something specific.

3-The silences between each lick is also a good thing to learn... Mr David Gilmour is a master of it.

4-Think in a solo as when your with a lady...start slowly (you wont throw your best licks here on the first 10 seconds,wont you?), then increase the speed, add mooore passion and get to the climax(yea %$%$ niow is the time of those killer licks!!!)!!!! aaaaaaarrgghhhh......then slow down...just like when your with a lady ....i tell you

[si16]

OldG

Originally Posted by OldG

question/answer phrasing - put out a lick that sounds like a question,wait till the time is right (in context with the backing track) then answer it with your reply. this can work for all moods you want to create - depending on the 'conversation/arguement' you are evoking with your playing. And as GT mentioned check some David Gilmour....

[si16]

I'd also just echo the other members thoughts on phrasing. Try and anticipate each approaching phrase, work out in your head what you want to hear and then try and play it.

Frank Sinatra was a master at phrasing, anyone can learn a lot from his tunes. For the same line or phrase in a song sometimes he would add in extra words or sometimes take words away, sometimes he would sing it with a triplet feel, sometimes he'll emphasise different words, other times he'll hold on to one note a bit longer than before.

Kirk also is very good at phrasing, check out some of his tunes on the radio and listen out for similar things.

[scotty_b]

Some very good comments in there guys!

[lorispencer]

my two cents - phrasing is what seperates an instrument player from a musician. You can be technically very good but no soul comes across in your music. Your instrument is your voice and it has to speak to those listening.

[cjar]

Great thread guys,

The play it as if you were singing it really helped me out
Thank
cjar

[Stratrat]

I'm far from proficient in improvisation/soloing - but one of the best pieces of advice I've read yet, and one that I try to use when I practice, is to "let it breathe".

[wjp01908]

I`m with Kirk in that it`s a great help to imagine speaking or singing the melodic line.

I think musical skills are intricately wired in our brains with the same bits that let us work with the rhythms, tone and melody of speech. If you can mimic them in your playing, you will actually begin to communicate some sort of feeling with the sounds you are making.

You are in effect, saying it with your fingers IMHO.

Will

[Jamonkey]

hey,

I tend to think of building a solo as storytelling. I think I'm almost repeating the above comments except I'm "re-phrasing" it lol. Letting it breathe is a good idea, what you don't play can be just as important as what you do, I'm a shredaholic so I go against the typical feelings of the board, but I still realize that you don't just play a rhythm line and all the sudden go and play 30 notes a second it just doesn't make sense.

If your telling a story, you'll start out with an introduction, I'll play what will be the main theme first and then I give it detail like it were an introduction. I'll "say" something, then define it by playing it an octave higher (kinda like saying something and responding to it in a higher voice). I'll slowly add intensity, and speed to build up to a climax and then eventually a resolution.

Alright, that's how I approach it.

[WernHalen]

Letting it breathe always sounds tome like you are saying it slowly... Not always a bad thing, but to me I am finding that I am playing all my solo's slowly, I try to do it emotionally. I think I get it right to a degree when playing slowly, but...

The problem that i have is that, whenever the song calls for a faster solo (not shredding necessarily) I am a bit stumped... I play the notes but the solo does not "breathe" anymore... Maybe it is just me, maybe I am making more of this than it already is, but I am not too happy with my phrasing when playing faster solo's... Sometimes though...

Any ideas on this?