[Cowchip500]

I'm curious as to how long it took everyone else to be able to solo? What was your main focus in practice (scales, improv, etc)?

What's the best way to lean the SRV chunk 'a chunk (shuffle)? I'm obsessed with Cold Shot (I even had a dream about it last night).
Even though I've been playing acoustic prior to this new guitar, my fingers feel like I caught them in the lawn mower I hope they recover by the time I get off work tonight!

[solidwalnut]

Originally Posted by Cowchip500

I'm curious as to how long it took everyone else to be able to solo? What was your main focus in practice (scales, improv, etc)?

Well, for me, I never played any notes or even tried to solo for the first 6 or 7 years of playing. I was glad that I had focused on rhythm playing because that served me well when I finally did begin to start soloing. My main focus was probably just learning licks and putting them together. I turned to practicing the major, minor and blues scales and learned the CAGED method and that changed my worldview. Then I met Kirk (online). His Planetalk method really helped me understand what I already knew but couldn't put into words: it's all about chord tones and melody.

Originally Posted by Cowchip500

What's the best way to lean the SRV chunk 'a chunk (shuffle)? I'm obsessed with Cold Shot (I even had a dream about it last night).
Even though I've been playing acoustic prior to this new guitar, my fingers feel like I caught them in the lawn mower I hope they recover by the time I get off work tonight!

Oh boy. SRV is about the most unique guitarist out there. There will probably be some other good answers coming, but I'd suggest just watching his right hand alot. He does an enormous amount of palm muting.

Just keep hammerin'! Your fingers will get used to it eventually.

Steve

[allthumbs]

I did a lesson or two on that Texas chunk sound, It is not that difficult with a little practice. The hardest part is the timing and a thick tone.

[Cowchip500]

I was in New Orelands and then Austin, TX a few weeks ago and I'm on a big blues kick now. The music (food, too) is great in both places but Austin has some amazing talent. I was there for work but stayed out till closing time every night. There was a group of players that move from bar to bar that I was following around.
Like I said, it was weeks ago but I can't get that shuffle out of my head. My biggest problem is that I'm not patient.
My new guitar has a low action, light strings and a Floyd Rose. Not exactly what's best for what I want to do, I know. I can play it for hours, though. It's actually a little easier to chunk on an acoustic but it wears me out.
I really need to work on chords with my blues scales too. I've always played down on the neck and never ventured from the safety of open notes. I'm resisting the temptation of taking lessons (cost and pride prohibitive) but I'm thinking about it more and more.

[allthumbs]

Consider that stevie used 13s on his strat. That gave him killer tone that you just can't get from slinky, thin strings. You can always lock your floyd so that it plays like a hard tail.

[Cowchip500]

OR, I could start shopping craigslist for another guitar

[solidwalnut]

Originally Posted by Cowchip500

OR, I could start shopping craigslist for another guitar

Something to consider is using a custom set of strings on your axe.

Since Stevie used 13's, which are huge for most people, at least trade out your tops for the next set. IOW, if you're now playing 9's, use the wound EAD strings from a set of 10's.

Caution, though. It may cause your guitar to need a new set-up 'cause it could cause fret buzz or the opposite which is higher than desired action.

But, between a set of 9's and a set of 10's it shouldn't make much difference. That's what I'm using now. I always use a custom set (for now I'm using Dean Markely Blue Steel Custom Lights).

Another word of caution when doing this: the nut of the guitar is usually slotted for the width of string that is recommended by the manufacturer. If you go wider than this and try to use the whammy, your top strings may bind up in the nut a bit and cause your strings to go out of tune.

This is what my next challenge is on my axe since my PRS nut was slotted for 9's.

Steve

[Stratrat]

With all the tab available nowadays, you can start copping other peoples' solos pretty quickly. You won't have the faintest idea what you're doing or why you're doing it, but once you learn them and work your speed up, you'll be able to play them.

To really solo (i.e., be able to improvise on your own without playing somebody else's solos, or to understand other peoples' solos you're playing), you need to learn the fretboard and a decent amount of music theory, to understand what notes will sound good over what.

From there, you can use scales/modes, or you can use chord tones. Scales are a "safe" approach and are probably the easiest way, but they can be somewhat limiting. You can use the A minor pentatonic/blues scale throughout a song in the key of A, for example, but you're only giving yourself a handful of notes to choose from. Chord tones allow you to diversify the sound more, and also blend more sweetly with the melody of the song. To quote Kirk, "melody loves chord tones".

My story - I played rhythm guitar in a backyard band when I was a teenager. I could play open and barre chords, but knew absolutely nothing about music theory and couldn't solo to save my life. At best I could cop a few licks from other peoples' solos, but had absolutely no idea what I was doing - I was just parroting the notes I had figured out from listening to a record over and over again. I had no idea what notes they were, how they related to each other, whether they were scale notes or chord tones, etc....all I knew was to place 'this' finger at 'that' fret, followed by 'this' finger at 'that' fret, etc. Beyond that, I was completely lost. Several of us would get together often for jam sessions, and we would often set up a simple chord progression (the middle of "Free Bird", for example), and guys would take turns soloing over it while the others played rhythm. Every time I tried improvising my own solo over it, it was nothing but a bunch of weak, discordant notes that sounded terrible and I would quickly switch back to playing rhythm while everybody else wailed away at solos. I had no idea what a "minor pentatonic scale" was, nor any other kind of scale. My total lack of knowledge severely crippled my playing, and since I was self-taught and couldn't afford lessons, I had no idea what to do to improve. I learned how to do string bends, how to do the Eddie Van Halen tapping stuff, etc., but could never find the "right notes" that sounded good because I didn't know what I was looking for or where to find it.

When I started playing again a couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to really learn the guitar this time....learn all the things I had been ignorant of when I was a kid, and see if I could make a little nicer noise than I did back then. I'm still definitely no whiz at it (I'm somewhere past "beginner" but nowhere near "beyond"!), but at least now I know what I have to learn/do and am working on it. I learned the minor pentatonic/blues scales and the major scale and fiddled with them, then bought Kirk's "Plane Talk" and learned more about music theory and the guitar from that book/CD than I had ever known in my life. I'm still working on assimilating all that knowledge in my head and transferring it to my fingers, but it certainly opened a lot of doors for me.

[Cowchip500]

Tabs are like Egyptian wall carvings, to me. When I was 9, my parents made me take piano lessons for 5 years, till I was ornery enough to tell the teacher I hated the piano. I wanted to play guitar.
I kinda wish I would have stuck with it. I also played trumpet in junior high & went to state in the jazz band (and took 1st place). After high school, I didn't touch an instrument for 6-7 years.
What is Plane Talk? Where can I find out more about it?

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by Cowchip500

...What is Plane Talk? Where can I find out more about it?

Plane Talk is the book written by Kirk Lorange - the founder of this website/forum. Click on the link at the top of the page (or even on the blue "Plane Talk" in your post), or scroll down to the bottom and check out the "Plane Talk FAQ's and Pre-Sales Questions" forum - there is a lot of talk about it from many members here expressing their thoughts about it. No tabs, no chord diagrams, no music ledgers - just an awesomely simple way to learn useful music theory and how to effectively use the whole fretboard of your guitar for playing/improvising.

[Cowchip500]

Thanx, I'll check it out.

[Nutty]

That`s a great testimony Strat. I can really relate to it.

Nutty

[ljt336]

Theory is everything and then it is nothing.
Like learning any language, once you observe the rules and variations and substitutions and alterations and become fluent, you forget how you do it, you just know what to do.
Improvisation comes from the subconcious directly to the players hands when done correctly, there is no thought involved.

[Cowchip500]

That's what I'm hoping for. A guy's gotta wonder if he's got enough creative talent to solo if he can just learn enough to be "proficient". I guess I could always go back to pickin' around the campfire, if nothing else.
This new guitar is starting to aggravate my wife, though. She can't get me to anything (except come to dinner). I've been playing this thing non-stop. I LOVE IT! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH!
Here's a dumb question; when playing (soloing) up the neck and you throw a chord in, is there a different name for that chord? I know that the old blues players usually based their solos off chords rather than scales. Has anyone been successful learning that way?

[thodwris]

hello my friend...
it depends on how long you are playing the guitar to start to solo.i am playing for about seven months now.i havw tried rather difficult songs to play such as dust in the wind,nothing else matters,love conquers all etc.as i see that i am doing good i now started trying to play my first small solo from the song of metallica,fade to black.there is a nice solo on the intro of the song.i hope you try it and enjoy it.but allways remember,go ane step at a time.practice a lot,that is the key.for starters play about two hours a day...
sincerelly yours...
theo