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Location: Chicago | I've always wondered: "Where do great leads, improvised melodies come from?" The question has little to do with speed or technique or theory.. Some of the BEST leads involve just a few notes, like well-known solos by Neil Young or Paul Kossoff of Free. So, how do YOU approach the moment when you are "up front and center"? Do you hear or feel some sort of melody you reach for? Do you think of the key? or chords? Licks that get you going? Ingrained patterns? Some sort of visualization on the fretboard? Is it more a "head" thing or "hands"? "Seat of the pants"? |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | poorly  |
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Location: SoCal | I was going to post a snide comment, but what T28 said covers me too...... |
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Location: south east Michigan | If I'm up two goals or more I play dump & chase and try to keep the shifts short. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I don't. I've been taking lessons for over a year now to try to answer exactly that question. I've learned that the answer is complicated. |
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Location: Denver, CO | I don't play well enough to play leads live but when I'm recording I go purely on emotion. I try to find a simple riff that reflects the soul of the lyric. I will find 4 or 6 notes that complement the chord progression and melody, and build off that. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | legend74 - 2013-05-13 2:48 PM
"Where do great leads, improvised melodies come from?"
This actually sounds like TWO questions to me. "great leads" and "improvised melodies"
On my songs, leads have come from usually hours and hours of just playing what I feel compliments the rest of the song. Once I lock it in... I record it and learn it and always play it the same or close to the same every time.
I have a limited bag of tricks for "jamming" and prefer not to. If I don't feel the song, I can't just play a lead over it. Many people can, I'm not one of them.
As far as other peoples music, I generally do my version of the lead, or I just do it note-for-note how the original artist did it, whichever is easier... Again tho, if I don't feel it... nothing interesting comes out. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | "Great leads" and "improvised melodies"....
I wish.... |
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Location: SE Michigan | I confess that for most of our cover songs I work out a lead and memorize it, and then that's pretty much what I do from that point forward. When jamming or doing longer freestyle solos I have patterns on the neck that I have memorized that work with various chords and chord progressions. I also have a a pocket full of favorite riffs that I employ over and over again (...sigh...).
I have often asked great guitar players; what goes on in your mind when you play leads? Are you thinking notes like E-G-Bb etc? Are you thinking patterns on the neck? What is the mental process? I still have not received a good answer.
As I progress in my playing, I find that I am thinking more about the name of the actual note that I am playing. I also find that I am getting better and better at spotting alternate chord forms and partial chord forms all over the neck (see the book or video Fretboard Logic)
One thing I have heard before that I would like to study more is the concept of intervals, in other words, focusing more on the distance between notes in a pattern and how these intervals convey a mood or flavor. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I'm better at improving a melody than taking an outright lead. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | I try to stay in the same key as the song.
If that don't work... bend it until it is.
I gravitate toward a Steve Cropper/John Fogerty style. If I miss a note I can say that "I meant to do that". |
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Location: NW of Philadelphia | With great difficutly and frustration! |
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Location: Canada | Selecting random notes off a pentatonic scale can work wonders. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | merlin666 - 2013-05-14 9:09 AM
Selecting random notes off a pentatonic scale can work wonders.
I KNOW that it is in there somewhere...
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Location: Flahdaw | I've never been a lead player, but I know what I like, and for me less is more. The idea of cramming as many notes in a small space as you can just never appealed much to me. Sweet soulful licks, tasteful bends, and no overkill on the vibrato is what i love to hear. |
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Location: Jet City | My answer pretty much mirrors Mr O's answer. Usually I write a lead with much trial and error until I find something I can live with. Many times I hear things in my head but don't have the talent to pull 'em off.
I like to shift gears when I'm writing a solo. Usually there will be distinct and separate parts, breaking it up, trying to hold interest, and leading into some sort of crescendo at the end.
When it comes to 'jamming', I'm much less comfortable. I tend to fall into minor pentatonic and natural minor (aeolian mode) patterns.
I've just had my second lesson in 30 years last week, and will be continuing those going forward. I have too much time, energy, and money invested to continue being mediocre at best. I've already started learning new and improved patterns and ways of doing things differently that's adding some "life" to what was become mundane and pretty predictable. I've also learned that though I have good fretting hand techniques, my picking has been all wrong for 30 years now. Not an easy one to fix, but Im working at it. |
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| Learn scales and modes. Then jam with a buddy who is playing the desired chords.
I'm just learning, but last night I had an awesome time with leads. I don't even remember the progression, but for the verses I was using a mixolydian scale, and for the chorus a blues run sounded the best. They were different keys too!
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | That's why we have a lead guitar player.  I'm a rhythm and harmony guy; I play a few minor leads and fills, do a really good job of fingerpicking and am a pretty decent strumming rhythm guitarist. I wouldn't know what a minor pentatonic was if I stepped on it, and my hat's off to all you guys and girls who do. Be that as it may, not knowing scales has not hampered my ability to make and enjoy music. I probably do intuitively know what some of those things are, but I just don't know what they're CALLED.
When I do play leads, I'm sorry to say, I memorize them. I know that you're supposed to intuitively KNOW where to go - and I do for my rhythm and fingerpicking stuff - but leads are a whole 'nother animal. Never did learn what all those dots on the fingerboard mean. I guess it's a mental block. I play a tandem "lead" on America's "Sandman," which is basically holding onto an Am7 fragment up the neck - similar to Neil Young's "Southern Man." It sounds like I know what I'm doing, but it's all done with smoke and mirrors.
So to answer the question "How do YOU play a lead?" the answer is, I fake it...
Edited by rick endres 2013-05-14 2:03 PM
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Another great practice tool for leads is to use a looper. Lay down a rhythm track, then practice your leads until your fingers hurt. |
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Location: Chicago | Yeah, I sometimes "see" basic chord shapes on the neck and follow them (3-4 notes). Sometimes, if a given chord or "shape" sounds good to me I want to "sketch it out" in a lead (ex: "No Mystery" below at 4:25). |
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Location: Denver, CO | mileskb - 2013-05-14 2:18 AMusually hours and hours of just playing what I feel compliments the rest of the song. Once I lock it in... I record it and learn it and always play it the same or close to the same every time. . Being a songwriter, as opposed to an actual musician, I especially like working with a lead guitarist who LEARNS the song, and plays his or her solos at least close to the same every time. I don't like having to guess where the solo is going or if it's going to resolve with the phrase. That said, the Prof has a great idea. He is really good at looping a rhythm part and improvising over it. Great practice tool! |
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Location: undisclosed | I play a lot of improvised music, my main instrument is actually electric violin though I also play guitar, mando, cello etc....For me music is language, after you learn the dialect of the style you can develop a conversation within the music and parts. A brush on a drum can be as much of a inspiration as the bass line so try to listen to the big picture.
Pattern playing and memorization can switch your brain off in a improv setting. If you're fingers go on auto pilot you've ceased having a conversation and are now reciting, just like memorizing a speech or poem. Chances are you won't be listening as much either. When I'm soloing what I'll be thinking actually might sound like a flight control tower as I remind myself of various elements and listen to how it is all working together. On stage there is also performance feedback, the sax player missed his cue, watch out for those cables, that gal is interesting...but the best playing elevates past the ordinary concerns and lets you express yourself without getting caught up with the mechanics....
Getting there takes lots of practice. Like learning words and constructing sentences, licks, bends, motifs and phrases can all be used as elements of improv and soloing, in both cases what is important is having something to say. Playing to the radio can be a great way to practice and learn about different styles, tune into things you've never heard before. On a zen level remember that while we put ourselves into the music, the music also plays out through us. |
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Location: Chicago | Some great insight here. Wow! I see a theme of the "inner composer" at work in a good solo or accompaniment. Working with Jerry Goodman last year on the "Guitarfire" CD was quite humbling: he took command of our tunes and shaped them by playing much more than a mere melody or solo: "Spoonman Strut" "Friendly Fire" "Outer Sunset" tell the story. Even the short "Echoes of Vishnu" is like a wicked mash-up with a smile! |
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Location: undisclosed | Good fun! And great for you to be able to work with Jerry Goodman. I still have some Mahavishnu albums and some of his solo LPs. There is a lot to be said for developing your own vocabulary to use as the stepping stone to your own sound. |
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Location: Chicago | Yeah, Jerry is a great guy and monster player (just did the "Spectrum 40 tour" with Cobham & G. Husband). There is also the rhythmic angle, playing two or three notes, Grant-Green style in a percussive mode. Pizzicato works great! |
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Location: undisclosed | Yes I learned early on that finger picking works on anything with strings...didn't know Jerry used it till I saw video of him sitting in with the Dregs. For any instrument I'd suggest listening to other instruments for ideas on phrasing. As a violinist it can help prevent the Ponty/Goodman clone syndrome or favorite guitar player reflex approach.
One thing I've heard in some new jazz players over the last few years is a careful assimilation of traditional jazz language , played with careful execution. I'm not hearing a new approach but a sanitized rendering of old ideas packaged in a "traditional" format.. For me what is missing there is the development of their own phrasing and note choices. Scripted versus spontaneous....Marketing a historical approach can be easier because of the defined boundaries but the great stuff is timeless.....Now to chain up my inner music nerd and practice....Zappa had it right, "Shut up and play your....."
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Location: Chicago | By the way, Cavalier, where can I hear your music? I first took notice of David LaFlamme on the classic "It's a Beautiful Day" LP. Then in 1970 "My Goal's Beyond" blew my mind: the combination of Liebman, Goodman, Haden, Cobham and McLaughlin was cosmic. I've been a great fan of jazz-rock-bg fiddle ever since. Zack Brock, of course, has made quite an impression lately, but Jerry Goodman will always be my favorite violin soul. I feel so grateful to have met him and worked with him. It helped that he's local (Highland Park) and is a friend of our studio guru, Craig Williams (Dr. Caw). And as for pizzicato, you might like this video of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDy7mf4hAOM
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Location: undisclosed | You'll have to wait for the spring 2014 release for current music.....The most known person I've played with was Scott Cossu towards the end of his Windham Hill days. All that was live, I really think he wanted a sparing partner for practicing. Lots of progressive rock, R&B, Jazz fusion, reggae,folk,celtic, country and hippy rock in Seattle and the NW and Bluegrass in Canada up into the 1990s. Pre internet really so nothing much on digital. In this easy age people forget how expensive a top line tape studio was.Since 1999 I've been a single Dad without the time to get out and play but have kept playing and done private shows I can schedule. I've opened for lots of people in the NW while playing in bands including Robin Trower, Blue Oyster Cult, Flock of Seagulls, Night Ranger , April Wine etc.....
I've never heard of Zack Brock and didn't hear any La Flamme till really late. I've listened to most of the fusion and jazz players including the guys like Venuti from way back but there are probably many current people I've never heard of. Like I mentioned though, as a violinist I don't really listen much to violinists! I try to play avoiding the stereo types and found it easier to find my own way.
I'd ask how much Jerry charges but that would be rude....I'll have to watch the video when I get around high speed internet but I'm pretty decent. I avoid the awkward classical technique. Really though violin and my bona fides seem out of place on a Ovation forum (I rescued a nylon string) and I don't usually post a bio. I enjoy playing Music for the Moment, improvising and layering instruments, after all every day is a new one so why not the tunes? I'd have more than I could ever play back if I recorded it all. Condensing such a approach into a commercial format is challenging. It is great to encounter someone who likes electric violin, I'm glad Jerry is playing and that you've gotten to work with him, its always a blast to be able to play with people you've been a fan of. |
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Location: Chicago | A fascinating journey, Cav, thanks. As a father of two girls, I can relate to the constraints of parenting: music has been a joy but NOT a career for me. And you're certainly right about the "easy" digital age in terms of recording. We did the entire CD for under 10K and Jerry was a small fraction of that. He joined us more out of friendship for Craig than any obvious gain. (He put a lot of time and heart into it: the charts I prepared were literally re-written.) Biography and bona fides? All in all, I think a little along those lines is good: the human touch, beyond mere shop-talk and banter. |
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Location: undisclosed | When I was playing with Scott Cossu we mainly played private parties and shows in homes and bed and breakfasts etc....Not only was the food better but the people seemed more in tune. Around then I worked with Improv theater groups playing improved preshow, show and sound effects and set change music. I'd invite musician friends to participate and we'd have a blast. I also worked for art gallery shows and openings as performance art. These things helped generate ideas for performing off the beaten track playing outside conventional formats.
One thing I'd like to mention to people developing their skills is not to be scared or intimidated about playing or being compared to other players. Music should be about self expression. Only you can play for yourself, even if it is one note. Music is art and communication though people tend to stage competitions around it. In Classical and traditional contests the results can be judged like the moves in a skating competition because they are renderings of set pieces. In learning to solo you are learning to express yourself-nobody can do it for you, interchangeability doesn't work here.
I once knew someone who purported to be Mark O'Connor's cousin who thought I'd be freaked out to jam with him. I'd hand him my schedule, smile and tell him Mark could sit in whenever he wanted. Of course he never came but if he had I would have had fun. What better way to get more experience? Playing bluegrass they introduced me as a jazz fiddler to allow for my at times unconventional approach.
You can learn something from everything and everyone. Once I was warming up for a Seattle show by playing to some homeless people on the street outside a dive downtown. I was playing hot, esoteric noodling when a old bag lady came up to me and asked if I could play any real violin! For her that meant Bach and damned if I didn't do my best to make her happy before the band dragged me in worried I'd get mugged before the show.
Moral of the soloing story?...... Fear not, fun will follow. |
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Location: undisclosed | Update. I watched the video and there is no doubt. Jerry Goodman sounds more like Jerry Goodman than I do. This is as it should be....There is also no doubt that I "pizzacato" far more complicated things than that but I suspect Jerry can too. I started years ago when as a violin playing kid I started teaching myself guitar on a old Stella. I applied things back and forth and suspect Jerry started the same way. I almost drove my High School orchestra teacher nuts playing that way.... I also use distortion and wolf tones at times but do sound like myself. That is as it should be too.....
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Location: Chicago | What are "wolf tones"? Never heard that one... |
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Location: Chicago | Pizzicato: I had no idea as a kid that there was a place for it in rock. Then I heard this (at the 1:50 mark). You know it well, I'm sure, but it still sounds great to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Fboivna0o
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Location: undisclosed | Wolf tones are the sound you get playing near the bridge. Digging deep with the bow helps. You know, this stuff works both ways, for those who don't remember watch Led Zeppelin and get a bow and Les Paul.....
I'll have to watch the post later, yes I live in the sticks....but I play with one too so it all works out....
I play a midi violin and found Pizzcato convenient for some triggering so I have additional incentive. |
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Location: undisclosed | You should ask Jerry about that solo, it almost sounds like he is using a pick which would be another transfered technique. Mark Woods does 2 hand stuff, hammer ons etc...on his fretted "violins". Technically they would be considered electric viols because of the frets. To me that loses the great things you can do being fretless. If I want fretted techniques and picking in a violin range I pull out the mandocaster. |
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Location: undisclosed | Tried to post a picture....
Edited by Cavalier 2013-05-18 10:03 AM
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Location: undisclosed | To bring the thread back to guitars and soloing would be to call Jerry's approach finger picking which it is. The last example could have been done that way using left hand pull offs (Violinists might say left hand pizzacato). Hammer ons don't work well on violins because there are no frets to ring out the notes.
So does the technique dictate the notes? If you are fingerpicking and comping would you choose different notes than when soloing with a pick? How about 2 handed? Kaki's wild slap and scratch moves? I think for most people the answer is technique does influence note choices and is a valid approach to taking things in different directions. |
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Location: Chicago | Good point. Hiromi (DownBeat cover a few months ago) makes exactly the same point. She says she listens intently to other instruments because their physical layout leads the player to very different lines. That's why guitar players who ONLY listen to guitar, only really LIKE guitar music tend to be pretty limited in what they do. Or violin players who ONLY listen to violin players etc. It creates a "ghetto" of sorts limited by what is easy and immediately accessible on your particular axe. I recall playing with a pianist and asking him to rapidly "slide" a static chord "shape" around various roots (like we do easily on guitar). He said it was very hard for him! Gotta think about it for a minute.... |
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Location: Chicago | PS "Who is Hiromi?" Simply... a phenomenon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfAqWdxSJ9Q
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Location: undisclosed | If she chewed a toothpick she could cut down on the open mouth flying insect hazard. Sort of stage presence thing that can help when gigging past the age of 40......I hadn't heard of her before, be good to see her take the synth farther.
Edited by Cavalier 2013-05-19 4:03 PM
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Location: undisclosed | Pianos are a challenging instrument. They are designed to produce a uniform sound regardless of the skill of the player. When you hit a key, the sound is the same whether you can play at all or are a virtuoso. Elements of soloing include note selection-harmonic and melodic,dynamics, tone-including sounds, pitch, rhythm and meter and timing-including rests. With a guitar you can use all of the elements but a piano gives up tone and pitch right off the top. To achieve a expressive performance (not counting stage visuals) the other elements must be used to compensate. Hiromi in the clip I watched has really impressive technique and speed.. She hits the notes with the precision of a Swiss watch and the speed of the Autobahn. Right in the center of the beat showing the results of years of practice. Interestingly though, timing in jazz rewards playing with the beat, hitting before or after creates syncopation and can heighten expression of a line. A valuable tool of the pianist or other soloist trying to create lyrical lines. Everybody needs to watch this one , flatpicking champions can learn from Charlie Christian "breathing" like a horn.
For the pianist/keyboardist a synthesizer allows you to add the missing elements to emulate the way other instruments can change the tone and pitch. There are the obvious pitch and modulation controls but after those are touch sensitive keys that can have parameters set to velocity and after touch, varying a sound by changing how you lean on key after striking can add subtle expression. Sometimes people from other than piano trained backgrounds can take advantage of these features more easily because they are already used to shaking and shimmying the notes. Guitar synths have come a long way...
To play like a horn or sing like a voice you still need to approach the beat in an elastic manner. Note choice is a easy way to get out of the "box" letting you define a line by the sounds as well as the "rules". All good fun, the learning never stops and your ears should be the first thing to use. Stage moves can emphasize "events" but the sonic connection should speak for itself. Like breaking the eggs for the omelet taking risks can be rewarded. Whenever I really crash and burn I remind myself there are no wrong notes, just ones waaay outside and try to bring things home next time.
Edited by Cavalier 2013-05-21 10:36 AM
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Location: Chicago | Then there is the overall "design" of a solo. Are you gonna just shred for excitement and rhythmic impression, be methodical, or tell a story? Early McLaughlin was an example of he former (Jerry too). Oliver Nelson ("Stolen Moments" is a cool method player, while players like Trane or Derek Trucks can really tell a story. A solo really reveals about the spirit behind the instrument. |
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| I'm lead guitar in my band, so I'll attempt to answer. For years I was trying to be flashy,'plugging in as many notes as possible. Now that I've grown up, I approach soloing on a song-to-song basis. I play what I think fits. Fortunately, most people in our audience agree. I know that's kind of vague, but that'sthe best way I can describe it. |
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Location: undisclosed | That's a great answer paulramon. Every song is different so why should you approach the solo the same way? There is no right or wrong answer for any of these questions, some reflect on the spirit behind them more than anything else. Sticking to any one approach can lead to a paint by numbers feel. Flash can be useful and exciting too, used well to add contrast. It is easy to start over thinking what comes down adding feeling. All the notes in the world can't add soul but one note can let you express yours.
Edited by Cavalier 2013-05-23 9:25 PM
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Location: Chicago | I'll find that a cool chord will suggest a direction for "noodling around." Here I strum a basic B (with added notes that give an "altered sound" This created a mood which was fun to follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3G3zVAqwW8
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | All I can offer came from a recent GC experience. There was just me and one other guy in the acoustic room. He told me a $300 Alvarez hanging on the wall at my knees was the best sounding guitar in the place. When I began strumming chord progressions he would instantly add a blistering lead to what I was playing. After a few progressions I stopped and asked him "how do you get to a point of bring able to do what you're doing?". He said "learn your scales inside out". I gave dwgpreacher a copy of an obscure but highly sought after early manual on everything there is to know about scales. I'm expecting the next time he comes to stay at my house for a visit that he will be capable of doing what the guy in GC did! The manual is a magazine format that I can't remember the name of but dwgpreacher could tell ya. There is an updated version of it that is still available and I think has a dvd accompaniment tracks for practice. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | 50% of my lead playing comes from trying to play what I hear in my head. I seem to have a running soundtrack most of the time there, so I obviously don't do much thinking! A lot of times I'll realize a melody, or even just a run or lick, is spinning through my head. If I'm lucky, I have a guitar handy and I'll pull the music out of my head. I usually record my ideas on my zoom H3 if it's handy, or my cell phone, so I can remember it and add it to my vocabulary, or use it as a basis or part of a song. Fortunately, I work at home and have a guitar handy most of the time, but if I don't, I'll pull out my phone and record myself singing the melody so I can remember it.
The other 50% of the time I use the old trusty pentatonic minor scale as a starting place, then look for ways to add notes from other scales, neighbor tones, finding unusual intervalic movements, or outlining cool voicing of chords that fit.
I love to listen to horn sections and try to pick out the chordal movement and harmonies they are creating. Although I find it very hard, I also love to try to figure out what a piano player is doing sometimes. I love listening to Billy Payne of Little Feat, Check Level from the Allman Brothers and Lyle Mays who is Pat Metheny's cohort. They are amazingly inspiring!
If I am recording I really try to build a lead that I can repeat every time. That's hard for me, because almost every time I play something, I think to myself, "hey, this part might be cooler if I did this instead of that!" It's really hard for me to stick to one version of a solo, because I always want to try variations to see if i can improve it.
Another thing I really enjoy doing is, every time I pick up my guitar, I try to empty my head (an alarmingly easy task for me!) and play some combination of notes or chords I have never played before. The trick here is to not think too much, just play. This really helps push me in new directions.
This has been a great thread, thanks for bringing it up dobro! |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I agree with Designzillla about hearing what is in your head. One of Matt Smith's excellent tips was to sing what you want to play. If you can hear a lead riff or line in your head, then you can sing it, and if you can sing it, you should be able to play it (according to Matt). That made a lot of sense to me, so I worked hard on this and finally reached the point where I knew the fret board well enough to play just about whatever I could sing. I didn't purposely attempt to learn the scales, but it happened somewhere along the way. My next test is to learn multiple note lead lines. I marvel how some can do this so effortlessly. The trick seems to be to play multiple lower strings in the upper frets. So much to learn, so little time. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I have little to contribute to this thread, but something the Professor just said was similar to what my guitar teacher has been saying. I have learned a bunch of little licks or phrases, but now the task is to take phrases and make them into sentences. Then I assume we will take the sentences and turn them into a story, but I'm a long way from that yet. |
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Location: Chicago | Though not great Zappa fan, I find his lead playing lyrical and soulful. Like a cool drink of water in a desert of meaningless shred:
From "SHUT UP AND PLAY YER GUITAR (II)":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zE-yb8dCLo |
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Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | A moody lullaby I came up with one afternoon while my daughter, Sasha, was deep asleep. This is an example of "somnolent" lead-playing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pxgSYrhV8
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Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Hey guys... post some lead-playing samples already! |
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December 2004
Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | Here's some samples. I Included the time of the solo if you don't want to sit through the whole song.
When I play solo acoustic songs, I don't want to play a bunch of single note stuff, so I generally try to roughly outline the chord progression using fills and bits of chords to keep as full a sound as possible.
Here's two samples that follow that model. Both of these solos I worked out and learned. I play them pretty much the same every time. They both have an intro and a solo.
http://www.reverbnation.com/stevekraemer/song/13489363-if-you-dont-love-me-baby-lie-to The solo starts about 1:35 and
http://www.reverbnation.com/stevekraemer/song/17446730-bad-baby-blues-rough The solo starts about 1:30 Here's a couple of electric songs with supporting instrumentation. The first one I worked out an intro and a the first bar or two of the solo. After that, it's all made up on the spot. I would never play this song the same twice. Every version will have a similar feel and some of the same peices, but I wouldn't memorize something like this. This song has a lot of fills and a couple of solos. http://www.reverbnation.com/stevekraemer/song/12189926-just-like-a-fish The first solo starts at 1:15(ish) and the second solo and outro is about 2:22. This song I worked out the lead and play it the same every time. http://www.reverbnation.com/stevekraemer/song/12910529-live-with-the-blues The solo starts about 1:36.
Edited by Designzilla 2013-06-17 11:08 AM
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Nice ragtime feel on the acoustic solo in "Lie to Me". and.... what IS that flanged-out sound in "Live with blues"? Sounds like a guitar through two Leslie speaker! Cool. |
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Location: Flahdaw | Damn good stuff Steve!!! |
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December 2004
Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | Thanks for the kind words Bob and Greg. I appreciate it!
That guitar sound in Live with the Blues in a Line 6 Roto-Machine. It's a Leslie simulator pedal. Growing up in the 70's I always loved that sound!
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Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | Designzilla - 2013-06-01 8:05 AM
I love to listen to horn sections and try to pick out the chordal movement and harmonies they are creating.
When I played bass in an orchestra with dwgpreacher on drums for 5 years I too used to listen to the horn players, especially the baritone player, to get ideas for how to play the bass. I'd copy runs he did and beat him to them the next time around in the song. It was cool. He caught on and would just smile at me. It's great when you can cue in on other instruments to get your ideas for what you are going to play. I miss that ensemble greatly. dwgpreach and I had years of great fun in that group. |
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Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | A short race with the drummer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgU43AobryQ
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Posts: 400
Location: Northwest Arkansas | The guitarist I've worked with, on and off, for 27 years is a cross between Dickie Betts and one of the guys in ARS. He's a great southern rock player, but I noticed he was really good at improvising. We would be playing in front of a large crowd, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 people, and he would play a blistering solo. Then he would point at me, "It's your turn." Dink Doink Dink-Dink Doink Bend. I'd go home that night and work up a passable solo to that song. The next night, in the same club, we got to that song and he played all the way through. We got to the next song and he pointed at me. Dink doink... Needless to say, I learned a lot of scales and how to put them together, how to play the melody by ear and insert a lick or two that way. At the time it angered me. But it made me a lot better player. I still can't play anywhere as good as him, but I can play leads now. My advice is play scales a lot. It doesn't matter which ones. Sooner or later they all fit together. Figure out what the next chord in the song is and what notes will work with that chord in the key you're playing. It'll take some longer than others. But I guarantee playing those scales over and over to the point of hearing the melody of the song in them, will make you a much better player.
Edited by AdamasW597 2013-06-29 5:53 PM
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Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw |
that was pretty awesome, Greg |
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Thanks, Bob! I remember feeling like I had to go-go-go or the drummer would run me over. Whew! |
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| DiMeola-ish. Very nice acoustic lead runs. |
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How do YOU play a lead?