Basic Techniques of Guitar Solos

Series Summary

Learning how to master the seminal rock instrument, the electric guitar, might bring you the admiration of thousands of adoring fans, but it might also prove to be a rewarding passion that you can pursue to ever greater heights of excellence. Your ability will develop and mature over the course of time, from one level to the next, allowing you to work out more elaborate riffs and intricate melodies.

in this series of free videos you'll learn the art of the guitar solo. Our expert will demonstrate how to play guitar solos that incorporate a variety of elements, including slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato and double stops. you'll also learn variation exercises, how to transition between guitar solos, and learn about elements of repetition, function and form in a guitar solo. Additionally you'll learn two of the most important rules in guitar soloing: how to find the right key, and why the "less is more" rule really does apply to guitar solos, believe it or not.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Mike Lais, and on behalf of Expert Village, I bring you soloing tips and techniques. Soloing on the guitar can be a lot of fun. I'm sure we've all heard great people play extremely great guitar solos, which is probably why you got inspired to play the guitar. And it's really where you get to make your statement, and really get to show yourself and prove yourself to other people and tell them what you're all about, without saying a word. When it comes to soloing on the guitar, I would advise you to look at the people that you find to be very inspiring, or people that have really learned and studied this act well--people such as Eric Clapton or Jimmy Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan. They all have great examples of the rock genre of this style of guitar soloing. But you also want to check into the people that inspired them, as well, because, you got to realize, they grabbed their ideas from listening to people, just as you grabbed your ideas from listening to them. So, like, and they really grabbed their stuff from listening to the blues, which is the biggest part and where a big part of music comes from, and a big part of rock music comes from is playing the blues. And here we're going to show you some basic tools that you can use when it comes to impressing your friends."