- Most guitar solos are built off of one of three scales: the blues scale, the minor pentatonic scale and the major pentatonic scale. Guitarists wishing to expand their soloing capabilities should practice these scales to a metronome and learn how to shift them; for instance, to play a major pentatonic scale in C, you need to start with the C note on the low string (eighth fret). Use the metronome to build speed until you can play the scales at fast pace. Learn the different positions on the neck for the same scale; an A major pentatonic scale can start on the fifth fret, seventh fret, ninth fret, twelfth fret, and fourteenth fret.
- While guitarists build solos from scales, what makes them sing is using flourishes, such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, slides and vibrato. A hammer-on is played by fretting the string and picking it, then slamming your next finger down on the next note in the scale; a pull-off is the opposite, playing a note and pulling the finger off to sound the next one. A string bend is done by pushing the string up or down after playing a note; using two fingers to push the string up can create a more dynamic bend. A slide is played by fretting a string and playing the note, then sliding the finger up or down to the next note. Vibrato is created by rapidly wiggling the finger, fretting the string back and work; the wiggling should be tight and subtle, not exaggerated, so that the pitch of the note doesn't change. Practice these flourishes in the scales so they become second nature.
- When you want to learn to play a guitar solo, there are several ways to do it. Some software, such as WinAmp, allows guitarists to slow music down to half-speed to work out solos. Many popular solos have tablature transcriptions available on the Internet; using the transcription in conjunction with practicing the solo slowed down, will enable you to work out the solo more quickly and build it up to speed.
