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Another solo topic


MATTY PAGE

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Hello all,

Have been reading the solo topics further down the page and can relate to what the boys and girls are saying about solos being a pain in the arse, (maybe I need to practice more).

I've been playing for about six years but can only really play the easier zep solos (whole lotta love, living loving maid etc etc), and because of that I just end up playing the same riffs and solos over again cause there easy and I can.

Now I wanna start learning solos which are a bit more tricky BUT, within my capabilities and cause I've been playing a while believe I should be able to pull them off.

I was thinking something like ten years gone, if I do a bit at a time (even if it takes all day) I reckon I should crack songs like TYG.

What are your opinions, please help me, as I'm getting bored of playing same stuff. Does TYG sound like a realistic challenge. Is it juts a matter of playing solos constantly till your fingers bleed.

HELP!

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MP:

When I started out, I learned all sorts of stuff, most of which was unrelated. As I progressed, I began to assimilate bits and pieces, and along with my own input, began to develop my own style. You don't have to learn a solo per se: fragments can be just as useful.

Which end of Dorset are you from?

RB

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Hello Humbucker,

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. I shall take on board what you say.

Awesome, another zep fan that lives in dorset. I live about ten mins from Dorchester in a village. You say your a musician, well I try to be as well!! Have been in a band or two, maybe we could jam some time and you could help me with my playing, hope you don't think I'm being cheeky!

Cheers

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Hello all,

This is the bloke that started this topic.

I just wanted to say that I have proven my own point, I metioned I had difficulty learning solos (can do the easy zep ones).

I thought the next step for me would be learning something like ten years gone, now to some people stuff like that may be a piece of piss, but not to everyone. Anyway, I took my time and learnt a bit at a time, it took me a while but now I can do it, it's not played perfectly but I can remember it all, so all I've gotta do now is fine tune it.

For me learning this, gives me encouragement that there's probably a lot of zep stuff I could master if I put my mind to it. Think I'll try and master the rock & roll solo next. Anyone got any good suggestions that aren't stupidly hard?

See ya

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Hello all,

This is the bloke that started this topic.

I just wanted to say that I have proven my own point, I metioned I had difficulty learning solos (can do the easy zep ones).

I thought the next step for me would be learning something like ten years gone, now to some people stuff like that may be a piece of piss, but not to everyone. Anyway, I took my time and learnt a bit at a time, it took me a while but now I can do it, it's not played perfectly but I can remember it all, so all I've gotta do now is fine tune it.

For me learning this, gives me encouragement that there's probably a lot of zep stuff I could master if I put my mind to it. Think I'll try and master the rock & roll solo next. Anyone got any good suggestions that aren't stupidly hard?

See ya

Hi Matty, if I may put in my 2 cents worth, to get to the root of Jimmy, you have to back to the rockabilly pentatonics. Take for example the Boogie Mama solo during Whole Lotta Love on TSRTS soundtrack. That's a particular favorite of mine, and was a great teaching tool. Learn to move those boxes up and down the neck, not just across. The melodic solos like Ten Years Gone are magnificent, but you need to learn to walk the neck and move from place to place with fluidity. If you watch Pagey, he's never limited to one fret position. Slip and slide your way up and down the fretboard and it will open up whole new worlds. 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th... Move about. And let go. Don't worry about hitting every note perfectly at first. Be fluid. Let the feel rule. Get the feel and with practice the precision will follow. The only way to get tight is to get loose and let the muscle memory take over. Trust me. Pretty soon you'll be ripping it up while your friends are going 1-4, 1-3, 1-3, 1-3, 1-4, 1-4, and denting their fingers by pressing too hard. Be fluid. Be loose, but tight. Tightly loose! :beer:

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I'm sorry youve been playing for six years and can only play the easy I've been playing for just under 3 years and can play almost all of them.But to answer your question dont start from the bottom play the hardest stuff until you get it right.

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I'm sorry youve been playing for six years and can only play the easy I've been playing for just under 3 years and can play almost all of them.But to answer your question dont start from the bottom play the hardest stuff until you get it right.

For sounding so smug, that sure is pretty bad advice. You always start easy and build good foundations. Estabishing good foundations on pieces you are not comfortable with is very difficult.

Refer to what Evster said, pentatonics, in all positions up and down the board, outside of box patterns. Knowing individual solos generally does you very little good unless you know their roots and a good 90% or more of Page's solos come from pentatonics. This not only makes learning and playing the solos infinitely easier in the long run but also is essential for (good) improvisation techniques.

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Hey,

Before I start I just wanna say Pinky your a tit, I only say that cause you sound like a right cock bragging about how you learnt all the solos in under three years.

Sorry if I sound harsh but you come a cross like your heads too big for your shoulders!

Thanks to all the advice (Evster particular), it is all very useful. It's my own fault that I'm still behind with solos, I'm lazy and don't play enough, until now that is.

But I guess not everyone plays the guitar the same amount, and although I still have a way to go I would like to think that there are worse player than me out there.

Right I'm going to track down pentatonic on the net, I know one or two but am gonna start to master them all (and understand them).

Cheers

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Me again,

Just wanted a few words on what pentatonics to learn first and where's a good site to find em. I'm on ultimate-guitar.com right now but not much is coming up?

Help me please, (I said I was lazy!!)

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Ev had some great advice. Work on those scales up and down the neck, and have those practiced to the hilt. I'll go through my experiences. I've been playing for three. I don't like to memorized solos, I like to play my own and improv, but when I was learning, I made out a chart that had all the notes on the fretboard. And I started with one scale, the G scale. I circled each note in the scale all the over way up the fretboard. And then you can just shift the scale up or down if you're looking for a different key. And then I just slowly learned it up and down the fretboard. I feel like I've made a lot of strides in three years, but only because I practiced and practiced and practiced. But it's not practice if you enjoy what you're doing I guess.

Just work those scales and have them down, and also learn phrasing first by listening to guys like B.B. King, who can give breathtaking solos just by giving you a few notes. Those two are key when you take a solo and just let it all go.

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I feel like I've made a lot of strides in three years, but only because I practiced and practiced and practiced. But it's not practice if you enjoy what you're doing I guess.

In my experience, it's all down to drive. You should be wanting to play. There was a point when I wouldn't put a guitar down (much to the chagrin of my parents/teachers/friends). I was determined to get, and be, a good player.

RB

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Me again,

Just wanted a few words on what pentatonics to learn first and where's a good site to find em. I'm on ultimate-guitar.com right now but not much is coming up?

Help me please, (I said I was lazy!!)

Well, you can learn the pentatonic scales in any key, the finger patterns are always the same regardless of the key you are playing in.

Start with whatever key you want and just get comfortable with the fingering patterns for both major and minor scales. The easiest place to start are with the boxes that Evster referred to (the 1-4, 1-3, 1-3, 1-3, 1-4, 1-4 pattern for minor pentatonic), but as you get more and for comfortable, learn the scale in more than just the box position and learn to move it up and down the fretboard. A lot of Zeppelin solos are based on A-Minor pentatonic (or blues scale), (Stairway, Heartbreaker, Black Dog all come to mind), start there, but its important to not limit yourself to the box pattern. Learn to play in all positions up and down the board.

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  • 2 months later...
Hello all,

Have been reading the solo topics further down the page and can relate to what the boys and girls are saying about solos being a pain in the arse, (maybe I need to practice more).

I've been playing for about six years but can only really play the easier zep solos (whole lotta love, living loving maid etc etc), and because of that I just end up playing the same riffs and solos over again cause there easy and I can.

Now I wanna start learning solos which are a bit more tricky BUT, within my capabilities and cause I've been playing a while believe I should be able to pull them off.

I was thinking something like ten years gone, if I do a bit at a time (even if it takes all day) I reckon I should crack songs like TYG.

What are your opinions, please help me, as I'm getting bored of playing same stuff. Does TYG sound like a realistic challenge. Is it juts a matter of playing solos constantly till your fingers bleed.

HELP!

I think go for any solo you like,, Just play it really slow, learning a bar or 2 at a time, playing ait at least 10 times slowly before you atempt to get it up to speed, if you cannot get it up to speed, then keeping i time slowly is better than playing sloppy up to speed. Good luck :)

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