Knowing The Harmony
As a soloist it’s important to be both creative and thorough with your lines. One method I use to accomplish this is to explore the harmony of what I’m soloing over. Every song possesses harmony, whether it’s written in black and white or implied, it’s all the same.
“So when I’m writing a solo, I use triads along with my creativity to mold the lines I write throughout the harmony.”
Somewhere along the line my “ear” trains my brain how to set up visual check marks of these shapes on the neck as I’m creating my own lines!
So for today, review the tab below to get a better idea of how I study these triadic shapes, but also keep in mind not to spend so much time on these shapes. The key is to use these shapes in a musical way and trust that over time your knowledge of them will grow.
Using The Rhythm
Another technique I use to keep my lines interesting is to listen to the drummer, or the rhythm section as a whole. As you can imagine, the more creative and diverse the rhythm and harmony is, the easier it is to come up with better lines!
The same goes for when you’re in a situation where you don’t have that. In this case you need to focus and imagine what you’re not hearing in order to fulfill this task as well.
So as a sum up, WRITE MUSIC and JAM WITH PEOPLE. It is the only way to reach that musical level to where you know what people want to hear and what you want to hear. It goes hand in hand. Music in my mind is about people and the musician.