Lynch, Martini, Murphy, and Skolnick

[-J-]

My solos keep falling on the modes or pentatonic stuff; any tips for breaking this rut? I'd like to lead more like Lynch, Martini, Murphy, and Skolnick if you know what I mean. I don't know if you'd call it diminished, or flat 5th/7th, or what, but any tips, excercises, or websites appreciated.

 

[Torniojaws]

Learn some new scales/modes. Try experimenting with (what's the english term for it, inverted chord? mirror chord?) where instead of playing E scales on top of an E chord, play in A scale, and like that.

 

[smy1]

Stop thinking in scales. Think the solo in your head first. Hum it. Then play what you hum. I guarantee that your solos will be much much better!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Learn some new scales/modes. Try experimenting with (what's the english term for it, inverted chord? mirror chord?) where instead of playing E scales on top of an E chord, play in A scale, and like that.

Relative major/minor??

-Joe

 

[-Noodles-]

Stop thinking in scales. Think the solo in your head first. Hum it. Then play what you hum. I guarantee that your solos will be much much better!

Remember, you can't hum for more than 20 seconds at a time..

Solos are like speech, it's good to have breaks!

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Transcribe and learn some solos by those great guys, immerse yourself in their playing. I guarantee that will improve your playing and push it in that direction even when improvising.

Also, try thinking chordaly rather than scalerly (if you know what I mean), and try not to play within scale shapes as much. Good luck! Wish I could play as well as those guys too.

 

[-J-]

cool stuff - thanks!

 

[jesus69lol]

You probably won't like to hear this but just practice more. When I first started soloing I really couldn't stray too far from the pentatonic box because it was all that I knew. nowadays I can zip around wherever I want but its just because I know the map so well, so to speak.

Also, you're REALLY far away from being able to play george lynch, whos style is characterized by such a thorough understanding of the "rules" that he understands exactly when and where and to what degree it is ok to bend/break them.

I say stick with it. Guitar is a journey.

 

[-J-]

Remember, you can't hum for more than 20 seconds at a time..

Solos are like speech, it's good to have breaks!

that's a good point - I try to fill up space, but guys like DiMeola will pause, rip a bit, pause, etc.

 

[-J-]

Also, you're REALLY far away from being able to play george lynch, whos style is characterized by such a thorough understanding of the "rules" that he understands exactly when and where and to what degree it is ok to bend/break them.

I'd love to reach that "how'd he arrive at that set of notes that somehow works?" conciousness.

 

[Metaltastic]

Stop thinking in scales. Think the solo in your head first. Hum it. Then play what you hum. I guarantee that your solos will be much much better!

YES - so true, I always try to make my solos like melodies, and +1 to taking little pauses, phrasing is key!

 

[Notuern]

I have two tips for you:

First tip:

Just go nuts!
Just fuckin' tear that fretboard appart, tremolopick, slap and tap as fast as you can, dont care about what it sounds like! JUST DO IT!
Then you try to play the same thing again, and again, and again, untill it molds into some kickass solo.

My second tip is to play after a mixture of scales.
I like to mix Aeolic, Blues, Diminished and Harmonic scales in to ONE scale.

Another tip to make an old scale interesting is to start playing your licks backwards!
Ive created awesome licks that way.


Check out my 2nd solo in our song: http://www.myspace.com/lastshoutofficial

The first and last part is just going through the scales and ending with bend + pulloff, the parts in between where just something random.

Edit:
What the hell, il tab out the tapping part of my solo!

E|19-15-12-19-15-12-

And then I just play the same thing on the other strings.
This is a thing Lynch, Reb Beach and Dimebag used alot: Making a onestring lick, and then you play it on different strings, and maybe move it around the fretboard as well.

 

[-J-]

if any of you didn't catch the old lynch site with tabs regarding his use of the flat 5th...it's here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040401215809/georgelynch.com/tab.html

links on left still appear to be active.

I've picked up a few tricks from the lessons.

-----
thanks notuern. I'll check that out. and cool idea about playing backwards. reminds me of looking at porn mags upside down after I got bored with them.

 

[Rockchops]

Take guitar lessons with a good teacher, a lot of people can give you tips, but the real "understanding of the rules" comes from studiying.

 

[Notuern]

Also, you're REALLY far away from being able to play george lynch, whos style is characterized by such a thorough understanding of the "rules" that he understands exactly when and where and to what degree it is ok to bend/break them.

George Lynch plays by feeling.
He said himself that he doesnt really know much more then the pentatonic scale, and he thinks about his playing as "pentatonic with added wierd notes"(Kinda the same way I look at my playing.).

Oh, did I mention that ive been playing for about 4 years?
So "REALLY" far away might just be a huge lie(Meaning that I could learn how to play most of his songs.).

Edit:
Oh, important note: Of course I couldnt write anything that awesome! ;X

 

[STINNETT]

Play a lick you're used to playing, but move one note a half step over. Maybe move one note a half step over and one note a half step back. One or two different notes make all the difference in the world, and those are the kind of licks that Lynch and Demartini play that always got my attention.
Move the whole shape up a minor second or third and see what it sounds like over the same key.
Use some symmetrical, repeating fingering patterns - just make sure the first couple of notes are in key. Experiment with different patterns until you commit some to memory that work well when played off of a particular root note.
Use lots of alternating narrow intervals and wide intervals.

 

[JBroll]

Knowing theory is analogous to having a good vocabulary, not to being a good soloist; trying to sound like someone by studying the scales they use is like trying to sound like a physicist by randomly throwing "Bose-Einstein condensate" and "interferometer" into everything. Think before you play, and let theory and technique be nothing more than ways to shorten the gap between wanting to play something and having it come out.

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, now that I know the basics of theory, I really just use it as a bag of tricks (like, I wanna write something, let's bust out the lydian mode!) - or as I like to call it, a Bose-Einstein condensate.

 

[-J-]

lotsa good stuff here. I guess I never thought about one or two notes making a huge difference (and I'm always 'afraid' of playing out of key), but it must be just enough to trip the listener up - in a good way. I typically bust out a few books and stuff I've printed out off the net over the years when it comes down to solo time; now I have a bit more to think about and use.

 

[STINNETT]

lotsa good stuff here. I guess I never thought about one or two notes making a huge difference (and I'm always 'afraid' of playing out of key), but it must be just enough to trip the listener up - in a good way. I typically bust out a few books and stuff I've printed out off the net over the years when it comes down to solo time; now I have a bit more to think about and use.

Yeah man, just change up some notes. Another thing to think about, is take a familiar pentatonic lick - and add an extra note here and there, maybe a half step away from a standard scale note.

I remember falling in love with the sound of playing the minor third with a quick hammer on to the major third when playing a minor pentatonic scale. You know, it's just a quick little ornamentation that brings a phrase to life.
Just for another example with pentatonics - I also like to throw the major seventh in there, so with a flat 5th in there too, you have those two little three note chromatic chunks in there that make for some killer licks.

Also concerning what Torniojaws mentioned earlier; about playing A over E and stuff like that. All you're doing in that instance is playing the E phrygian mode - but if it's not second nature to modulate between different modes over one key - think of it as switching into different keys, but over a static root. Over an E minor vamp - Play E minor, then play B minor (E dorian), then play some A minor (E phrygian), for a seriously strange sound, play in A flat minor for a couple of licks (E Lydian), etc., etc.
I've recommended this approach to modal playing to a few people before and they really latched onto it.