Home Forums Progress Review Learning a solo note-for-note

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    • #37744
      PaulWolfe
      Participant

      I’m finding this difficult, thank God I have lots of time on my hands 🙂

      I’ve got the entire Shock Me solo down, but getting it up to speed is another story. Some parts are well within my ability to play at the recorded tempo but some parts are fast enough that either the transition from one position to another trips me up or I’m focusing on the GP7 sound playing and not my playing or vice-versa. Individually I can play each section of the solo pretty well but combining them to play along with the record just isn’t there yet.

      Ultimately I know this is just a matter of time because I don’t work on learning solos very often but today it’s frustrating.

    • #37745
      Dave Pickering
      Participant

      I’ve been going through the same thing with “Fly by Night” by Rush which I decided to learn when I heard the news about Neil Peart’s passing. I’m able to play it through pretty well at about 80-90 percent of tempo (the studio version tempo is around 140 bpm), but I can’t seem to get it any faster than that.

      My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

    • #37746
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      I like to alternate between practicing with GP, and practicing over various covers or live tracks or karaoke versions (slo down in DAW). The good thing about the classic songs is the ease of finding various recordings to follow. Playing to a real track has a different feel and easier in some ways, harder in other ways. But I still never managed to get the Dave Mustaine solo I wanted up to speed and I sure spent a lot of time at it. I’ll revisit it again, wow is it elusive.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #37747
      Igglepud
      Participant

      Counting the last stage lead of Metal Method, I’ve probably only memorized five or six solos in my life. I need to do it more. Each one taught me something new that I incorporate into my playing.

      MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #37748
      rightonthemark
      Participant

      it’s been a while since i learned shock me but i do recall there were some parts that gave me trouble.
      it’s tough for me to speak from a “note for note” perspective as i don’t know if i’ve ever done a solo exactly note for note.
      like you i’ve learned the parts but then putting it all together can be a challenge.
      it’s not uncommon for me to modify parts to ensure i can duplicate it every time and to make transitions easier so i don’t get off time.
      being note for note has never been important to me.
      but getting the basics and the feel so i can play something that’s close and still natural for me is what i tend to do.
      note that when i first learn something i may struggle but over time i get it closer even if i’ve modified something initially as i get better and smoother i can sometimes get those troublesome parts later on.

      🤘🏽🎸🤘🏽

      rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

    • #37749
      PaulWolfe
      Participant

      I agree with the idea of getting the feel for a song rather than note-for-note perfection. I often prefer the cover version of a song over the original when they’re not done exactly – i.e. Randy Rhoads playing Paranoid or Children of the Grave, VH doing You Really Got Me, etc. I even like the Poison version of Rock and Roll All Nite equal to the KISS version.

      Shock Me is important to me to play note-for-note simply because it was that song on Alive II that inspired me to pick up the guitar in the first place. I’m learning loads of KISS songs as quarantine therapy but Shock Me is the only one I feel the need to get ‘perfect’.

    • #37750
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      That part about having trouble with transition from one position to another.. I forget what solo it was that I learned, but I was having such a hard time shifting neck position. Eventually I gave up practicing the notes, and instead, I just practiced the neck shift, non stop. I over exaggerated the speed too, like I was taking off from a sprint or something. I did this daily, for a while. I think my hand learned all kinds of new grips or wrist angles to go through, in order to move at various tempos. I’m not sure before that time if I had thought to isolate moves like that and practice them, because so often we are used to practicing fretting notes, not hand moves or grip changes or stuff like that.

      What is more crazy is considering that the guitar heroes were playing not only those fast solos but playing them live when totally loaded, past all normal human limits. I simply cant conceive of it, lol.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #37751
      PaulWolfe
      Participant

      SB, I’ve been doing exactly that… play the end few notes of a run and shift to the next and play the first few notes of the next run, over and over… it’s helping but I tend to be impatient 😉

    • #38071
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Any new observations from practicing solos Paul?
      As I’ve recently been playing a bit again, I always warm up with the Paranoid solo. Been playing that solo for a reaalllly long time now and still not able to get it at 100% tempo because of a couple pinky parts in the middle, yet still hopeful on progress….slow and steady..

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #38073
      PaulWolfe
      Participant

      Well, I’ve got ‘Shock Me’ down at at 75% speed… I struggle towards the end where Ace switches keys from A to B as the chords underneath change. My problem being the I can’t remember the part! So I play to that point and slow down and play the troublesome part over and over.

      In an effort to eliminate burnout I started the next songs on my list – ‘King of the Nighttime World’ & ‘Let Me Go Rock and Roll’… I can play both of those now with the solos intact. I can play the studio version of ‘Let Me Go’ and am working on the Alive version with a second solo.

      My plan is to learn as many KISS songs as I can – have a list of 52 songs.

      What I discovered is that, for me, my trouble with trying to play my own solo is that I know the scales but not licks or phrasing. As I get older I don’t want to play like Randy Rhoads anymore, I prefer Ace and rockabilly type solos (Ace licks fit rockabilly amazingly well) so I plan to learn a lot of Ace solos and incorporate his licks in my own playing. Wish I’d figured this out years ago, but, oh well.

      By the way, I learned the solo to ‘God of Thunder’ a couple years ago and then played ‘Paranoid’ for my son and unconsciously played the ‘God of Thunder’ solo in the song because they’re in the same key.

    • #38074
      rightonthemark
      Participant

      in between doing other songs i keep going back to learning more kiss tunes.
      they will always be my favorite band.
      they were my gateway drug to rock and roll.
      as far as playing like my heroes…
      i think with randy rhoads and ace frehley being my two biggest influences has made for a pretty cool style of my own (if i do say so myself).
      even though i don’t learn complete solos note for note i have learned a lot of their licks and it’s fun to mix them together.
      i really want yo learn that opening lick in speedin back to my baby. love that lick and that tune.

      rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

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