Do This AFTER Every 3 Notes: BETTER Solos & Riffs (INSTANT RESULTS!)
When you train yourself on how to play guitar solos you will often continue to perform the same note selections over and over again. Doing this isn't bad, it's actually normal behavior and we do it because we get comfortable with certain note phrases that work, and let's face it, everyone enjoys playing phrases that work because it maintains consistency.
Playing what feels most comfortable will always produce a favorable result and we all know that even the slightest imbalance can cost us bad notes here and there due to a loss of muscle symmetry. The process which I outline in this lesson will help you expand your playing, locate better notes, and improve your overall phrasing.
In this video I am going to show you just one thing that you could start doing after you play only three notes that will improve your phrasing, the sound of your lines and the expression that comes from each note of your solos and riffs.
NOTE CHOICE:
Taking a deeper look into note choice and phrasing will also make you think a whole lot more about how rhythm ideas can integrate across the lines that you play so that your phrasing starts to develop more naturally without the imbalances that often occur if you never stop to consider the points I’m about to share with you.
If you’re performing a lot of notes in a riff or in a guitar solo or perhaps if you’re only playing a few notes in a melodic statement - you’re probably not taking stock of other options that can happen after playing a note group of a phrase.
Depending upon the style of music, normally a “note group” can take on anywhere from 3, to 5, or even 7 notes across a melodic statement. How you think about those phrases, what you do within them and how you play around them can have a serious impact upon the quality of everything else that you perform.
Example 01).
Start by learning the following lead guitar phrase.
Reference Phrase:
Example 02).
After the first three notes, let’s alter the phrasing of the line so that we accomplish just two things; a new rhythmic feel, and a new technique for use across the part.
Modified Phrase:
In the example above, the new rhythmic idea included tied notes into downbeats and the addition of a 16th-note phrase. All we did for the new technique was I went and added a hammer-on in the first measure.
What’s really cool is how our idea became a new version of its old self through doing nothing more than a couple of simple modifications to the original melodic statement. The idea is simple, but once it gets applied it really is highly effective.
Coming up next, I’m going to explain how to expand on this idea even further. But first, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer so you can get a collection of some of the most valuable handouts I have here at my studio, and it’s my studios; Handouts Collection eBook.
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ADJUSTING NOTE GROUPS:
Learning to adjust note groups across a riff or a solo is one of the main technical ideas that gets used by the world’s greatest guitar players. Whether that’s Clapton, Hendrix, Satriani, or Stevie Ray, every one of the world’s great guitar players has developed their own “built in mechanism” for how they adjust notes of a riff.
How guitar players will modify notes across a lead melody line so that the statements they create have a greater impact upon the listener is a vital skill for developing more advanced melodic phrasing.
I want to begin by helping you to better understand this through showing you a new melodic idea, getting you to learn it and then helping you with ways of starting to make other modifications so that the phrasing of the parts you play will change so they better attract the attention of your listener.
Example 03).
Let’s start by learning the next guitar phrase that I have for you. Here’s how the first reference to it sounds.
Example 04).
Like we did before, let’s modify the phrasing of the line after our first three notes.
As you can tell in the 2nd measure (of example 04) there was a “Hammer-on /Pull-off” along with a “Slide.” This type of simple modification is often all that’s required to create a more interesting impact on your melodic lines.
CONCLUSION:
Our goal with this modification approach is to accomplish two things;
(1). a new feel with respect to the rhythmic impression of the part
(2). and the introduction of a few new phrasing techniques
