Many students struggle learning how to solo because they do not know how to proceed - What do I do? How long should a lick be? Where should I start? This month we'll talk about simple guidelines a teacher can give their students so that they can develop their own licks.
Guitar players learn to solo by doing two things: 1) They "steal" - meaning students learn other people's licks and incorporate them into their own playing. 2) They develop their own licks applying what they have learned. In truth I like to have students do both at the same time, however the latter is always more difficult as students need to develop confidence and get the creative juices flowing. Ultimately the idea is for players to develop a "stockpile" of licks they can fall back on when they are soloing and string them together to create cohesive solos.
In February's post I created some simple guitar licks based on the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A; use these licks as a comparison for students as they develop licks of their own. I like to give students two simple guidelines: First, keep the licks short - no more that a measure long. Second, have them use the root of the scale (in this case "A") as the starting and ending note of their licks or what may be called a "target note". This will help them develop an "ear" for licks that will sound good and have a starting/ending point. Have students develop a series of licks, memorize them and string them together into longer phrases.
Next month I'll discuss how to apply them!
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