9 Life-Saving Guitar Soloing Techniques
Acoustic Guitar Soloing Tips
A completely different video than what I usually do but a ton of fun and (hopefully) things to learn.
Today I will show you 9 Life-Saving Guitar Soloing Techniques that you can implement in your guitar playing.
I don’t usually play a lot of solos over a backing track, but when I do, I always have a bunch of techniques that I like to use to “keep things moving.”
Guitar soloing is an art, and you must practice a lot to achieve the right flow and balance.
I constantly force myself to play fewer notes and focus more on choosing the right notes to describe best the character of the music I am playing.
Practice over a backing track over and over, and it will not take too long before you start playing beautiful phrases.
Let get into details.
The Video
The Backing Track I am Using
Chord progression and scale
This solo is played over a pre-recorded backing track I made specifically for this video.
The chord progression is straightforward yet really fun to improvise over: Bm7 – Gmaj – Em7 – Gmaj7 – F#7b13
This chord progression is perfect because it allows you to play in different styles and use different guitar soloing techniques.
I mainly play B minor scale and B minor Pentatonic throughout.
Approach N.1
The Minor Scale
The first soloing technique is the ability to use the Minor scale over a minor chord progression.
I know that many guitar players don’t consider that to be an “Official” guitar technique, but I don’t really think that way.
Being able to freely improvise with the minor scale up and down the neck without necessarily referring to a box or neck position is a technique you must develop.
Too often, guitar players let their fingers control the phrases they play because they didn’t develop fretboard knowledge.
Start developing this technique right away and focus on the contour and rhythm of your phrases.
Approach N.2
The Pentatonic Scale
You can spice up your guitar soloing by using one of the easiest scales on the guitar.
The Minor Pentatonic scale is a very bluesy sounding scale, and you will love the sound from the first note you play.
I highly recommend you start experimenting with one or two positions using a “Vertical” approach so that it’s easy to come up with good phrasing.
Once you feel comfortable, you can connect two or more positions.
Approach N.3
Octaves
If you like Jazzy solos, you will definitely love Octaves.
Honestly, guys, this is one of my favorite soloing techniques and a real life-safer.
The concept is pretty simple: Double the notes of your solo with a lower octave.
There are different octave shapes you can experiment with, but the one in the video is the one I use the most.
Approach N.4
Double Stops
Mainly used on Electric guitar, double-stops are nothing more than two notes together.
However, one double-stop has become extremely popular when a guy called Jimi Hendrix used it repeatedly in almost every song he wrote.
You can achieve the Hendrix double-stop by playing to the adjacent string while hammering a higher fret, usually on the lower string.
Check the example below.
This soloing technique sounds bluesy and can be used on Electric, Acoustic, and Classical guitar.
Approach N.5
Major and Minor 3rd
Another technique that you can use a lot when soloing is to use interval scales.
In this example, I am playing major and minor 3rd following the B minor scale.
This type of interval sounds really melodic and classical.
Definitely one of my favorite.
Approach N.6
Vibrato
This is another useful technique that you can literally use all the time.
The vibrato technique can sustain a note and give a ton of color to your guitar soloing.
There are two types of vibrato technique. The Electric/Acoustic guitar and the Classical guitar vibrato.
For the Electric and Acoustic guitar, we can use the vibrato approach that is similar to bending.
You really need to achieve a solid pivot point with the first fingers locked up against the neck.
Good luck with that.
Approach N.7
The Slide
Another beautiful guitar approach is the slide technique.
This approach allows you to approach the note from a different fret by sliding over the frets.
There are many different types of slides that you can use, but my favorite one is the ascending slide.
Approach N.8
One String Solo
One of the most challenging guitar soloing technique is the “one string solo” approach.
The concept is straightforward: Improvise a solo using one string only.
I am soloing on the first string in this video only, and trust me, it isn’t easy.
One thing you can do to really make things work is to use one melodic pattern up and down the neck.
Definitely a difficult approach but worth trying.
Approach N.9
Repeated Idea
Another life-saver soloing technique.
Repeating the same idea is an essential aspect of guitar soloing, and your audience will love it too.
Choose one pattern and repeat it over and over with little variations.
You can develop rhythmically or melodically as long as you keep the same idea.
This is another difficult approach so take it to step by step.
Let me tell you more about the fingerstyle guitar lessons you’ll find here!
- BlitzGuitar Mini-Course: I personally love challenges. With this beginner mini-course, I want to challenge you to learn a chord progression, a rhythmic pattern, and a melody in less than 60 minutes. This guitar course is super good for beginners and enjoyable to try.
- BlitzGuitar Melody lab: This is my favorite melody laboratory. Here you will learn simple fingerstyle melody for beginners. Each melody you learn will help you improve your alternate fingering, thumb plucking movement, simple chords, musicality, and dynamics.
- Fingerstyle Engine: This guitar program is perfect for intermediate fingerstyle guitar players. There are more than 30 fingerstyle exercises available, and each one of them is a killer! Take it to step by step and learn one exercise at a time. Good luck.