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Step by Step : Writing down your solos

random thoughts:

when we cannot get what we want in life, why do we blame the whole world as if it is their fault for our failures?

maybe it is our own problem , you know

The Situation : your band plays 10-20 songs , cover or original , it is gonna be an ass to memorize all 10-20 solos . Sure it is possible , but it is time consuming and requires xxx amount of practice and memory .You need a method . Quick !

Question:

“You talk about writing down your ideas and solos , can you be more specific about it? like a proper way to write them down? “

“Me and my band wanted to do a cover , i learned the tab and practiced it with the original music , not a problem for me . but when me and my band jam , i keep forgetting my parts , how do i improve on this ? “

Yeah .The right question you should be asking is , “how to write down solos and licks in an effective way”

I am about to give a boring but true answer .

….different people different style lah . what works for you might not work for me . what works for me might not work for you . but sometimes , what works for you might work for me and what doesn’t work for you will not work for me too ..confuse already?

Anyway ,

I am just gonna share my experience , a step by step guide on how i write my solos and licks before going to a gig or before a jamming session , hopefully this will give you a rough idea ..

I got 2 shows this coming Saturday and Sunday , one in Port Dickson and one more in KL (damn i am gonna miss Andy Timmon’s Clinic ) . and I have a few solo spots . Im gonna have my practice soon so i kinda need to compose some stuff . So its a great time to write a post like this .

Firstly , things NOT TO DO

1.Directly printing out from ultimate-guitar or writing down complicated tabs. Dumb choice .Your brain cannot do 2 things at once ( playing guitar , watching out what you are playing and reading what you’re suppose to do next )

.

sure die way

you gotta write your solo in a way , where u can just look at the paper for one second , and aha! you got it ! you know what to do ..

what you don’t want is a complicated piece (imagine during your live show , you have 0 eye contact with your audience because you are staring at the guitar tabs like how you watch porn on your computer )

The answer, is to make it AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE

okay , this is my simple guide..

Step 1

Prepare an empty tab paper ..duh..preferably something that looks like this

You can get templates by googling it ..the trick is you gotta get a tab that has enough space for you to write down the chords and the solos together..

I use a 3-in-one tab system ( Chords , notes and guitar tabs ) , so that i can write down complicated chords  , time signatures (if any) and tab out the whole thing at the same page . I find this template really efficient .

Step 2

Write down the chord progression first ….always know what chord progression you are going to solo on ..ALWAYS..yes i am serious ..

Step 3

Grab your guitar , something as simple as an acoustic guitar will do ..i usually use my acoustic guitar so that i can compose my solos based on notes and melody . I prefer not to use an electric guitar because of the delay , distortion and stuff that will make your composition somewhat less melodic and more technical based , in my opinion .

Step 4

Plan how to start and how to end your solo first , make the head and the tail …do the body later ..also feel free to change and improvise the head and tail along the way ..

Step 5

Body completed , notice the boxes that i drew ? those are your SIGNATURE LICKS that you should already know by heart (you do not need to tab it out)  …such as your own minor blues lick ..give your lick names , “the gapnap sounding lick” “the gay bend” whatever …what i wrote above is my own maj9 arpeggio signature lick and my own diminish arpeggio  ..i have no names for it yet..

Other alternatives : Write down an actual music score for it (which i know many of you are too lazy or don’t know how to read ‘em , so i will just leave out that option for now)

Anyway , the advantage of music scores is you get time signatures and you actually learn how to play by note. Guitar tabs on the other hand , erm..got time signature lah but things can get a lil messy if you cramp everything in one spot , and trust me , you do not want a messy tab .

The advantage of guitar tabs over music scores is , you get to record down the actual position on what you’re suppose to play , and for some it is much easier and faster. Music Scores are just notes , low octave , high octave . They never state whether is it on a D string 8th fret or a G string 3rd fret.

Well , i don’t know whether this method works for you , but it does work for me . Feel free to try it , if it works for you , great ! if it doesn’t , hmm..then try to improvise it and email me your secret ! 

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