The thing to do is find your inner musical voice and learn to express it. It won't lead you wrong. Take a chord progression you want to solo over and make up a solo in your mind before you even touch the guitar. You might even hum it or sing it out loud. Then pick up the guitar and pluck out the notes you heard in your mind. It's like anything else: the more you do it, the more proficient you get at it. Ultimately the goal is to be able to express your inner voice on demand in real time.
It's a huge help to know what you're writing in your head, and most ideally you'd want to write down a good idea before touching the guitar...because in my case, as soon as I pick up the guitar it's like my body wants to override all the ideas of "what I want to aquire" that I had before and instead focus on all the muscle memory and habits of "what I already know". It's really weird...I'm annoyingly way less creative when I'm equipped with my instrument and I know from conversations around the years that I'm not the only one with that problem. Even if you don't know any musical theory, then I'd recommend either humming/vocalizing your melody/rhythm-ideas into a recording software of any sorts or even better write them down in a midi sheet via a DAW (Reaper in my case). The latter is where I'm most creative and many times I've written riffs/parts there that felt way beyond what I would come up with in my head, and actually made me improve my instrumental abilities when learning to play it afterwards...and it's very satisfying and pride inducing because those riffs when I'm done feel like they're truly MY style
Humming and singing ia good for simple melodies, but... you know, the guitar is not ur vocal. You have more notes(octaves) on guitar than vocal range, u can't sing in "palm mute" or pinch harmonics. And shredding - you can't sing in 16th notes or sing multiple voicings
@@AlexStress it's clearly the worse method out of the two I mentioned but much easier and not at all as limited as you make it out to be. 1. you have around three vocal octaves and four on guitar, so IF you cover more than 3 octaves you can just pause and change octave on your recording...it's supposed to be a reminder, not a literal transcription of a piece. It's not even necessary to be on pitch all the time, it's only about you remembering it later where you then work and even improve on it. 2. you can absolutely "sing" palm mutes and all the other techniques...I use "da" for open notes and "dum" for palm mutes, "di" for harmonics and something like "diauuu" for bends. And for lower notes I tend to use "b" as a consonant instead of "d" (so "ba" instead of "da") which kinda simulates lower note chunkyness. And it's not like I "developed" any of that consciously, this is just how I always did it. 3. tempo is literally NO issue AT ALL...if it's too fast for your vocals, lower the tempo. SOLVED! And you exaggerate the slowness of your vocals anyway...I just vocalized a Children of Bodom solo that I'm currently practicing and I had to slow it down by like 30%, and that's 16th note triplets at 135bpm...which evens out (since triplets are 33% faster). So I'm confident with vocalizing 16th notes at around 130bpm...that's fast. Not that I ever do it because slowing it down makes it easier and clearer. 4. multiple tracks are impossible yes, but chords are just tricky...mostly if it's a stray chord between single notes I tend to just voice one note of the chord a little more expressive to know later that's where a chord is and remember the exact chord later. If it's just chords I just take a note that I'm doing chords, and just voice them out as arpeggios. The recording will sound awful and honestly embarrasing no matter how much you get used to doing it...but it works and it's so much easier than literally any other possible method. Just make sure no one ever hears those recordings and delete them after you translated the content
@@AgeofJP yeah, singing melodies is actually good method and i agree, but you shouldn't be limited to it. And most people can't sing! And if they do, they have range like 2 octaves max. If you can sing in 4 octaves and shred using ur voice - why you are a guitarist, not a professional singer? Mimicing voice is a solution, but to be really good on guitar let the soul speak for you. Sometimes i just play really good even before my thoughts
@@AlexStress yes you absolutely shouldn't limit yourself to that method...I don't enjoy that process at all, but it helps to get it done quickly and on the spot. Like I often write stuff when I'm lying in bed trying to sleep...at that time if I get a great idea I won't sit up, boot up my pc and open Reaper to write it down. But I will take my phone and didle-dee-doo it into a recording app with no problem and come back to it the next day. If I know "I want to write music now" I'm plugging in my midi keyboard and go straight into Reaper. Average range is around 3 octaves and mine has increased by like 3 half-steps at most since I started with vocals...your range doesn't really increase, but rather how comfortably you can use what's naturally given to you. It doesn't need to sound good after all and if you are utterly incapable of producing the pitch in your head with your vocals then I would suggest just starting to learn that by simply trying...like, that's an ability I can't wrap my head around not having as a songwriter. That's like the super-basic basic aspect of vocals that I'd argue anyone can and should learn in a few days at most. I'm doing both guitar and vocals btw at around equal focus...always thought guitarist-frontman was the coolest position by far. And also, I'm super glad in hindsight that I started doing both because these are the only instruments you *can not fake* as a metal songwriter/solo artist...drums, synths, orchestrals and even basic choirs can be made with virtual instruments + midi software and depending on the work you put into, they can sound convincingly professional. Virtual guitars however sound awful and clearly fake, and yeah virtual vocals...I wouldn't even want that to exist.
a huge part of phrasing is being able to switch up and break the rhythms and patterns of the solo cohesively. imo, this is arguably even more important than scales, arpeggios and whatnot
This is the lesson I never realised I needed so very badly, it's answered so many questions in a way that is really clear for a smooth brained individual like myself.
This might be the best lesson you've ever posted! Articulating and demonstrating the "nebulous" stuff in music like feel and phrasing really separates the good teachers from the great ones. You are a GREAT teacher! 👍🤘
This is almost literally a full guide of feeling and improvisation.You are awesome man. PD: The listen part of this video is true, because In only 6 months I figured out patterns of sound that my favourite guitarrists do, and I started replicated them over time from just listening to their music! (Also excuse my english, Im not a native English speaker)
Holy shit british mart friedman, this is probably the best video ive ever seen. The call and response idea is so incredible, and i cant believe i never thought about, thank you
Was literally watching Melodic Control yesterday. A few things clicked for me just within the first 10 mins, then went on a deep dive about pivot chords and scale similarities. Phrasing's already noticeably better, can't wait to watch this and see what else I can pick up: your lessons are always fantastic, right up there with Uncle Ben!
Bradley Hall! Definitely love ur vids, i've been following you for quite a while now AND really you always give me a Aha-moment of freedom AND understanding when It comes to guitar playing. Thnxs a lot for these great lessons and keep on Rocking Bro!
Bradley is taking my playing to another level.I would love for you to make more of these and maybe a video dedicated to alexi laiho.I choose never gonna give you up btw
I just discovered your channels and I must say. You’re my favorite!! Idk what I’d do without your goofy videos and amazing lessons. Thanks you lil rascal 😮
For some reason, after I read the words monocle and top hat, the word "moustache" mentally pronounced itself as Moose-Stache. Funny stuff...some CIA psy-ops things going on here haha.
Thanks for this video. I guarantee that i'm going to be wayyyy better now that you have shared your knowledge regarding phrasing and Call & Response. Great Job!
Quite remarkable fact Brian May uses his voice in head to say a poem when soloing in rhapsody so it makes sense Do anybody use nursery rhymes as a mind trick to the listener? Just use a line say London bridge is falling down in a solo bends heads due to growing up. There is always one but think about these when listening to solos Im just glad of just turning on the radio and busk along to whatever. Jango pretty good at finding new artist you ain't listened to
I remember a couple of my first solos I ever structured and liked at least a little, all I was doing was being orderly with timing and phrasing. I love the call and response analogy! I think I first heard it from Guthrie. Cheers and thx for all ya do brother!
Ha ha, Aquas 'Barbie girl' as phrasing rythm. That was a good suprise, and proves, as you said, listen to and be inspired from all kind of genres. It also got me thinking of all kind of conversations you can have on the guitar.
🎸🎶😎 Your the best! Plus Maaaaan you remind of my best friend who I grew up with playing guitar Together ! 😍😎 SUBSCRIBED - ok now to binge watch ALL of your content !
It would be very very cool if you do some videos, when you play then we play etc. It helps to work a musical ear playing to match your part and the chords progression :)
Dr. Beanley, I'd like to request time stamps! (They'll help with the algorithm, as well as me find the clips!) Thanks for all the killer (and hilarious) videos! 🤘😆🤘
Hey Bradley! What is a good fast playing ibanez (preferably, but it can be anything) under $1200, because I want to start playing megadeth and other "neoclassical" and shreddy music? also great lesson
“I’m a knight in a kingdom. I go on my pirate ship, went diving and that’s how I discovered the lost city of Atlantis.” Why is this a bad story? For the same reason why a bad guitar solo can sound bad even with good licks: it’s phrased badly.
