PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[Le Jab]

I know not strictly a jazzer, but certainly a man who knows his way around the fretboard, Richard Thompson (taken from his website) offers some insight into how he looks at solos :-

'Practising scales is the basis of it all - try to extend yourself to cover 2 octaves and more. Then try to mix up the scales, randomly or with purpose. Try superimposing different triads on top of each other - C Major, CEG, then take the G as the start of the next one, say, GBD, then the D can be the root of a D Diminished, DFA flat, etc. Expression should be practised too - nuance, vibrato, attack. Listen to wind instruments to learn how to play in listenable phrases. Try to play piano harmonic voicings on guitar. Remember the guitar is a voice, so try to make it sound as human as possible.
'Charlie Parker never repeated himself, but everybody else does, to some extent. I comfort myself with the thought that those clichés are really ‘signature licks’. But we all must try to expand the envelope, so here’s some thoughts:

It’s all about scales, so practice weird ones – minor 7 flat 5, 13th scales, 11th scales, whole tone scales. Try double octave scales.
Change the emphasis when you play a scale – push the off beats, put the notes into groups of 3 or 5 or 7 or 10.
Put your guitar into a bizarre tuning, and then play a familiar fingering. Write down any interesting sequences, and try to play them in regular tuning.
Try to sing a solo instead of playing it. Try to sing along with a solo as you play it.
It’s all about the heart, so at some point, if you’ve done your homework, empty your mind of everything, and let your heart, not your brain, play a solo. Your fingers will know where to go… '

Interesting stuff.

[dkaplowitz]

[Max]

you know, i've come to think it's really NOT all about scales.

[mr. beaumont]

amen.
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“For the guitar is the most unpredictable and least reliable musical instrument in existence...and also the sweetest, the warmest, the most delicate, whose melancholic voice awakes in our soul exquisite reveries.”

Andres Segovia