How To Play Fast Guitar Solos Without Getting Lost, Making Mistakes Or Losing A Sense Of Melody

Ever gone to play a fast guitar solo of your own but ended up just repeating the same ideas or making mistakes because you got lost on the fretboard or didn’t know what to do next?

This is an extremely common issue for guitarists, especially those who focus on speed and technique more than others.

Why?

A lack of practicing the right things.

This article explains what you need to practice to play fast guitar solos like never before, so you are able to play kickass music whenever you pick up your instrument.

Sound like fun?

Great!

Let’s begin:

Stop Getting Lost While Soloing By Practicing Fretboard Memorization

If you’ve only learned how to play (for example) one scale in the same position, it will be easy for you to get lost while trying to think of a solo while playing over music.

Developing excellent fretboard memorization skill means you see a map in your head of all the scales and arpeggios, plus how their patterns integrate together.

This ensures that you never get lost while soloing and can focus more on playing better solo phrases rather than just trying to find your bearings on the fretboard.

Here are is one way to improve your fretboard memorization:

Learn modes in close proximity:

Think of modes as scales that begin from any note of a major/minor other than the first one. You probably already know what a minor scale looks like on guitar. Find two “modes” closeby by starting from the second and third note in the scale and finding the rest of the notes, like this:

This tab shows the first five notes in A minor (first section), B Locrian and C major. All these scales contain the same notes. The more you find across the fretboard, the more expansive your mental map becomes.

Additionally, look for arpeggio patterns with your scales. This way you can smoothly combine arpeggios and scales together at any time and make your playing sound more smooth and melodic (rather than like independent scales and arpeggios).

Minimize The Mistakes You Make While Playing Guitar Fast By Mastering Clean Playing Technique

Fretboard memorization helps when it comes to making mistakes, because the better you have memorized the fretboard, the less likely you are to make a mistake due to not knowing where to go next or getting lost on the fretboard.

Besides that, clean up fast guitar soloing by making sure you are consistently working to master these skills:

Muting in both hands:

There are two general ways to mute unplayed strings to effectively eliminate unwanted noise from them:

1. Use your picking hand thumb to mute unplayed strings below the string you are currently playing on

2. Lightly lay the side of your fretting hand index finger on unplayed strings above the one you are currently playing on to mute them

Two hand synchronization:

Work on fretting notes at the exact moment you pick the string to play them. This is the central idea to playing with both hands in sync.

Master synchronization between your hands by using the tips from this video:

Fret notes only as needed:

There is no need to hold down a fret in advance in order to prepare yourself to play notes more quickly. Only fret notes as needed.

This video explains why fretted notes as needed is important using legato technique:

Use efficient picking technique:

The more efficient your picking motion is, the more effortless speed becomes and feels.

Here is an example of how to make your picking technique efficient:

Make Your Guitar Sing Without Sacrificing Technical Skill Or Speed

Why do fast guitar players sometimes end up playing boring, lifeless guitar solos that are fast, but sound more like exercises than music?

Answer: They work on playing scales, arpeggios or exercises in complete isolation from everything else. So, they may get really fast with them, but never actually learn how to use them in a MUSICAL manner.

For these players, soloing often feels like an all-or-nothing situation where they either play fast, but non-melodic or slow and melodic.

Don’t make this same mistake!

There are several ways to make your guitar soloing more melodic and memorable, without necessarily sacrificing technique or speed.

Now, use these ideas to make your guitar solos more melodic:

Work on your guitar phrasing:

Guitar phrasing means HOW you play notes instead of which notes you play. Practicing phrasing is how you take patterns on guitar and turn them into music.

A great approach to get started with phrasing is learning how to make just one note sound amazing. Here is how to do it:

Working on integrating all your skills together helps developing melodic and expressive speed become second nature. Learn more about how to practice to do this by checking out this guitar playing resource.