*Disclaimer - This is a post I made on a forum a very long time ago... rescued it as the places/communities are all closing down now. If anyone is interested we can run the idea of improving our solo's (I have a box account full of stuff from that time with challenge tracks and stuff and we can do a collab box) or you can just read it and see* The solo. Two little words, that when used together, inspire fear and loathing in many a guitarist/musician still on their musical journey. It is usually accompanied with things along the lines of "Well, I would if I could", or "I'm not good enough" or "I wish I could solo like you/him/her/famous artist". In three words or less, "That is bullshit!"... kind of has a nice ring to it. We all have to start somewhere, and you can only get better the more you do it. If your song calls for a solo, then do it you must. Pitfalls - You think you suck - Almost every guitarist starts with getting jam tracks... you know who you are... you have 4 minute or 5 minute jam tracks and think this will magically solve all your problems - You think you need modes cos they will also magically solve all your problems - You think you need to know a shitload of scales - You think every chord needs a new scale - You think you need to have monstrous speed and technique If any of these fall into your span of thinking (and as time goes on with updates to this thread, there will be more points), then you are waging war with your creativity. Let's tackle these things one by one: You think you suck This is the worst way to go about anything. This, alone, stifles creativity to the point of killing it off for good. You have come this far in your journey, so why create a mental barricade? What you have achieved to this point in your musical journey is a milestone in itself. You have your current knowledge and current creativity level, so use it. Use it to its breaking point. What happens at breaking point? Well, a new development occurs... a new level is achieved, another tier to conquer... brand new possibilities in all its forms. How can that ever be a bad thing?

Share your jam sessions 😎 Not sure if this has uploaded @Sean Christiansen

Moving to the IV chord There are so many ways to approach a chord. The main building blocks of harmony are the I, IV, and V chords. A lot of music is based on these three simple chords, just used in different ways. For example, in C our three chords would be. C F G I IV V We’ll stick to playing chords from C in the example for now. I found a cool way to approach the IV chord. It can really catch someone’s ear if you use it during a jam when you’re moving to the IV chord. It’ll definitely turn some heads if you use it once or twice. For context, one common way to move to an F (IV) chord is to ascend alphabetically from the C chord. Let’s go over that before we just throw this odd, but really neat-sounding way of approaching that chord. Example: C Dm Em F You’ll hear that sort of chord movement in a lot of songs. “Here there and everywhere”- The Beatles. The song is in G, so our I ii iii and IV chords would be G Am Bm C. After the intro, you’ll hear the I ii iii IV chord movement. G Am Bm C I ii iii IV Another way to move to the IV chord is to sneak in a fancy “ I “chord in place of the “ iii “ chord. Example: C Dm C/E F C and Em are very similar. In jazz, both are seen as tonic chords. I think of the iii chord as a related tonic, since Em is almost a C chord. If you change just one note, Em becomes C, or vice versa. C E G = C major chord E G B = E minor chord. If we raise the B note by a half-step, it becomes a C note. Now, our Em chord is actually an inverted C chord. An inversion just means changing the order of the notes, and there are a few ways to do this. C E G = Root position, meaning the root is the lowest note in the chord. E G C = C in 1st inversion, the 3rd of the chord is the lowest note. G C E = C in 2nd inversion, the 5th is the lowest note. You can hear this kind of movement in the verse of Bob Dylan’s "Like A Rolling Stone." C Dm C/E F So those are some pretty cool and useful ways of approaching the IV chord. There are plenty of other ways of getting to the IV chord. However, this post would turn into a book if we were to go over all the possibilities.

Main bass I use. Ibanez SR2605 5 string bass. Bought her in June 2020. Love it to death. Got a nice EQ on it. And my Synyster Gates signature guitar with a Floyd Rose 1500 series bridge. Gotta have a Floyd 😎 got her Halloween 2025

Lately, I have had an epiphany, a sudden realization and that is, when it comes to learning music: A lot of things in music, are boring. And it’s not fun. And it takes too long, and it asks more of Me than I want to give And when it is explained it’s almost immediately confusing. And I think that’s why many people don’t do it. Does this click for any of you? Am I on the right track with how I’m thinking?