What are some fun intermediate solos to learn?

TTBZ

My playing has been in a massive rut for ages now with me slipping into the same licks, riffs etc all the time. Looking for some inspiration for some new stuff to play but I've never got on with trying to learn theory, I'd rather learn some fun songs and incorporate what I've learnt into my own playing. Suggestions for rock based stuff?

My level of playing at the minute is alright but very much stuck in the "pentatonic noodling" phase. The "best" solos I can play are probably Slither by Velvet Revolver, Beat It (kind of), Welcome to the Jungle and My Sharona (full version!) to give you a rough idea of my level. Should say that these aren't completely note for note though haha

Winny_Pooh

Dire Straits's down to the waterline, different than the usual pentatonic stuff and has nice phrasing.

axisus

The top gun theme is a lot of fun to play. It's fairly easy to pick up a backing track and there are plenty of vids showing how to play it.

Maynehead

My favourite solos to play at the moment are the 2 from the Cowboy Song. I just love how melodic and emotional they are, and not just some exercise in playing fast.

TTBZ

Good call on Thin Lizzy, love those solos. I'll definitely have to check out the dire straits one as well as it's likely to be a lot different to my usual style!

RocknRollDave

Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Not tricky, but a good exercise in phrasing and making the notes really "sing" with a vocal quality.

RocknRollDave

Manic Street Preachers - Stay Beautiful



Solo at 2:30 but there is a nice little build up to it before that.

RocknRollDave

U2 - The Fly . Good for experimentation with delay, wah etc.

SimonC

+ 1 for Thin Lizzy, start at Track 1 of Live & Dangerous and work your way through.

Same goes fro UFO, Strangers in the Night, packed with fun solos.

Danny1969

TTBZ said:

My playing has been in a massive rut for ages now with me slipping into the same licks, riffs etc all the time. Looking for some inspiration for some new stuff to play but I've never got on with trying to learn theory, I'd rather learn some fun songs and incorporate what I've learnt into my own playing. Suggestions for rock based stuff?

Well to a certain extent a lot of players with no theory under their belts will slip into the same patterns and licks because they don't know what other notes are "safe" to play over any given chords. So they stick to the pentonic box like a life float ..... weve all done that at some point . As hard as it is a small smattering of knowledge will break you out of that and open up all kinds of options, so well worth the effort IMHO

As much as I love Lizzy (I'm in a Thin Lizzy tribute band) most of their solo's are pure pentonic based and prob won't teach you much about harmony or breaking out the box's .... Still in love with you isn't bad but it's the underlying chords that give it the movement rather than the lead ............. Parisian walkways is a better bet as the lead is always voiced over the chord and it's a great exercise in controlled bend vibrato  

TTBZ

Fair enough, where do I start with breaking out of the box? CAGED?

Danny1969

TTBZ said:

Fair enough, where do I start with breaking out of the box? CAGED?

No, I don't believe in that. This is what I teach as it's applicable to any instrument. 

First learn where all the notes are ..... start by being able to spot all the A's, then the C's. then the E's .... the rest of the notes are inbetween these landmarks so will come quickly
Then learn the 2 basic scales, major and minor. 

Just the above can have you confidently solo'in perfectly in key over a song without having to stick to "shapes"  You know your in Am for example, you know where all the notes all over the neck in the key of Am  are so your not restricted to box's. I honestly think it's quick fix's like tab \ caged etc that moves people from nothing to something quickly but then hit a brickwall cos there's no real underlying understanding of whats going on. The only way to gain complete freedom is to understand the formulas that make the sounds you want to hear. 

So if you watch a vid on youtube to do with music theory try and avoid guitar specific ones

There's obviously a lot more to learn, you never stop learning. That's what makes it such a great hobby. Also knowing the rules of scales \ construction of modes etc doesn't mean you can't break em ... you just use them to your advantage 

stratman3142

Although they're not purely rock, some the Steely Dan solos are interesting. I can recommend:
Reeling In The Years, Pretzel Logic, Peg, Kid Charlemagne

The solos to Sweet Child O' Mine might be good good ones to try, as they use the major scale at first then the harmonic minor scale at the end. Steve Lukather's solo on Rosanna is another good one. Parisienne Walkways as mentioned earlier.

It's good good to have some sort of system, so you can reuse and adapt what you learn and use it in other situations. Perhaps experiment with approaches that work for you by trying to relate new things you learn to old things you already know. For example, some of the melodies you learn might be thought of as being like the pentatonic shape you already know, but with an added note or a slight modification to the shape. And at the same time 'hear' how the added notes or modifications sound.

My playing largely evolved from early copying of such things as Hendrix and Kossoff solos by a mixture of ear plus trial and error from the CAGED major and minor pentatonics. As I learned new stuff in other areas, I kept the CAGED major and minor pentatonics as my skeleton reference. Now I happen think in terms of the major and minor pentatonics of CAGED system to underpin my thinking, but then add notes or modify things to create other scales/sounds. But that's just my weird method and I'm sure it won't work for others. The landmarks approach described by @Danny1969 ;sounds like a good approach.

HAL9000

Hendrix - All along the Watchtower - mostly C#m pentatonic, but with a few extra notes and some interesting ideas
Clapton - Hideaway (from the Beano album) - Mixes major and minor pentatonics
David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb (first solo) Effective use of chord tones.
Clapton - Holy Mother - The 'one note' solo. Then mostly G major pentatonic, but with the C note added quite a bit.

bloodandtears

Whitesnake - Don't break my heart again...  not taxing but some nice position shifts..
Metallica - Fade To Black.. epic

mellowsun

Pop solos can be good to learn as they tend to go a bit outside the pentatonics.

try the solo to The One And Only by Chesney Hawkes

bingefeller

Oasis - Live Forever.

EricTheWeary

Fairly sure, without checking, Nick Kershaw wrote, produced and played the solo on that. 

mellowsun said:

Pop solos can be good to learn as they tend to go a bit outside the pentatonics.

try the solo to The One And Only by Chesney Hawkes

Bellycaster

Some good ones mentioned although some might be on the "upper" side of Intermediate

Some of my Faves.

Allanah Myles - Black Velvet
Pink Floyd - Another Brick
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama, great Pop Song Solo.
Bob Marley - Waiting in Vain
Tears for Fears - EWTRTW, the entire song is worth learning
Divine Comedy - Alfie/ National Express
Bowie - China Girl (SRV)
Def Leppard - Armageddon It.

I would recommend trying to learn some of the stuff from Backstreet Symphony Album by Thunder, Luke Morley is a great player and the guitar stuff on that album is very good for making you really listen at how to transcribe it. Try "Higher Ground" on that album.

paulk

Television - Elevation.

dafuzz

Spin Doctors' Two Princes was one of the first I ever learned and I still enjoy playing it

Don't Cry by GnR as well