Solo of the Month (SotM) #32

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  • Just a reminder. Get your entries in by 11:30pm on 24th January 2018

    So far we've got a total of 6 entries, which are from (in the order I received them):

    @bingefeller ;;
    @flying_pie ;;
    @stratman3142 ;;
    @Luxxman ;;
    @Bellycaster ;;
    @Rowby1

    Let me know if I've missed anyone.
    It's not a competition.
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  • DefaultMDefaultM Frets: 7271
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
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  • DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?

     I'll put some stuff together on how I approached it and I'll try to PM it to you later today . But don't assume I have any definitive answers. My approach is very simple.

    I think it would be good to discuss how people approach things on the open forum. Then it becomes more of a collaborative effort than a competition and we can learn from each other. What do others think?

    It's not a competition.
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  • DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
    Bear with me. It might take a bit longer. I started to write something and it ended up sounding far too complicated when put down in words, whereas it's quite simple in my head.

    It's not a competition.
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  • DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?

    For the main riff, the Chords being E7 and E7 sus4. I decided to approach it the way I'd "construct" a Blues solo, as in, treating the E7 as the I Chord in the Blues. So, I used notes in the E minor pentatonic, but mix in some of the Major pentatonic as well. Tritones are always good over a 7 chord too.

    For the changes, I concentrate more on the chord tones, simply using the notes in the chord with some passing notes. I tend not to think strictly in scales though. I'll not normally play a solo straight off the bat. But rather just use the scale as a basic map and experiment with the chord notes in the changes to see what the tastiest combination is.

    I always like to produce "phrases of notes" rather than just think about running through part of a scale. I can't describe it any better than that I'm afraid, but just have a go, it's fun to experiment with it. I'm sure you've come up with some tasty stuff on here before @DefaultM ;

    :)
    Only a Fool Would Say That.
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    Great...it's first time I have seen this ...where can you hear the posted tracks people have submitted ?
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  • Barney said:
    Great...it's first time I have seen this ...where can you hear the posted tracks people have submitted ?
    They're held every month. This challenge is open until 11:30pm on 24th January 2018 and the tracks will be posted for voting shortly after that.

    Why not submit one yourself. There's still plenty of time to enter. No prizes. It's just for fun.

    It's not a competition.
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    stratman3142 gsaid:
    Barney said:
    Great...it's first time I have seen this ...where can you hear the posted tracks people have submitted ?
    They're held every month. This challenge is open until 11:30pm on 24th January 2018 and the tracks will be posted for voting shortly after that.

    Why not submit one yourself. There's still plenty of time to enter. No prizes. It's just for fun.


    Thanks ..Yeah I will do... :)
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    just emailed mine :)
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?

    Here are my thoughts. It would be good to get other views as well so I can learn. Don't assume I know what I'm doing. This is just a personal perspective. Having had a sneak preview of the Sotm submissions so far, as I check and collate them, there are solos that I prefer to mine.

    My thought process is very similar to that of @Bellycaster. I also try to create "phrases of notes" (melodic lines). So if I use the word "scale" to describe things, I'm really referring to something that gives me a bunch of note options from which to find 'lines'.

    E7 and E7sus 4 section
    Over the bit with with an E7 and and Esus4, I'm thinking (and hearing) notes based around a E major pentatonic framework, but then adding notes to that. I think this is similar to @Bellycaster, but I'm centring my thought process around E major pentatonic instead of E minor pentatonic. There's more than one way of looking at these things.

    With the E major pentatonic as my framework, I can then start adding notes (if I want to) based on what my ear (and theory) tells me. Adding the b7 and 4th gives me note options that lie within the E Mixolydian mode (to put a label on it). Adding a flat b3 (i.e. G) gives things a bluesy inflexion. At this point my note options could be thought of as a combination of the major and minor pentatonic (to put a label on it). 

    Then I could add the b5 (tritone) which could be thought of as a part of the E blues scale. 

    So now I think I'm back to essentially what @Bellycaster said, but I've arrived at the same place from a different direction


    Change Section
    Like @Bellycaster I think more 'on the chord' for this section. Often I'll try to use the same scale throughout and adapt it a bit to fit the chords, because following the chords too much can sound a bit contrived to me. This backing track seems to force me to think more 'on the chord'. Probably owing to my inability to write a smoothly transitioning collection of chords.

     As pointed out by @flying_pie, it's possible to play Em pentatonic over the complete section (if you choose your notes carefully). There's a lot to be said for that and I'll come back to that at the end.

    Here are my thoughts on a list of possible scales for the 'change' section. Just food for thought and probably complete overkill.

    For this particular backing track, in the change section, I mainly think in terms of basing things on the corresponding pentatonic scale for each of the chords, but try to blend the lines together. When I say 'pentatonic', I use that as a 'catch all' term to include the basic arpeggio, which I visualise as a sub-set of a pentatonic scale. 

    Below is how I think about my note options, not that I used them all. I must stress that I'm only thinking simple pentatonics (or arpeggios) with optional extra added notes.

    For the G(add2) chord, I think G major pentatonic
    Then there's also the option of adding the C# and F# to the pattern. I'll avoid referring to the mode those notes create, because it ends up making things sound even more complicated.

    For the F(add2)/D chord, I think of a D minor pentatonic (or F major pentatonic)
    Then there's also the option of adding a B or E to the pattern

    For the A(add2) chord, I think of an A major pentatonic
    Then there's also the option of adding a D or an G to the pattern This pattern contains exactly the same notes as the pattern I described for the G(add2) chord.

    Another way I might look at it for the change section
    Coming back to Em pentatonic. What I've written above could also be thought of in terms of taking an Em pentatonic (as suggested by @flying_pie) and adding notes.

    For the G(add2) and A(add2), a C# and F# could be added to Em pentatonic to create the Em Dorian mode (to put a label on it).
    For the F(add2)/D, the C and F could be added to the Em pentatonic to create E Phrygian (to put a label on it). Using that approach is another way of getting to the same notes described earlier for the chords in the change section..


    What I've written seems way more complicated than it is. I'm really just thinking (and hearing) in terms of major or minor pentatonic framework patterns.

    Anyone else like to post their approach to the solo?

    It's not a competition.
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
    over the first 8 bars try some diminished type stuff off the root ..or Bm pent or B dorian 
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    Barney said:
    DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
    over the first 8 bars try some diminished type stuff off the root ..or Bm pent or B dorian 
    Your B Dorian is my E Mixolydian

     But it's interesting how viewing the same thing from a different perspective opens up new melodic ideas.

    It's not a competition.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    Barney said:
    DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
    over the first 8 bars try some diminished type stuff off the root ..or Bm pent or B dorian 
    @Barney can I double check that the submission I've just received is from you. You didn't give your forum name in the email. I'm guessing it is based on the diminished line at about 10s

    It's not a competition.
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    edited January 2018
    Barney said:
    DefaultM said:
    I like how theres a PDF. Does anyone have the theory knowledge to be able to list the scales we could use over each chord?
    over the first 8 bars try some diminished type stuff off the root ..or Bm pent or B dorian 
    @Barney can I double check that the submission I've just received is from you. You didn't give your forum name in the email. I'm guessing it is based on the diminished line at about 10s


    Yeah it will be mate..just sent it about an hour's ago ..

    It will be my wife's name Linda ..if it's that one 
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    Are people OK with me posting entries as I receive them (as Antique_Guitars used to do), or should I hold off until the end?

    I'm inclined to post Sotm entries as I receive them, as it keeps the thread more alive, but I'll go with the majority view.
    i think its a great idea to post as you receive them think a lot more can be learned from each other that way, also they probably get listened to more than having to go through them all at the end....will keep the post alive as well and that way maybe get more people on board ...i just came across this by accident really :)

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  • Sent.  After a few times noodling through, I seemed to settle into A minor for the whole thing.  I experimented with some of the suggestions posted so far but kept going back to A minor.  I played my Squier vintage modified Mustang through a multi effect that I built, but only used the clean boost.  The reverb is built into my pocket studio.   For the "bridge" section part way in and at the end I just moved to the 12th fret, almost sounds like a new key but it's not.

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • One more detail, no pick.  I use one quite a bit when I play electric but I've dropped my pick onstage enough times to have developed a feel for playing without one.

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    edited January 2018
    That's really useful. Wish is known some of that before recording. While we're discussing theory (something I know very little about) can I ask if it's correct to view the chorus as Em? I "heard" it as a key change from E to G but referred to using Em pentatonic as Em and G major are basically the same thing.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    That's really useful. Wish is known some of that before recording. While we're discussing theory (something I know very little about) can I ask if it's correct to view the chorus as Em? I "heard" it as a key change from E to G but referred to using Em pentatonic as Em and G major are basically the same thing.
    An interesting question that I don't know the answer to

    I just put some chords together that I liked and then, for the solo, tried to find groups of notes that seemed to work over the chords.
    For the solo I'm basically visualising and hearing patterns. I might give a name to a scale so that I can describe in words what I visualise and hear as my note options, but another player might put a different label on it (as we've seen in the discussion above).

    If you ignored the F chord in the chord progression, one way of viewing it is as a blues/rock type progression (i.e. E G A) and then (coincidentally) there's an interesting parallel with the discussion on the thread at the link below where @viz gives a good explanation:
    http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/121990/em-pentatonic#latest

    So one (of probably many) ways of breaking it down, is as a blues in E - but watch out for the F chord.

    It would be good if we can use Sotm as a way of sharing ideas and learning from each other.

    It's not a competition.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    Barney said:
    Are people OK with me posting entries as I receive them (as Antique_Guitars used to do), or should I hold off until the end?

    I'm inclined to post Sotm entries as I receive them, as it keeps the thread more alive, but I'll go with the majority view.
    i think its a great idea to post as you receive them think a lot more can be learned from each other that way, also they probably get listened to more than having to go through them all at the end....will keep the post alive as well and that way maybe get more people on board ...i just came across this by accident really

    This was why I wondered whether we should post the Sotm entries as I receive them.

    Perhaps I'll post the Sotm entries as I receive them, unless the general consensus is that we wait. Can the entrants let me know what you think. I've already got a few views earlier in the thread.

    The options are:
    1) Post the entries to this SotM so far
    2) Wait until next month before I post as we go.  I'll make it clear in the Sotm description, then at least people will know up front before they submit an entry
    3) Not post entries until the submission deadline

    But I'll not post the entries to the other challenges (BotM, Rotm, RRotm, Composition Challenge) as we go, because these are more about original composition than playing over the same chord progression.
    It's not a competition.
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