As i said, im trying to write a solo for one of my songs. and its really hard. i know it would sound better in the same key as the riffs and shit, but its just hard. i dont want it to be really fast and really high, just like a basic solo. any tips?

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bends and vibratos always are good for solos.

when i write a solo i pick and emotion that im trying to get, then i go from there.

i try to give emotions to other bands solos to help me identify what im trying to do.

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use the notes of the same octaves of the notes of the riffs you wrote.

and just let it flow man, just write what you feel.

why don't you do like a little brainstorming session. if you have a tape player that records, record the background riff onto one tape. play the tape, and try to improvise a solo over it, with whatever you feel and try to remember what you played later (of if you have 2 tape players record the solo). you'll get plenty of emotion into your solo this way. and just keep brainstorming, later if you recorded it, you could listen to it and pick out the best licks to make a good solo.

and look closely at what other guitarists do in their solos.

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Theres no right way to write a solo, but as a general rule start low and slow and finish high and fast, ie its no good ve your 15 note a second arpeggio at the beginning and slowing down. Here is 1 way I go about approaching writing solos and you probably think its nuts but it does work,

first write another verse of lyrics where you are going to solo
then record yourself singing it,

next sit down and figure out how to play what you would sing over it this takes time and can really get annoying but its worth it,

finally expand on the last few licks cause your not gonna be abl to play as fast as you can sing so maybe put fills in between the "words" that you can already play

And there you will usually have an ultra melodic solo which is pleasing on the ear.

That is one excellent idea !!!!!
It happened to me a thousand times that I sang the bestest solos on the way to my home and when I'm back I can't recall a thing. Taperecorders are the greatest things !!!

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just play a minor scale in the same key

memorize the g major scale up and down... that will get you started

make sure you know what your doing.
first of all, you should know good scales and shit. My favourite scale is the A harmonic minor. its sik. Also, you should know how to write music so that you have it written down. its worthless to just put out on tab. this is becuz tab doesnt show proper counting. i just made up a cool solo out of the A harmonic minor. its mostly fast runs so all I did was felt wat was in my gut and started ripping my fingers off!
Also, lots of people dont know this, if you want to use a certain scale like lets say C major, you should start on the C note, otherwise its in a different mode and ittl turn out o be a different scale like G minor or something.

But, if you want to make a no good punk solo, forget everything I said.

I don't know... if you want your solos to be something nobody has ever heard before, just play whatever the hell you want, but make the solo fit with the song. Be inventive. Let that true feeling out. Try smoking

Coming up with melodies to layer on top of something is not hard at all, you just need to sit back, listen, relax and have your guitar handy. I suggest starting doing improvisations over simple chord progressions. Like... make a riff that consists of 4 chords played over and over, and for each chord come up with a lick.

I work at a store and I had to set up some stuff in the cooler(where you grab sodas and shit), and even the hum of the cooling machine helped me come up with this really kick ass folky/celtic-style melody. In my head of course, so I forgot, but I remember it was really cool....

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do u improvise alot??

i mean, i dotn write music, or solos, but i do improvise al the time.

i take, say a harmonic minor scale in D or whatever u want, and i just play in that scale, ive done that for maybe 1 month or so, and its getting better and better, u find some things out that sound cool,etcetetc

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no use replying to an post thats 3 years old

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exactly what i do, great excersise

especially if you have someone to play rythms

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im 13 and i have a christian band and when i am writing a solo for one of my songs for my band i try do do it with emotion and confidence. what you do is grab your guitar and a pen and paper and just start writing. but make sure it goes along with the song. allot of the times the greatest solos are just a bunch of licks put together.

Jesus helps me write my solo's.

dont worry so much about writing in a certain scale, just write what sounds good. your ears will pick out the notes that don't fit

when i write solos, i'll usually just come up with a cool lick that fits the music and base the rest of the solo around that

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If you're out of ideas, record the part you're soloing over and listen to it over and over, and try do a "improvisation in your head". You can improvise on guitar to, but then you're limited to the scales you know and how you usually do phrasing etc...

You can combine those ideas with scale-runs you've come up with, licks you've made, ideas for unusual scalechoices, rythmic ideas, anything...

About scales: If you have a powerchord chord-progression in Em, you don't have to play e natural minor the whole time. As long as you use a scale that containes the 1. and 5. of the chord you're playing over, you can pretty much do what you want to .If you're in Em, you could for example switch to D harmonic minor when you're playing over a Apowerchord... that's just one example