In a guitar lesson this week a student asked for help making her solos more musical. Since what makes a great solo is somewhat subjective, and the possibilities extensive, that can be difficult to teach. But one of the simplest tips that I give to students, especially those just beginning with pentatonic scales, is to think about “talking rhythms”.
Have you ever listened closely to what you sound like when you talk, the rhythms and inflections that you produce when you speak in every day conversations? It’s incredible if you analyze the complexity of these sounds. And yet we are all capable of producing these rhythms and cadences with our speech. Though a budding musician may not feel ready to produce them on her instrument, some simple exercises can help her begin to bridge this gap and create more musical lines in her solos.
Pick a line in a book you like, or a phrase on a sign as you walk down the street. Say the words in your head, emphasizing how they flow together, and how certain inflections within or between words may reflect a raising and/or lowering in pitch. Try to sing this line on the syllable “la”, being careful to maintain the inflections and rhythms of the original phrase. Now take your guitar and use any scale with which you are familiar as your “pool of notes” to choose from (such as the minor pentatonic scale). Plug in notes to fit both the rising and falling of the inflections and the rhythms you sang. The result is your own melody line produced by your musical interpretation of our common tongue. You’ve connected your mastery of the english language to the language of music. This gives literal meaning to the saying “make your guitar talk”!
© 2013 Brenna Method