After I posted the blues rock backing track last week, I started thinking about writing an original blues rock solo for the jam track. Watch the end result in the video, download the (free) tab or jam along with the backing track.
Inspiration For The Solo
The inspiration for the backing track comes from music by Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Blue On Black), Joe Bonamassa, and other guitarists. So for the solo, I found inspiration in how these guitarists use the blues scale in their playing.
The blues solo in the video is one of the longes I’ve played to date, and it’s a long build towards the final (accented) eight notes.
In the A-section, I leave a lot of space for the slide guitar in the background and the acoustic guitar riffs. I use slides, pull-offs, and hammer-ons to embellish basic blues licks. I wrote this part last, and – before I did – I revisited Guthrie Govan’s “Remember When”, the perfect blend of liquid guitar lines and mellow groove.
In The B-section, I build up the energy with some Kenny Wayne Shepherd-style licks. Texas Blues licks always add style to a guitar solo. They sound best on a guitar with a single-coil pickup. I chose the 2nd position on the Suhr HH (split coil between the bridge and middle pickup).
In the C-section (chorus), I switch to the bridge video (clearly visible in the video) to play some modern blues licks where long notes balance out some and flashy licks in every fourth bar. It is in this upper range that the Suhr guitar shows its merits. Although this may look like a shred guitar (whatever that means); ,t has a smooth blues guitar voice that brings articulation, intonation, and feeling into every upper octave solo.
Tonewise, i added a fuzz into the guitar sound to bring out the pick attack. At the end of the solo, I push the fuzz-sound a little bit by adding an upper octave.
Featured Lick
This is a classic D minor Texas Blues lick. The bend on the 12th fret catapults the phrase back to the upper E-string. I especially like the feel of the descending sextuplet pattern that follows.
