help or advice re solo's

[aljaxon]

i dont mean fancy impressive solos just very basic simple tunes.  like albatross or even better for my example ode to joy from beethoven 9th symphony?

 

lets imagine  i try and play the tune. its in my head and im trying to play the next note and im guessing where it is on the fretboard. im not looking at tabs or sheet music or playing from memory. i can usually do that tune ok cos its simple but half way through it goes to the lowest note and its quite a way from the previous note and i sometimes only get it right after 2 failed placements.

 

so my question is how are you able to always select the right note when converting a tune in your head onto the fretboard?  is it something you either can or cant do?  i can sing in tune quite well and can hear the notes in my head perfectly. but i cannot visualise the fretboard in sounds.  i just watched a youtube video about intervals thinking it might be something to do with that.  even though i can hear the tune in my head  perfectly and sing it, i cant say oh yes that note is an A which would make it  easier to pick the right fret. 

so do i need to be able to put names to the notes in my head? or what do i need to be doing/learning.  im not trying to be a goodsolo player, its just inbetween chords in some songs you get the odd couple of infill notes and playing them correctly at first is hard. then its just down to memory

 

 

[randythoades]

34 minutes ago, aljaxon said:

i dont mean fancy impressive solos just very basic simple tunes.  like albatross or even better for my example ode to joy from beethoven 9th symphony?

 

lets imagine  i try and play the tune. its in my head and im trying to play the next note and im guessing where it is on the fretboard. im not looking at tabs or sheet music or playing from memory. i can usually do that tune ok cos its simple but half way through it goes to the lowest note and its quite a way from the previous note and i sometimes only get it right after 2 failed placements.

 

so my question is how are you able to always select the right note when converting a tune in your head onto the fretboard?  is it something you either can or cant do?  i can sing in tune quite well and can hear the notes in my head perfectly. but i cannot visualise the fretboard in sounds.  i just watched a youtube video about intervals thinking it might be something to do with that.  even though i can hear the tune in my head  perfectly and sing it, i cant say oh yes that note is an A which would make it  easier to pick the right fret. 

so do i need to be able to put names to the notes in my head? or what do i need to be doing/learning.  im not trying to be a goodsolo player, its just inbetween chords in some songs you get the odd couple of infill notes and playing them correctly at first is hard. then its just down to memory

 

 

There isn't an easy way, it is mostly just muscle memory.

 

I don't think about what notes are which, I just know which note I start from, the rest is purely muscle memory and experience from playing various licks and melodies. If I am learning a new melody that needs to be precise rather than just improvised then I would do as I would suggest and start SLOW. Half speed usually until I can play that and just then speed it up gradually. I would normally dedicate a practice session to just play the same lick or melody over and over again until fingers do it automatically.

 

Finding the start point is usually the hardest for me. Don't worry about getting it wrong at full speed, just slow it down again until you can play each section over and over one after the other then begin to speed it back up.

Edited November 22 by randythoades

[Dad3353]

When singing a melody through, in your head or out loud, try to pick out the highest and lowest notes, when you get to them. That's when to pick up the guitar and find those notes, and only those notes. That'll determine where on the fingerboard the rest of the melody lies, so, having established the extremes, now find the initial, starting note, keeping in mind these extremities.
Does this help..? 

[ezbass]

3 hours ago, aljaxon said:

so my question is how are you able to always select the right note when converting a tune in your head onto the fretboard? 

I don't, it's often wrong . That said, interval training helps, but multiple octave jumps are always going to be a challenge. That said, memorise some intervals in tunes that mean something to you and that you can recognise (for instance the minor third of the Jaws theme or the octave jump in Over The Rainbow). Also knowing whether the key being used is major or minor flavoured can get you there quicker.

[Dad3353]

Learning to hear intervals can be accelerated muchly by starting from any one note (low 'E' for instance...), and counting out, from the scale, where the 'second' is (clue, it's F#...), then playing it, naming it out loud, and singing it. Do this, from the same low 'E', for all the other intervals : find the higher note from the scale, play it, name it and sing it. That won't take long at all; just a couple of minutes. Repeat, starting from another note (open 'A' string, for instance...), finding the interval from the 'A' major scale, play it, name it and sing it. Rinse and repeat, for as many starting notes as you wish.
Doing this for a week or so, just in 'idle' time, will bring on a rapid appreciation of what these intervals sound like, in any key. It's a 'no-brainer', really, it's so easy and productive. You won't need to refresh this over time, as it becomes ingrained and automatic, very quickly. Hope this helps. 

 

Edit : to be really 'swish', one may continue beyond the octave and find/play/name/sing the extended intervals, 9th, 11th, 13th ...

Edited November 22 by Dad3353

[aljaxon]

18 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Learning to hear intervals can be accelerated muchly by starting from any one note (low 'E' for instance...), and counting out, from the scale, where the 'second' is (clue, it's F#...), then playing it, naming it out loud, and singing it. Do this, from the same low 'E', for all the other intervals : find the higher note from the scale, play it, name it and sing it. That won't take long at all; just a couple of minutes. Repeat, starting from another note (open 'A' string, for instance...), finding the interval from the 'A' major scale, play it, name it and sing it. Rinse and repeat, for as many starting notes as you wish.
Doing this for a week or so, just in 'idle' time, will bring on a rapid appreciation of what these intervals sound like, in any key. It's a 'no-brainer', really, it's so easy and productive. You won't need to refresh this over time, as it becomes ingrained and automatic, very quickly. Hope this helps. 

 

Edit : to be really 'swish', one may continue beyond the octave and find/play/name/sing the extended intervals, 9th, 11th, 13th ...

thanks for replies, that sounds quite hard but ill give it a go.  and as for the reply re muscle memory i guess thats fine. but how about making something up in your head and playing as you go in a kind of right i want to play this note next, and cue the damn wrong fret.

[Dad3353]

5 hours ago, aljaxon said:

... how about making something up in your head and playing as you go in a kind of right i want to play this note next, and cue the damn wrong fret.

 

Ah. For this, I'd refer you to my usual words of encouragement that I often dish out, when subjects such as this arise...

 

'It's the first forty years that are the worst, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly better.'