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Serious blues guitar players aren’t really content playing the guitar with the chords given to them. More than ever, they are definitely looking forward to the day that they will be able to have the spotlight to them-or to their music-by going solo. However, what does this mean to you? It means that you can already improvise with the music that you have.

Here are the things that you need to remember once you decide to go for a guitar solo:

1. Don’t attempt to create random notes. Why is Santana one of the best blues guitar players of all time? He has countless guitar solos, and yet he never misses to sound so great. The technique doesn’t really lie on the random notes. As a matter of fact, this is a completely wrong strategy. What you’re definitely after is to create your own template, where you can make your improvisation.

2. Get yourself a blues scale. This doesn’t really refer to the blues music. There’s no clear explanation why it’s called as such, though you can assume that it could be because of the certain random feeling of the music that the blues music has. Nevertheless, the blues scale is the widely used template when you’re starting to train yourself for a guitar solo.

3. Practice alternate picking. The way you pick your guitar will matter when it comes to the kind of music that you want to produce. Since you’re going to do improvisation, you need to try out the different ways on how to pick your guitar. This way, you can determine if the sound produced is good or not. The bottom line is you should avoid surprising yourself once you get on the stage.

4. Make sure that the notes are clear and even. Again, there should be no random notes in your blues guitar solos. You can accomplish this if you learn how to play the scale in different motions, such as forward and backward. Each note, moreover, should also be played twice before you proceed to the next note.

5. List the notes. Unless you have memorized the different kinds of scales used in guitar playing, or if you are already too experienced in guitar solos, you need to list the improvised notes, so you can bring with you when you’re performing, especially when it’s going to be your first time to do the improvised chords.

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