Blues Guitar Soloing Tip: Repeat Yourself
How many times have you created a blues guitar solo by running through all the scale positions and notes you know? It really isn’t the most effective way to produce an interesting solo.
In blues guitar soloing, less is more; there are only five notes in the pentatonic scale after all, it’s not for nothing.
You can make your life easier and make your blues phrases sound better by reducing the number of notes you include in your phrases. One effective way to do this is to develop the habit of repeating a note.
This is not as easy as it first sounds. Most of us have spent hours of practice learning to do just the opposite. We run from one note to another all the time as we practice scales, box positions and licks. It actually takes some work to get into the habit of staying on the same note from time to time.
You can use this tip to repeat a note anywhere you like in your licks and solos, but I find this technique is especially effective at the end of a phrase. Simply repeat your lick’s target note several times.
First Blues Box Examples
Here are four short example licks using this idea in the first position blues box.
Because they are short they work very well as endings that you can just tack on to the end of a phrase. Try placing them at the end of some of your phrases to hear how they sound.
————-|————-|————-|——————- ————-|————-|————-|——————- -5-5-5——-|-5———–|-5———–|——————- ——-7~~~–|—7-7-7-7~~-|—7-7-7-5~~-|——————- ————-|————-|————-|-5s7-5-5-5-7-7~~~~-
————-|————-|————-|——————- ————-|————-|————-|——————-
Conclusion
These examples show you how easy it can be to use repetition of one note in your licks, only two or three notes is enough to do the job. Experiment with your own ideas around the scale and chord positions you know. You’ll soon get into the habit of repeating yourself and playing better sounding blues guitar solos.
