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How to play a guitar solo

3,540 views · Published 18 November 2016 · 6:31 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: New Secret Guitar Teacher · 2016 · Music

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How to solo on guitar. Slash's solo to Knocking on Heaven's Door used as example. Guns n Roses Knocking on Heaven's Door guitar solo demonstration. Sample video from: the Secret Guitar Teacher Site: http://secretguitarteacher.com/youtube/ssb.php?lp_id=1817

Video script:
There are millions of possible ways to approach playing a guitar solo and it would take a brave, or perhaps foolish man, to point to any one way as being 'right' or 'wrong'; 'better' or 'worse' than any other.

And yet I think each of us knows when we are listening to a truly great solo, and equally there are many guitar solos on record that are instantly forgettable.

In this lesson I just want to point out the importance of creating a solo that flows from one lick to the next in a way that keeps the audience listening. And the basis of this trick is one used in many art forms. In creative writing it is sometimes referred to as 'crisis and crisis resolved', but in music it is perhaps better expressed simply as 'tension an resolution'.

Imagine watching a TV drama where a bunch of perfectly normal happy people go through a series of everyday activities safely and happily...day after day. It wouldn't be long before you would be flipping over to other channels searching for something a bit more engaging to watch. Well it's the same with a song and even with the particular short part of a song we are focusing on - the guitar solo. 

To demonstrate this I have picked what I would describe as a textbook solo. One that most of us will have heard, probably many times. This is Slash's solo to Guns and Roses version of Bob Dylan's 'Knocking on Heaven's door'. Here's my slightly lightweight version of it.

Notice that the solo starts by making a solid, neat, but in no way extravagant musical statement  and you can immediately hear this as setting out almost a conversational type pattern. 

It asks a question  then answers it. Almost like the opening of a Shakespearean monologue... 'To be? '...or not to be? 

This makes our opening quite self-contained, quite resolved. So it is quickly followed by three phrases in succession that first lead us away from the safe notes, but then resolve again at the end of the line.Then just when we are settling down the next phrase clearly moves up a level. For me, the nicest lick in the solo followed immediately by another pair of unresolved  and resolved licks.

We then get the climactic lick - and notice that we have worked our way up the fretboard to the highest sounding part. And vitally we have a little coda, a tag on the end of the solo to link us ever so neatly back into the vocals.

So in this solo the guitarist is constantly teasing the audience... playing safe
...  then leaving things hanging ...  . Telling us it's allright after all . Then opening the shower curtain to reveal the madman with the knife. Working the plot up to a climax   and then assuring us that everyone lives happily ever after, after all.

So the takeaway for this little lesson is that Drama relies on building cycles of ever-increasing tension and resolution. And in most cases, a guitar solo relies on this drama to have any emotional impact on the audience.

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