A guitar solo fits a song when every note belongs to the song’s own harmony and every phrase sits in the right part of the arrangement. To learn how to play a guitar solo that fits the song, map the chords, land a chord tone on each change, borrow the vocal’s rhythm and shape, then … Read more
Scales shape metal solos in two ways: they fix the set of notes you are allowed to play, and the intervals between those notes decide the colour you hear. The same six notes can sound like a thrash run, a death metal lead or a power metal melody depending on which tones you stress, how … Read more
To improve alternate picking accuracy, slow down until every note is clean, then raise the metronome by 1 or 2 BPM at a time. Alternate picking accuracy means hitting exactly the string you meant to hit, exactly once, on exactly the beat, while the pick hand alternates down-up-down-up without extras. Most players try to fix … Read more
Learning how to transcribe a metal solo comes down to one habit: work in short phrases, start well under the recorded speed, and write down what you hear before you try to make sense of it. Most of the difficulty is not the guitar playing, it is the distortion smearing pitch, the palm mutes swallowing … Read more