I was personally very excited for this module since I’ve been a guitar player for a while but I couldn’t quite get a grasp on soloing on a song, Since the very first lesson I was locked in and very interested in how to solo and most importantly when to solo and for how long. I learned that a good solo always comes back to the main riff of the song or has a little hint of the main riff in there which makes it sound organized and personally it developed a sense of rhythm for me and a better understanding of what note to play on the pentatonic scale.
The Chicken:
This song required a very intricate understanding of switching between different scales and only Nathan was the one who could do it easily in our band so we decided instead of risking the quality of our final performance the rest of us focused on playing the rhythm parts of the song and support Nathan. Once we began our rehearsal we realised that supporting a solo isn’t as easy as it seems, It requires you to be very aware of which band member playing what part and be vigilantly listening at all times because it’s easy to get confused and break rhythm, Once we figured out our parts and started understanding the song we started grooving and we realised it’s easy once you keep track of the tempo.
Chameleon:
This was one of my favourite songs to play because the solo parts allowed me to surf the scale with a lot more freedom and experiment a lot more, I memorized a couple patterns to start me off and help me get comfortable with the scale, Once I got the scale ingrained in my muscle memory it automatically made it easier for my to navigate however I wanted to. I focused on starting my solo from the main riff of the song with a couple extra notes to hint some improvisation in there and later on kept building off of it.
Cantaloupe island:
Cantaloupe island was the song I felt helped me understand and practice soloing on a higher standard because it required me to keep switching between two scales which helped me understand how to go about different scales in the same song, For this solo I tried to keep the main riff in my head the whole time because it made it easy for me to switch and remember where the scales start without getting confused. I focused on staying around the main riff and keep coming back to it to help my sense of rhythm in the song, I couldn’t manoeuvre as freely as I wanted to but this song helped me practice the basics and develop a better understanding of soloing.