Why Your Guitar Solos Don't Sound Musical (And How to Fix Them)

Your guitar solo can have the “right” notes and still feel wrong. The gap is usually groove. We jump into a practical, no-hype approach to soloing that starts where real music starts: locking to the beat. Using a “Groovy Fine Blues in B Minor” backing track as the example, we focus on finding the quarter note, then treating the eighth note as the true pulse for most lead guitar. From there, we show how the B minor pentatonic becomes a usable palette when your timing is solid, even if you only touch a couple of strings and a small note set.

We also get specific about how to create motion without falling into frantic shredding. If 16th notes at tempo feel out of reach, we talk through how to imply that subdivision with hammer-ons and pull-offs so your lines still carry energy. Then we zoom in on phrasing: thinking like a singer, leaving space, and using silence as part of the message. A simple idea like repetition, in rhythm or in note choice, turns a few notes into something listeners can actually remember.

From there, we build the next layers that make solos sound “human”: dynamics through pick attack and volume control, plus vocal tools like slides, bends, and vibrato that help the guitar sing instead of sounding like typed notes. We wrap by looking at register, when to stay low and quiet, when to climb for impact, and how intentional practice with one good backing track can beat mindless track-hopping. If this helps, subscribe, share it with a guitarist friend, and leave a review with the one groove or phrasing habit you are fixing next.

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Thank you!
Steve

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Transcript

Steve 0:00

Hey, Steve here. Uh, I just want to take some time out today and go live and talk to you a little bit about the building blocks, in my opinion, of getting to a decent sounding solo. It's very easy for us to get lost all over the place trying to learn how to play guitar, learning scales and theory and triads, and they're all good. Again, don't get me wrong, they're all good. But I think the most important factors of playing an effective solo start with developing your ability to play the groove. Okay, that's

Why Groove Makes Solos Work

Steve 0:35

step number one is playing the groove. Now, you can practice the fretboard and all those things, and all of that stuff is great. Okay, and I I hope you do that. But understand that if you're in a situation where all of a sudden you have to jump up on stage with a band and you know, you're not can, you know, you're not perfect at position four or something like that. What I want you to think about is the most important thing is the groove. Okay. And I'm gonna use uh uh an example. I'm gonna use a backing track. What is this backing track here? Let me get this over here. It's it's on YouTube and it's called Groovy Fine Blues and B Minor. That's what it's called. Groovy, fine, blues, and B minor by MJ's backing tracks and studio. Great, it's a great track. So please check that out. So basically, what's gonna happen here is I'm gonna take this thing and I'm gonna show you what I mean. So we're gonna listen to it, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna decide where the eighth note is and where the 16th note is. And then we're gonna start building from there. Okay, so that's the first thing is just trying to get comfortable. Even if you, you know, don't know all the positions on the guitar or whatever, this one's in B minor. So I'm gonna go here. And what I'm not concerned about right now is playing all of those notes. I just want to get in there and start connecting to the groove. So let's listen to this for a second, okay? So let me start at the beginning.

Choose A Backing Track Palette

Steve 2:05

Now, if you are watching this live, let me know if you know one thing, my guitar is too loud or the the backing track is too loud or something like that. But so here we go. As I listen to this, I'm thinking, okay, so this thing is in B minor, all of the so the chords in here fit in B minor. I'm good to go. Okay, so B minor pentatonic is gonna be my palette to begin with. So as I'm listening to this, then okay, so the first one is what I'm thinking of as the quarter note. Now, the quarter note is great, and please don't get me wrong, quarter note and half note and whole note. We want to stop, and we're gonna talk about that in a second. We want to create phrases, but the pulse of what we're gonna be soloing in is going to be the eighth note. And then we want to get into the 16th notes to be able to create energy, but needless to say, the 16th notes are gonna be harder, right? The 16th note, the 16th notes require us to have a little more skill. So, an easy way to get into the 16th notes, if you're not very good with your picking and or your position or whatever it might be, is doing some simple hammer ons or pull-offs.

Find The Eighth Note Pulse

Steve 3:25

And let me show you that, okay? So I'm gonna start this over again, and what I'm gonna do is go in here and I'm only gonna start on these two strings. I'm gonna use these two strings, the fourth string and the third string of this B minor pentatonic. That's all I'm gonna use. There's my B right there. So, what I wanna do is go in there and start thinking about the eighth note and play along with that. So, here's my quarter note. So my eighth note, right there. Bump, bum. And what I'm gonna explore here in the beginning is just trying to create little phrases with those eighth notes. Bump bump bump. So I always tell people it's like scat singing. If you don't want to scat sing out loud, you don't have to if you don't want to get made fun of, right? But what you can do is try and just do this scat singing, okay? Bump bump bump, and try and make different sized phrases that start and end in different places. Bump bump bump bum bump bump bum bum bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump. It doesn't matter. We're not worried about pitch right now, we're not thinking about the right note to go to. Let's worry about that stuff later. Right now, we're just trying to make a connection. So as I listen to this, okay? So that's step one. It seems simple, seems straightforward. Again, we're not getting fancy yet. We're just trying to make a connection. What many guitar players do wrong is they're too busy trying to run around the fretboard and do all these things, and they're not listening to the music and trying to make a connection to the rhythm, to the groove. You gotta start there. Okay? So that's step number one is trying to do that. Now, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna move into trying to add some eighth notes. Now, the eighth note would be like this. Whoops. Now, again. That might be too fast for you right now, and I'm not asking you to do that. What I'm saying is you've got your your eighth note. So when we move to the 16th note, da da da da da da da da. If you can't physically play, that gives you a goal, right? To practice so you can you can play

Fake 16ths With Hammer-Ons

Steve 6:22

16th notes at this tempo. But for the time being, what you can do is simply nod to the 16th note by doing stuff like that. A hammer on. So we have, if we go back to this again, here's our there's our eighth. So now, it is gonna sound a little bit like a 70s tune at this point because we're that's what we're using, is the tools that they would have used a lot in the 60s or the 70s, that sort of thing. So it's not fancy yet. I'm just saying you're trying to make a connection to the groove. You're finding the eighth note, you're finding the 16th note. The 16th note, if it's too hard for you to play, you can simply do some hammer-ons or some pull-offs to be able to make those connections. Hey Chuck, nice to see you, buddy. Um, so that's the first step. The second step then is as we're thinking about these different sizes, these phrases, which when we think about phrases or scat singing, what's happening is we're thinking about stopping just as much as we're thinking about the different sized phrases. Bump, bum bump, bump, mm-hmm, we're stopping. That pause, that break allows the music to breathe and it allows your listener to hear what you said. If you're just playing the whole time, you may not really be saying anything. So learning to breathe is really important, just like when you talk, just like when you sing.

Phrasing Means Leaving Space

Steve 7:58

So that's the key to phrasing, okay, is to take those breaks. So we're making different size breaks, which allows us to stop. Okay. Now, the next thing I can do is start thinking: do I want some repetition? I'm only using these four notes. Sorry if I did a little more than that, but I only want to use these four notes at this point, okay? Just the middle of the B minor pentatonic. Just those four notes. So I start thinking about well, how could I do something with this? I mean, I can just play them up and down, but maybe I can start using some repetition. I can use repetition in the notes that I'm playing, I can use repetition in the rhythms that I'm playing. I might use repetition in the notes, but the rhythm is going to change. Okay. So if you s if you do something like this, watch this. Then let's see here. We have somebody that said, backing track is rock or pop or basic melodic. Can you demonstrate funk, jazz, jazz, funk, fusion, prog? All of this stuff is the same, okay? What happens is when you're dealing with something like, let's say prog, for instance, okay, prog music, your technique needs to be elevated to a higher level. But you listen to someone like John Pertrucci, he's locked into the groove all the time. He's always locked into the groove. Jazz players, I play with the jazz band here in Fargo, uh, the saxophone player, he's always locked into the groove. Okay. So what changes maybe is the scale that you're using or the approach that you're taking, which again, this conversation isn't about right now, but that would be something different. Maybe you're using a mode or maybe you're using something else. Or in jazz, maybe you're not so concerned with scalar playing, but you're doing more chord chasing, right? As the chords change because all the chords don't fit in a key. But it's going to still be the same thing. If you're not, again, bottom line, if you're not connecting to the groove, the rest of it doesn't really make any difference. If you can't connect to the beat of the music, because when you think about what music really is as a band, it's poetry, right? If there's a singer, with a a rhythm, with pitch, right? Without that rhythm, we really don't have anything. If I just go in there and start trying to play as fast as I can, and I can do that, I can do whatever I want. But if I don't have some semblance of groove connected somewhere, regardless of the style of music it is. I mean, you mentioned jazz, listen to Joe Pass or Alan Holdsworth. Are they never connected to the groove? They're very much connected to the groove. You know what I mean? Um, Mike Stern, you know, very much connected to the groove. There's just other things. We're so we're talking

Use Repetition With Four Notes

Steve 10:58

about level one here. It's just starting with that, okay? And then building up. So before I get off topic here, so that's the first step is it's just starting with a couple of strings and trying to make connections, thinking about your phrases. And I want to remind you too, you need to practice this sort of thing constantly. Yes, you want to practice your scales and your technique and your theory and all these other things, your fretboard visualization, whatever it is. Yes, you want to do that stuff. But if you don't spend time on a regular basis in the creative space connecting to music, you can't just expect because you're really smart at theory and you're really fast at your technique, that you can connect to music. That's not necessarily true. You got to practice being in the environment. This is why when you're in a band for a long time, you start noticing that things just get better when the band is good because you're connected to music all the time. And so that's something that I always tell people make sure that you're practicing your creative space as well. Like you're practicing improvisation. Do a few minutes every single day, along with everything else that you're working on. Hey, Mike, hey, Chuck. So it's really important to think about that. Now, what's the next level? Okay, for me, the next level is you start thinking about dynamics. Again, if you're playing over Slayer, you don't really need to worry about dynamics. And if you've listened to Slayer solos, you don't really need to worry about groove either, right? We're talking about regular styles of music. Doesn't matter if it's country or rock or jazz or blues or metal, it doesn't matter what it is. We're trying to make a connection to the groove. And depending on the style of music or the situation you find yourself in, you may wind up using a lot of dynamics. Now, dynamics for me are maybe it's the hardness or softness of the way I'm picking.

Groove Still Rules Every Style

Steve 12:50

Maybe I'm gonna physically roll my volume off. To create that kind of dynamic over this backing track, that'd be a great thing to do. So if I start adding in some dynamics along with my groove, my phrasing, okay. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Chuck says, uh, Schofield, another one that's connected to the groove. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, is it it doesn't go away. Just because it's a certain style doesn't change anything. The groove is still the groove. It's the stuff on top of it that's gonna change for all of us depending on what our interests are. So here's a little bit of dynamics now. Hey, Ricky, it's very important to understand that what you're trying to do is if you can make music with a couple of notes, you can make music with a lot of notes. So you have to think about what you're trying to do in the music in the creative space. So we've got our groove, we've got our phrasing. This is the next thing we want to think about. And when you're practicing, everybody, practice with intention. Today I'm working on my groove, today I'm working on my phrasing, right? Or I'm working on both those. That's great. But don't just say I'm gonna jam. Today I'm gonna grab a backing track and jam. Don't say that. Say, today I'm gonna work on so-and-so when I jam. This is what I'm trying to work on. This is what I'm trying to connect to. Be more laser focused on what you're trying to do so you get more out of it. Okay. The next thing I want to talk about on top of the groove, the phrasing, and the dynamics is what I like to refer to as vocal tools. Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends. I think this stuff

Practice Improvisation In Real Time

Steve 15:06

is just imperative for the guitar to sing. If we don't use those sorts of things, the guitar winds up sounding very much like a standard piano. Okay, we can add all those kinds of sounds by learning to be more effective with our hamrons and pull-offs and slides and bends and vibrato, all of those kind of things. So again, remember, it's not a matter of whether somebody you think in your mind, well, I remember learning that, or I'd done that before. I was trying to tell students there's a difference between having an experience and absorbing the information that you need. You know, I went to a movie. That doesn't mean I was in the movie, right? That doesn't mean I was an actor in the movie. It just means I went to the movie and six months later I forget all about whatever the movie was. Because we watch a video or we read a book or we take a lesson or something like that, we might get some really, really valuable information. But if we do, we got to absorb that information. You got to get to the point where it is second nature for you. That's why the players that you enjoy sound the way they do, is because they've built absolute confidence in their skills and the way they approach the guitar. They're not second guessing themselves. They're not, well, I kind of sort of know this, so I'm gonna see if I can do it. They absolutely know what it is. Okay? So you wanna make sure if you're gonna go for a bend or a slide and that sort of thing, you got to explore all of the different ways that you can use these things to make the guitar, like simple things, like starting your phrase with a slide, or ending your phrase with a slide, or sliding in between notes. You know, whatever it might be. Now, of course, this ism is not a jazz ism, right? You're not necessarily gonna, that's more of a blues ism, going back to that that other comment. Once you start layering on top of here, it has to become kind of what you're looking for, right? But I'm not trying to lose the the the groove in the process. Now, I might I might lose it for a little while because I'm going to something really fast or something like that, but then I need to come back again. Okay, let's see here. I was going to ask, how do you break out of the box of playing the same notes with different backing tracks? But I think you answered my question. Well, that's the thing, is another element of your practice, of course, is studying the fretboard, right? And you don't need to learn all five positions. You could learn

Add Dynamics With Pick And Volume

Steve 17:43

two positions, but then you need to practice using it in the real world. You need to practice moving in and out, back and forth between those two positions. Know where the things are that you need. Practice the physicality of navigation through those positions. Practice with a backing track. Don't always look for a new backing track. Don't try and do 5,000 backing tracks. Find a backing track that fits you and it fits what your focus is, what your intention is, and then practice that. Okay? So that's something to really try and work on. And yeah, all of this stuff is gonna become individualized as you keep going. I'm just telling you, if you don't have a good sense of groove, you don't have much of anything. So it's always good to start there. That way, if you ever get in a situation where you're gonna jam with some people and you get up and maybe the groove or or the tempo's a little bit off, or it's it's at a strange key for you or something, or you're just nervous. If you can attach to the groove, you're 70% of the way there. It's enough to get you through. Okay? If it's in your wheelhouse, you can go crazy. If it's in your band playing your style of music, doing the songs you've done a million times, you already know what to do, right? But it's something to think about is just learning how to attach. So hammer ons, pull-offs, slides, bends for product. All that kind of stuff. And then as you get more comfortable with that, start heading out. The other thing I want you to think about, the last thing I want to think about, want you to think about, is the register in which you're playing. As the music starts telling you, what I love about songs like these are they're dynamic. It's not 100% the entire time, and I love that too. But this is one of those where you've got ebb and flow, you've got the availability of being able to build it. So

Vocal Tools That Make Guitar Sing

Steve 19:28

let's say we start off the song and it's really mellow, right? So I'm doing something like this. So maybe I come up here now to the next spot up here. Bring my volume up a little bit. Maybe even more. Then come back in again. Okay. Now, I could move up the guitar, right? I could come up and into, I could add more, more, you know, diatonics. Again, you can do whatever you want. The point is, if you if you're always just thinking about the theory, or you're thinking about the next lick, or you're thinking about whatever, what happens a lot of times is you're not thinking about the music. And Chuck had mentioned voicing the music depends on the nature and the tone of the conversation. One million percent. And Mike said, I was going to uh not not that one. Uh Christian says, Sometimes I think I have a better feel than an ear, and that's okay. The more you do this, the more your ear, you can train your ear to start telling you, do I need to go up or do I need to go down? But I also, do I need to get louder or do you need to get

Change Register To Build Intensity

Steve 21:27

softer? Or do I need to go to a lower register and kind of talk quietly? Or do I need to go to a higher register and start screening to get that impact across? So these are really, really great things, guys, for you to try and practice. So hopefully this has helped you today to give you something to try and think about in your practice. So remember, if you're struggling with practicing and you feel like you're really stuck and you love playing guitar, you know, we have this thing called the Guitar Zoom Academy. You can always check it out and see if it's something that you're interested in. Um and if it is great, we could always have a conversation. About it. Otherwise, you know, I'll see you on the socials and hopefully these videos will keep helping you go. So, everybody, take care and I'll talk to you soon, okay?