I guess I’ll have a change of heart with this and give it a try. I never did it over the years, copying solos from cover songs note for note for fear of getting their style, but realizing doing this could do me no harm.

Copying solos note for note, could help get better technique, it could help me stay in time, and could help me get a better ear. Plus, it’ll help me understand scales better and how they shift to a different key like Rob said.

Maybe I should study the styles of my favorite guitar players: Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Satriani, Neil Young, and Clapton. If I want to play like a pro, learning from those guys would help me greatly, I think.

Learning what scales & modes they use and all that stuff. I’ll start learning Zep solos though. I’ll record myself playing the rhythm of the Zep song and play the solo over it. Good practice that way, and I’ll play along with the metronome, of course. What scale does Jimmy Page mostly use? He mostly uses the regular minor pentatonic scale but uses what he calls, a “box pattern“.

When Jimmy Page played in Led Zeppelin in the past, when they played their live shows, Jimmy never played the same solo twice on a song. He always improvised different solos on each Zeppelin song. Listen to live CD’s for proof on that. There are too many different versions of the “Stairway To Heaven” solo on the live albums, they were never the same. The same with “Dazed and Confused” with the violin bow.

That’s where I got that thought from, try not to copy others solos, and did what Jimmy Page did. Make each solo on a song different. Not playing the same solo from the album at a live show. On an album you have to play the solo kind of short but when you play live, you can play the solo as long as you want to. Just jam the fuck out of the song until you get tired. That’s what Led Zeppelin did, and that’s what the Grateful Dead did.

That’s how I want to play in a band, same thing. I think 2 or 3 minute songs is way too short for me. A 7 to 10 minute or a little longer is just right for me. People think 10 minute songs are too long for them but to me, not really. If you make the 10 minute song right with the pacing, it’ll be over quick before you know it. Just don’t bore the listener with the same riff over and over, you want to have different things going on.

I’m all about Led Zeppelin, man. They were the reason I do this. If I get a band, I may not even sing at all and just play guitar, maybe have a different singer. I know I’m not that good of a singer anyway, I just do it ’cause the songs I write need vocals and I had nobody else.

Thing is, I feel weird when people tell me I’m a great guitar player ’cause a lot of times, I don’t feel I’m up there yet. I say in the blog, I don’t have my rhythm and timing down yet and other musicians say that I have my timing down well enough. They said I’ve always had my timing good. In the past, I was never into theory too much so I never understood quarter notes, eights notes, sixteenth notes, etc. until now when I started reading more about rhythm and practicing along with a metronome more often. If I want to get good at home recording, I need to get good with timing, so I can make the drums sound perfectly in sync and stay in the pocket.

I want to be at my best. I don’t realize my own talent, being my own worst critic. So I just let other people do the talking and let them think what they want about my music. Although, I’m flattered for some of the positive feedback I get with my playing.

Kev