So I mentioned the word, “phrasing”, when talking about guitar playing. What is it? The way I look at “phrasing” in guitar playing when playing guitar solos is sounding musical. You want to make your lead guitar playing sound like it’s singing a song. When you can get your lead guitar playing to make it sound like it’s singing a song, that’s when you know you’re good at phrasing. Knowing all your techniques like slides, hammer on’s/pull off’s, string bending, vibratos, knowing your scales, finger exercises, etc. All that stuff is great but if you wanna get somewhere in your lead guitar playing, you gotta improve your “phrasing” which is what I’ve been working on.

There are so many guitarists out there who all they wanna do is show their technical skills and play a bunch of fast notes but all they’re doing is just playing a bunch of scales which would sound awful. It’s okay to show off but you don’t wanna over-do it. Less is more in guitar playing. You can still play an amazing guitar solo by just using 4 or 5 notes, that’s it. You just need to know how to “phrase” them and make them sound musical.

Nobody wants to hear fast guitar playing all of the time. They want to hear “music”.

A lot of musicians mistakenly believe that audiences get bored of long ten minute guitar solos. You see, that’s not always true. As long as you’re good at “phrasing” and making your guitar solos sound musical, then people can listen to you play for hours and get their face melted.

If you wanna melt people’s faces with your guitar playing… you have to make your lead guitar playing sound “musical”. I know I’m repeating myself but trying to make a point.

A lot of guitar players overlook, “phrasing”. I’m trying to improve myself on this too. If you want your guitar solo to work, “phrasing” is key.

This is a huge part of why I’m such a huge fan of Joe Satriani. The reason his music is so good ’cause he’s the master at “phrasing”. He can make his lead guitar playing sound so memorable and catchy… you’ll never forget his lead guitar lines. That’s the goal. While I’m a big Satch fan and have a lot of his albums in my music collection, I still think, “Surfing With the Alien” is his best album. Even if you’re not into shred music at all, I’d still recommend you listen to that album. It is a classic shred album and that was the album that helped made the Satch so iconic. I can listen to “Surfing With the Alien” over and over and never get tired of it. It’s one of my favorite records. If you want a perfect example of good “phrasing” in guitar playing listen to that album.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I do like shred and fast notes but you want to play the solo that is right for the song.

I really want to become a great lead guitar player and doing all I can to get there. I just don’t wanna get too ahead of myself and taking my slow time.

I’m tired of being looked at as a rhythm player and songwriter. It’s time for people to know that I can play “guitar” and not just some dude writing songs.

Kev