Stop RUINING your solos with BAD harmonies!

[@treyxaviermusic]

Which of these techniques have you been using until now?

[@satchrules101]

Gold lesson bro ! Cant wait to purchase ur song writing course.

[@charlesrocks]

I've been using the Richard Benson technique.

[@charlesrocks]

That parallel 4ths harmony lick sounds sick.

[@BeanDogStudios]

Are you using the word "sick" in the traditional manner?

[@travisspaulding2222]

@@BeanDogStudios Are you using traditional in the traditional manner? Lol

[@narcostarko]

​@@travisspaulding2222 are you using manner in the traditional manner?

[@emngaiden]

Thats how the synths are armonized in old super-mario games. Check out "Big Boss" in Super Mario 2: Yoshi's Island by Koji Kondo

[@SlyHikari03]

@@emngaidenyup

[@michaelmuldoon2416]

As someone who has a relatively decent grasp on music theory, harmonies have always been a grey area. They’re almost dependent on genre and definitely dependant on vibe, which could almost be dependant on the individual. You’ve managed to bridge the gap and I thank you for that!

[@dmillaz]

Mastodon does that "Slayer Special" almost every chance they get and to me it works really well within their sound. It is all over Leviathan and sounds sick.

[@brianbergmusic5288]

Appreciate this tutorial. I often focus on 3rd or 6ths (above or below) and only resort to an occasional 5th/4th if any of those combinations somehow doesn't sound right. Considering chord tones make more sense.

[@Vortexafternoon]

I haven't been able to leave a solo without a harmony section for the last couple of years. I luuuurv it. Great solo you composed there!

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

In old school death metal they use a lot of parallel 4th harmonies, both for riffs and melodies. But yeah, it doesn't sound "sweet" or "melodic", but rather "weird" and kinda "sour". But I dig it a lot, especialy if the main line already has a weird sound in the first place. I guess parallel harmonies are like really strong spices: great taste but if you use too much of it I might just ruin your dish.

[@BleuRoseDesigns]

You make concepts easy to understand! Another great video 👌

[@youztuber5000]

Love harmonized guitar thanks to Boston. Always stuck to 3rds, 5ths, and 6ths with my playing. Parallel perfect 4ths and the tritones sounded awesome, I'm gonna have to try those. RULES WERE MEANT TO BE BROKEN.

[@gaspar-animal-ribeiro5414]

And I find myself, a drummer, watching this and paying every drop of attention that I have. This is actually so useful. Even tho I'm a beginner at guitar, I did have to take care of a lot of keyboard work while recording the latest record of one of my bands, and at times I struggled to find notes that perfectly fit the songs, a lot of times having to simplify and dumb down the synths and keyboard parts. Thanks for the content, man! Really appreciate it 👊🏼🤘🏼

[@fabianvasquezjr8852]

Wish my drummer would try to figure out wtf going on beside beating the fuck out of my studio set and thinking every song needs double kiks and blast beats for every song. We're drums and low tuned guitars are up front now a days, don't leave alot of room for bass so that's tuned down to subsonic noise. I gave my drummer some guitar gear and guitar so he could figure out that the song is not just for the drums the guy wants to be a guitar player to understand something other than beating on things to make a complete song, kudos to you for wanting to learn.

[@gaspar-animal-ribeiro5414]

@@fabianvasquezjr8852 thank you so much, man! 🤘🏼 I always try to understand at least the basics of the song. I studied classical percussion for 8+ years and that included playing in an orchestra and various ensembles - playing pretty much everything but a drum kit - so I naturally seek (at least) a basic understanding of what's going on. Melodies and harmonies have always been my weakness tho. I'm quite confortable around rhythm, but I feel out of my zone when I have to build harmonies, that's one of the reasons I found this video so helpful. I always encourage other drummers to learn other instruments - not necessarily become a pro at some other instrument, but learning enough so you can follow what your band mates are doing. I think that that alone already brings a different awareness to the drummer when it's time to listen to a guitar part and build a drum part for it, independently from the music genre!

[@dannyhood8857]

Good video! I didn't see difference in playing slow harmony'and fast harmony'? Are the harmony notes in this solo mostly 3rds? Root,3rd fifth?. When sustaining notes playing 'simple' melody, use notes from the chord? Is that same formula as Root, 3rd, 5th? I'm playing basic major and minor chords. Great examples harmonizing 4ths and 5ths.

[@SorooshMhs]

The “Slayer special” works wonders with parallel major 3rds if you want something to sound pure evil

[@dethronedemperor]

It also works great with pentatonic/blues scale doom riffs

[@erickmazur807]

i cant stand slayer. "cats fucking"

[@JustinBA007]

I love the parallel 4ths harmony. It's used in jazz fusiony stuff and Cynic used to do it. They also occasionally did parallel major 2nds, which sounds wild and nasty, but really cool for their stuff.

[@sebjulien3]

Amazing video, amazing teacher. I have been in love with harmonies since Iron Maiden Somewhere in time, always wanted to be able to do that album intro. I am using the Intelligent harmony machine made by Electro harmonics and with my Gallien Krueger 250ml IR I am pretty damn close to what Iron Maiden did in 1986.

[@BozKiller]

Excellent video Trey!!!! Well done.

[@GitKlar]

4:59 The reason, why Slayer can get away with parallel intervals is because their songs are usually atonal. That can be cool. For diatonic stuff though, parallel intervals almost never work, imo.

[@erickmazur807]

slayer sucks

[@KeenanCrow]

I mean if you’re gonna do that just use a harmonized pedal

[@erickmazur807]

Nice.

[@adamkahn8645]

this is actually helping me understand how to write a solo in the first place

[@zacharypegg790]

I submitted a song a few months ago for a review and got called out for using a perfect 4th harmony and now I feel like this video is about me even though I still like the harmony 😂😅

[@alicec1533]

Rule 1, if it sounds good, it is good. That's the most important thing.

[@hawnick7234]

This was extremely helpful, Thanks Trey!

[@crazy.scorpio]

Great info in a short example. nice!!

[@andrij.demianczuk]

Man, I just hear In Flames more than anything else in this track. This is sick Trey!

[@SlyHikari03]

Same

[@markem9415]

@6:51 Cacophony style (Marty's old band)

[@BongoKingz]

Honest question: how do bands perform it on stage? Especially bands with only one guitar player?

[@treyxaviermusic]

I mean, if you have one guitar player you can't do it, if you have two, one guitar plays one part and one plays the other. you could put the other line in a backing track or use some sophisticated harmonizer pedals but that juice isn't really worth the squeeze in my opinion

[@dwalks637]

Thanks man. This is very helpful🤘

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

Also remember you can mix all these techniques in a single song/ solo. For example if your solo start with fast melodic line you can use diatonic thirds; then if the next line is more evil and dark, try parallel 4ths and parallel minor 3rds; and then if the next section is more of a slow lyrical melody, you can use chord tones! And also a little bit of counterpoint can go a long way and create a nice surprise for the listener.

[@bbwibb02]

I know there is debate on whether or not it even counts as far as harmonies go, but no mention of using octaves? I've been known to use them on occasion, with some interesting, effective, and sometimes evil-sounding results.

[@screamingintothewind]

Thank you for the video. I suck at playing lead

[@antsonc]

Funny how this video comes right now: yesterday I was going nuts to harmomize a couple of themes on a chorus and bridge with changing harmony, say from mixolydian to locryan - it was hell!

[@metalguitarscales]

Excellent video that will helps everybody to make better music, thank you Trey!

[@michaelfrancis1]

Cheers from Texas! 🤟😺🤟 "We'll put that on the MAAYYbe track" That's Teacher code for: Record a bunch of takes, for EVERY part. 😁 Frickin' killer video! Peace

[@demondrive147]

Whatever sounds good to you definitely works for me, plus a little bit about of theory ofc

[@ARCAREZ]

Thanks

[@ChadBillAnderson]

very helpful stuff, thanks trey!

[@DEADLINETV]

I've been mostly just using the expert technique of trial and error. But then again, I'm a drummer, so a lot of errors...

[@darzik]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Great video :D

[@TheMirrorify]

I really dig this type of vid from you dude. Awesome.

[@MateoBakija]

I think I will also implement the "maybe" track :D

[@edwincrain986]

What mode is that? Kidding. I love harmonies on leads,on vocals ,on drums ...wait what?

[@DeliciousMorsels]

I've always kinda just defaulted to 3rds from the scale I'm in for no particular reason other than its what I've found to work with my total lack of theory knowledge. Plus I'm just really fond of that sound personally. Whatever the DragonForce interval is though I just try to avoid lmao.

[@overshotelf2964]

Thanks Trey I will now stop ruining my solos.

[@EVH5150iii]

Correct me if I’m wrong. But if you’re playing F Ionian, in order to harmonize, couldn’t you just play A Phrygian. Despite the “box,” being different it should all match up accordingly.

[@treyxaviermusic]

Those are modes of the same scale so they have all the same notes, so yes it should work

[@johnpatitucci7919]

Sounds like a Disney sitcom intro But I love your approach! It's definitely helped me open things up.

[@imvengeance666]

This was a helpful lesson daddy thank you.

[@joshuagodinez5867]

As a beginner who understood about 5% of this video, it was really enjoyable!

[@necroticpoison]

Sick vid, also just a note I couldn't see the endcard so maybe it didn't process properly during the uploading, idk

[@treyxaviermusic]

THANK YOU I forgot to add it, fixed now!

[@jargomcmuffin1234]

Is it bad that I use scale charts even though I’ve been playing for like 15 years lmao

[@micahwatz1148]

Love theory talk, but what is this? Some kind of blink 182 song / pop punk chord progression?

[@treyxaviermusic]

Actually I realized afterwards it's pretty close to a Scorpions song

[@mattz1686]

Awesome lesson. And I laughed with the 6ths lol

[@carlosrelampago2279]

excelent 🤘🤘🤘🤘🖤

[@Hawknite]

I think it's just a lot easier to learn the basic theory behind it than to try tricks and shortcuts and hope to get something good

[@neonblack612]

Bro … your Rings of Saturn jab on Tritones… 😂😂😂 so true

[@TheGuitarman]

i dont think my solos are bad because of the harmonies...😅

[@bigkidband911]

Good stuff

[@nooneinparticular9868]

Mandroid Echostar does it so fucking well!

[@aryinc]

cool lead. really 80ts. but also reminds me a bit of manga or those old dragonball videogames or something as it's somewhat happy sounding.

[@buttermybuns9529]

Don’t tell me what to do.

[@jaytarantino]

The parallel 4th harmony sounded awesome though. Harmonizing with octaves too can sound great. I find that it really thickens up certain lines to great effect....

[@SlyHikari03]

That intro solo was sick..

[@Bricklinsv1970]

I thought he was Andy James for a minute lol!

[@treyxaviermusic]

if only you meant that by my playing and not the beanie/beard combo

[@nathanteske7886]

So like the same way a single note becomes a power cord is basically what's being done with solo parts

[@st3929]

That guitar sure is awesome!

[@Tekkerue]

6:57 Trey summons satan. 😈

[@MsGuitarman1911]

My Band guilty XD Doubt you remember, we did end up rerecording the solo, sounds better now for sure

[@andrewjacksonmusic]

Great video Trey! Looks like we got ourselves a Di*k Rippa. Also gonna use this concept for when I write my Harry Potter power metal song “the chosen one” 😂😂

[@andrewjacksonmusic]

@@tophertaylor69 true, so does “the boy who lived” 😂

[@TheCyberMantis]

MIYAKO and MIDORI. 🥰

[@TheTimeProphet]

My problem isn't the harmonising. My problem is that I can't play it as fast as when you are showing the slow part LOL.

[@allyourbasearebelongtous2191]

"How to write a soundtrack song for a Dynasty Warriors game!"

[@DBrown_XD]

So.... Moral of the video: Stop making silly sorta mistakes with your solos with bad random harmonization. But at the same time, music is labeled as 'subjective'. So you sorta kinda need to do your solos with good random harmonization. Now go practice....

[@TheCyberMantis]

Be careful playing those tri-tones. You might accidentally summon KING DIAMOND. 😳🧛🏻‍♂🦇🌚⚰

[@TheCyberMantis]

What I don't know, is actually way more than what I DO know. ( That much... I know. ) 😑

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

And now add 3- and 4-part-harmonies

[@HeadrushStudio21228]

I’m gonna act like I understood any of that I’m just starting to learn how to play the guitar 20 years late

[@BigTwinRiver]

Nah you started at exactly the right time. You must be really excited! I happen to have been playing for years and I promise you I still get excited for new players. Have fun and don’t worry about impressing anyone even yourself. Play because you love it. Have fun that’s impressive enough in todays world. Cheers.

[@BeanDogStudios]

I used to be in a band with a guy who always played solos in Em. Always. All the time. Without fail. No wait, with frequent fail. It usually sounded a lot like a fail.

[@Burnt_Gerbil]

Well that’s just dumb! 😂

[@youztuber5000]

Even when the song is Eb minor??? I'd throw hands

[@BeanDogStudios]

@@youztuber5000 I mean, I don't think we played anything in Eb minor, but we did play She Hates Me by Puddle of Mudd, which I'm pretty sure was a semitone away from Smell Like Teen Spirit, which we also used to play, and I'll let you imagine the rest. He didn't notice.

[@JuiceboxDesmond]

Happy Axe-idents!

[@shephrd296]

Rings of Saturn is great

[@SamBrockmann]

I blame Avenged Sevenfold for this. Not for the mistake; for people's desire to harmonize solos.

[@manofthewest5395]

Hah. I'd be happy with a tenth of the talent Syn has.

[@SamBrockmann]

@@manofthewest5395 , that wasn't the point. Synester Gates is a very talented guitar player who I respect. It wasn't a criticism of Mr. Gates. Rather, it was a criticism of folks who don't understand how to harmonize as well as Mr. Gates.

[@theguitarhero3]

Perfect 5ths or 4ths just make it sound super chinese to me for some reason

[@cletuschrist]

You mean I'm not supposed to just frantically play the line over and over and over again in my closet until it sounds not terrible and then pretend I knew what I was doing?

[@treyxaviermusic]

this is that but just shorter

[@zygmuntzarzecki]

PLEASEEE create video about BUCKETHEAD

[@hans_gets_se_flammenwerfer9608]

Siuuuuu

[@LilScrewmatic]

dimebag darrell:

[@fabianvasquezjr8852]

Don't know theory I don't know some of the names of chords I use in my songs, doesn't make em unlistenable. And I really don't give a fuck! There is nothing new under the sun. Not to concerned about whanking out leads through a whole song gets old fast. There was a time when there were no leads but it's for the song not just the lead to make the whole song. You could play like Eddie or Jimi but if the rest of the song suxs what's the point? No thanks bro, that's why everyone sounds the same. There was a time when only a very few knew how to rip out leads like it was nothing and people wanted to be like them, now everybody and their 9 year old Asian neighbors daughter is a guitar prodigy and gramps down the road can play leads from his metal days, well when everyone can be a whanker, and there are no guitar heros then it becomes all the same. If nothing sucks it all sucks!

[@megadave9941]

Stop telling people what to do with their music you are the problem.

[@treyxaviermusic]

yeah you're right, no one has ever learned anything from anyone else and education is useless

[@megadave9941]

it's you job to save the musical worl with your shity advice.. everyone should play the same way right !?!? YOUR THE PROBLEM YOU FUKN DORK

[@treyxaviermusic]

@@megadave9941 everyone is welcome to take my shitty advice or not, same as any other.

[@jbatterden]

I will take Trey's shitty advice.