How To Write a METAL Solo - Theory, Scales, Techniques, Strategies [GUITAR LESSON - COMPOSITION]

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This kind of solo would have blown my mind when I was younger, but after learning lots of Metallica, Megadeth, and Dream Theater solos, you start to pick up on some useful strategies and structures for making a solo. This one in particular is very influenced by Kirk Hammet, with the Wah pedal inclusion adding even more Metallica influence.
Although I don't have the same shredding skills as the legends, I can still utilize the skills I DO have and get the most out of them by planning and writing. I mainly compose by feel- and then I consult my theory to help me execute what I'm feeling if it isn't happening naturally (this is usually the case). In this instance, the theory used is knowledge of several scales (Pentatonic Minor, Blues, and Minor), a few rhythmic concepts, and overall structure.
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Free online guitar lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced players. Located in Crystal Lake, Jake Lizzio provides free jam tracks and video lessons for guitar players, as well as music theory videos and other music education content.
Table of Contents:
00:00 Intro
01:27 Starting The Solo
02:39 Spicing Up Scale Runs
03:52 Using Imagery
06:27 Ramping Up
08:14 Unison Bends
08:56 Pseudo-Scales
10:29 Bad Bend Filler
11:43 Closing The Solo
12:25 Wrapping Up
00:00

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

these days i love funk and rock and prog and pop and trance... but you can't kill the metal. the metal will live on.

[@brandonmartin7799]

A referance to the metal by tenacious d in your comment lol. Nice

[@commentfreely5443]

never planned a solo in over 100 songs. just pick up the guitar and press record!!! as Mike Campbell says 'play a solo to suit the song not just playing to go off'

[@zynosgd9982]

Signals Music Studio “The Spirit Carries On”

[@tsigo2]

is there any chance to do any tutorial about Michael Schenker style? Using your style of explaining stuff it will really be an eye-opener! Please do! Please!!

[@rosemarygao]

OMG the best guitar story-teller ever!!!amazing

[@MarcosKtulu]

Sounds like kirk hammet trying to play tornado of souls

[@CrisKRA]

Both solos are in the same key, B minor

[@flaviopresutti]

hahahaha great!!!

[@hahahhaqoyeiwbs1931]

Aynen

[@frankpeltier7711]

Yea , But that would never happen , not in Kirk’s wildest , wettest , Wha pedal dreams

@@CrisKRA both solos. what is the second solo

[@ky9999]

My guitar teacher taught me a tip when constructing solos, use motifs from the hook melody of the song. Not directly using the melody, but make variations of it.

[@bielanski2493]

Variations and variations on variations are what keep your licks tasty and fresh!

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

Absolutely great advice. In this case, we have no melody to work off of, but in my single Generations you can hear my take on melodic variation at the end.

[@humanoid251]

I'm fairly certain that Synyster Gates did that for the solo from Natural Born Killer and lemme tell you, that solo is noice

[@schmixes4891]

Humanoid25 did it in Shepherd of fire as well.

[@hybridgaming8341]

The best example of this IMO is the solo from Edge of Sanity's track "Losing Myself"

[@MrMetalhorse]

This video is actually pretty helpful for me. When I solo I either shred mindlessly or play really generic blues stuff.

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

It's all about that refining process. Hope this gives you some ideas!

[@MrMetalhorse]

@@SignalsMusicStudio yeah. My struggle is that I don't know where to put my shred licks. They are all very scale sequence based but when I do it doesn't sound like I intended to have that scale run it sounds like I just put that shred run in the solo because I can.

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

I think with metal you can get away with "shred cause you can". As long as there's not TOO much of it... like salt ya know. I think the most important element is the structure, the ups and downs, the highs and lows, fast and slows. It keeps things interesting

[@rickfeith6372]

Tension and release, the melody and dynamics are HUGE. Slow it down, that will help with getting away from the mindless part. If it doesn't sound good slow, its not gonna sound good fast (There are exceptions, but its not the norm). Also need breathing room...look at it like talking, ya need room to breathe (usually...lol). Also, build it in sections that make sense. Both rhythmically and melodically. It took me 20 years before I could write a solo that would impress me. It gets easier the more ya do it. Learn 20 solos from some different genres and players (Gilmour, Slash, Yngwie, Petrucci, Marty, AC/DC, Satch, EVH, Santana, Knopfler, etc.... and REALLY dig into em. Its also the delivery as much as it is note choice...don't short change yourself on the technical side of note manipulation. There is a hundred ways to play any one note, and a good lead player will know them and use them without even thinking about it.

[@andrewross1934]

I shred mindlessly whilst playing really generic blues. But as long as I play really fast I can trick people into thinkning I know what I'm dong.

[@Maloss]

You : "You shouldn't start the solo with just a note" Me : "Oh yeah just like Mustaine says, a solo should start explosively" You : "Start with a bend" Me : "Oh yeah just like Tornado of Souls solo" You : "It's in the key of B" Me : "Oh yeah just like Tornad..." You : bending to that B note Me : *IT'S TORNADO OF SOULS SOLO*

[@markfothebeast]

Either way, it's a good example.

[@fabiotellez6192]

Yes, it's Tornado !!! ahhhhh

[@Hexenhammer]

"At the end of the day I get an awesome metal solo that I get to shred in someone's face." Dude, I love you so much.

[@TheSquareOnes]

More videos like this would be great. Your more general theory videos are awesome but "here is a thing I wrote and why I wrote it this way" is obviously something only you can provide and I really like how your mind works compositionally. Either way, keep up the great work!

[@joebrowser775]

10:14 - How can you talk so chill while your hands are shedding??? Dude!!

[@nickdaniels1321]

That sneaky Mr. Plinkett reference. Love it.

[@mosesfallen2831]

Came to say the same thing!

[@Minastir1]

That quote fits into so many music theory topics.

[@sniffrat3646]

This is note perfect tuition. Please continue to shred in my face.

[@chadrips]

No way, that's an impressive tutorial for sure. My guitar solo planning is more of a two step process. 1) Pick up some booze 2) Pick up my guitar Obviously you must remember to plug in the booze!!! I might give your method a go and see what happens tho...

[@ibrahim_syed7]

14:28 the guitar solo on steven wilson's drive home by Guthrie govan was made exactly that way! 😂 and it's one of my all time fav guitar solo

[@gildersleeve5228]

Greetings from SLC in 2021. Jake...you're remarkable. What a gift you are to the community. Thanks for all you do my dude.

[@abemendez356]

Commenting before viewing... I joined a metal band and dont know how to play metal solos. Great timing for this one!!! And thanks

[@oscarwagner8263]

Man,that's the best lead guitar lesson i've seen in a while!!!It really helps a lot.Thanks for the great Video; )

[@stuartmortimer2142]

Jake, your lessons have been a game changer for me. The Metallica scale, plus the breakdown of your thought process in this video illustrate the main moving parts behind my favourite metal tunes. I love that you focus on the overall approach rather than individual techniques. Thank you so much from Yorkshire, UK 👍

[@kevinward2717]

I'm sure you hear this constantly, but I have never been able to get interested in theory until I found these videos. And I can actually grasp it, the way that you teach it. So thank you!

[@rafaelcruz4759]

Dude i learned more with your videos than with my music teatchers, really ur gifted with teaching skills, so clear to understand

[@Luckyman187]

It's funny that you mentioned Mr. Plinkett, because when I slowed the video to learn the licks you sounded just like him LOL. Jokes apart, great lesson, you're such an amazing teacher, really humble guy and I like your compositions. Keep up the great work!

[@p.grandmont702]

What a great solo AND lesson! Those lessons always make me grab my guitar and try out new stuff. Thank you for your inspiring work sir.

[@alfredesquer]

Would love to hear you dissect a song from Symphony X. Brains would explode everywhere! :-) Great video as usual.

[@Rain593]

I concur! Michael Romeo is an incredible composer and player

[@michaeldejong2700]

Thats not gonna happen. No promotion of crappy powermetal stuff on this channel.

[@TROUBLEDSUM]

Thumbs up, Literally just started video says no views yet, but I know it'd b great vid

[@bm8584]

The solo and the guitar lesson is amazing, but even more amazing is how you talk and shred at the same time so effortless. Congrats and thanks for these great ideas to aply to our solos. Keep it up Jake.

[@kassemir]

So true. The best solos are often composed. And, even played live, they'll have like stock-licks that are like the pillars of the whole thing.

[@ricomajestic]

This is a great lesson! Would love to see more videos about soloing strategies! Keep them coming.

[@GuitarHackery]

Thanks for this video, Jake. It's really nice to hear somebody thinking out lout about what they are doing when writing such music. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@distorteddingo9230]

You're an incredibly gifted teacher! I've seen your other videos on modes and scales, and they all build upon each other seemlessly with this. Thank you , for sharing your wisdom!

[@Ehrmann_Gregsson]

Maan, I love DrivingForce too! Such an awesome band!

[@gh0ul666]

wow this was really comprehensive, i just joined a new metal band and was asked to solo first practice session on the first song, i used one of my old ones but that made me look up some guidelines and tips, and this is amazing showing the SIMPLE tricks instead of like just showing off how to play 3 notes-per-string scales at 3000 bpm without any musical context, and best of all its comprehensive with just wathcing/listening already without the need to learn all of what you played good job

[@mrfashionguy1]

"I just picked this random note and key here to bend up" >Literally the intro note to the Tornado of Souls solo, bend and all This guy is really on another level

[@nathanp9449]

And here we have yet another bloody great tutorial!

[@CallMeSmigl]

I sometimes slow down your videos to see your picking. Sideeffect: your facial expressions on .25 speed are gold :D

[@tomrhodes7977]

You wouldn’t understand how much you’ve helped me! THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@54faustas]

Don't get me wrong Jake, this is all wonderful and very helpful. But what we ALL need is a tutorial on how to make PROPER dad rock. Show us how messiah.

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

i will host a festival of the dads and post the vid

[@6Four6Films]

This video is GOLD!!!!

[@martynspooner5822]

A wealth of knowledge given away freely and with humility. A really good teacher and a genuinely nice guy. Thanks for sharing.

[@prism3413]

When you're so early the video is private

[@blackcitadel37]

It's a Jake's video. Who wouldnt

[@michaelinglis8516]

Such great lessons, and driving home the point that you get good by studying and practice and putting time into your work rather then just having some god gifted talent is so true and I'm so happy when people who are successful have the humility to remember that and tell their students.

[@sagig72]

Dude! Awesome lesson. These types of 'under the hood' lessons that walk us through from theory to concepts to practice - priceless lessons. Good job man!

[@BleachedCoral]

I used all the tips in this video to write the solos for my first EP, great teaching dude!

[@SuyashPandeyShubh]

The insight you give us innyour video is so precise and to the point that I hardly get from anyone except Steve Stine and you Sir. I have tried to solo on an entire 4 min backing track and believe me I was able to do a decent solo on a backing track but after 100 genuine attempts, taking out main ideas from my improvisations and combining them with again a lot of improvisation. This gave me a more clear approach to what I should do in future. Thanks a lot.

[@jepoyfilosopo7839]

That blues scale is really effective to spice up the solo.

[@unprincipledvegan2506]

love the flat-bend trick into the solo

[@mohammadahsanuzzaman8543]

Jake, I honestly enjoy your 'metaphors and analogies' just as much as I love your lessons and ideas!!!

[@JustinSwapp]

His lessons are so articulate. Love them!

[@anthonylv64]

Sir, You are a genius teaching; never boring!

[@B9ashtima]

You're a good artist. I like how you know what picture you're painting, in all your videos I can see it.

[@remyQuillmeister]

10:10 You sunk it up? Haha. Great video, man. You know what's funny? I'd spend a week just learning your "throw-away lick!"

[@MerchantsofSolace]

He synced it lol

[@katherineLeatherwood]

You’re my favorite teacher. Fun stuff!

[@kkarx]

Great, this is actually a solo a you can understand once you hear that. Very structured a cool sounding. It sounds like a sountrack for Doom.

[@ygoramaro5637]

Holy Mother, great video, just love it

[@miklmontoya863]

Well. You've just blown my mind : I've discovered your channel an hour ago, and I think this is the most perfect next level information I need to progress. You really rock ! I really appreciate your theorical video, which help to fix some of my fragile knowledges, and your practical explanation on how you wrote a solo. I that awesome golden key I really need to improve my licks writing. Thank you so much ! \m/

[@evascordato2673]

Loved the Mr Plinkett reference

[@bluesalchemist6210]

Jake, you're very good at teaching people things to where they will understand it. That's why I subscribed. You are incorrect about one thing you said in this video though. Not only was David Gilmour the only classic rock guitarist to not improvise his studio solos but he wrote them down in standard notation. In addition, most classic rock blues-based guitarists play their solos different every time they play them. The metal genre is more known for playing the solos the same way every time.

[@voronOsphere]

Thanks, Signals Studio!

[@rickfeith6372]

Marty did a ton of crazy improv on the Rust in Peace lead guitar sessions from what I've heard.

[@X161King]

Putting in theory is fucking gold in your vids.has taught be how to break out of those patterns. job well done .

[@julianbenedict9720]

I really enjoy your videos. Great job explaining what your doing. I think I've actually learned something when the video is over. Please make a video dissecting Jake E Lee's writing style.

[@claytonprice2579]

Your videos and your approach are a goldmine, man! Thank you!

[@KungFuBlitzKrieg]

Dude! Did you just throw in an RLM reference? My brain totally noticed! Your channel is even more epicer now!

[@gageyeager6693]

I really like the "bubbly" trill phrase! I've always called it the face melter. Keep up the good videos man.

[@JoolsGuitar]

such a good teacher

[@tritonemusicstudio7571]

you explain everything so simply and perfectly.....love your videos!!!!

[@Stephenguitar93]

when I read "Combo breaker" my head voice said it like the Killer Instinct announcer haha

[@Sixstringstudiosmn]

This video is pure gold. Thanks so much

[@chrismartin8467]

thats amazing dude please make video about dream theater songs theory.its my wish.

[@muh2k4]

I love how you share valuable insights related to composing. Thank you.

[@ColinRuthem215]

Nice solo build, sounded fantastic!

[@TheReborn50]

Your tutorials are actually Fantastic thank you

[@musicinsession]

Absolutely love this channel!! Loads of great tips!!

[@Ravenskill_DT]

Needs more wah

[@samsongwriter3437]

Awesome lesson! Cheers from Brazil

[@Raindancermusic]

One of the best teachers on youtube

[@ClayHurst]

You are so humble!

[@robbiegarnz7732]

Holy Kirk Hammet Batman! Nice!

[@Bogeyman19Was4BraindeadPeople]

Sounds great. You really nailed a Hammett type solo. Saw someone else said it sounds like Kirk playing Tornado of Souls which makes sense because that song is centered around a B chord too. Thanks.

[@lordiblees]

This guy is the Einstein of music theory. I wish I had that level of understanding about how music works.

[@whyflyguy007]

your videos always inspire a tune in my mind I want to write. thank you.

[@Eventual420]

Hi, I'm Jim. Great video. Honestly I've never been able to watch instructional guitar videos. They irritate the shit out of me in seconds. But this one I was able to sit through. By the end I was amazed at your diligence. See, I'm exactly opposite. My record for any solo attempt is 6 passes. I try to keep the first pass, and if I want to punch in I allow myself 1 repair. The files are numbered sequentially, and I feel like I'm leaving data trash when I continue to record over and over. I don't want to sort out the good files from the trash files. But my results reflect it. Nothing near as polished as the youngens. You ripped it, that's for sure. I see why YT recommended you. Good advice.

[@arash2803]

I have to say that this video was so inspirational and instructive for me. Really insane work to share this thoughts with us :)

[@nickvitello4449]

Most helpful video I came across in a long time... Great job Sir

[@bradsims5116]

I loved that solo, nice work.

[@jamesrockland9616]

OUTSTANDING !! I typically improvise all my solos recordings and then cherry pick what ends up sounding okayish, deleting all the crap and mistakes for final mixdown, needless to say I'll be "writing" all future leads from hereon in (copycatting Jake's lead work to the extent possible hahah)

[@TheGhostInWhiteOfficial]

Brilliant mate! Your efforts are commendable! I really enjoyed seeing your process! Cheers!

[@tyroneholmes6354]

Geez dude your lessons are really amazing!

[@johnnynails166]

Killer lesson! Love your style! Thanks so much.

[@albarylaibida1214]

This guy is very competent! \m/

[@rawkinj6609]

I wished YOU had done the new Lux Eternal solo! Jeez! Cheers! Love the channel man!

[@LordSummerIsle73]

Just me or do you love the solo from disposable heroes by Metallica

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

lololololol that's literally the solo that made me want to learn lead guitar. Sad part is I never fully learned it....maybe it's time to revisit it

[@LordSummerIsle73]

Signals Music Studio it makes me feel so epic, also love the channel dude

[@michaelinglis8516]

Love your videos, that song and solo was very thrash inspired sounding to me.

[@zengokigyh]

Super helpfull explanations! I understand and play modes and stuff but you are learning me key things through some of your videos I've been trying to understand for a long time. Thanks ALOT!

[@RNicolasRuvalcaba]

My eyes always glaze over when someone starts talking about music theory. I don't think that this is necessarily my style of doing things but your teaching style is awesome!! I wish that I would have found something like this when I was still young and impressionable not when I was old and stubborn 😜🤘

[@juanaviles5267]

Wow. Excellent , it is a terrific class for solos

[@cityweezle]

Love your channel dude!

[@olivierorsola]

You describe very well your work. Moreover, you admit your weakness when it's not perfect, and that is a tremendous human quality. I never met such humble musicians. ^^ Great job : Iam not fan of solos but yours was great.

[@sensoryassault2884]

That RLM reference. Haha Solid information, man!

[@david-dikosiam6822]

Wow really love your videos, you are very clear and you teach stuff in a very nice and professional way.

[@Michael_Wehrley]

Fantastic video and explanation. I love the ideas, and the solo sounds great. Can you do another video of how to write a hard rock solo? That'd be awesome.

[@HammurabiSierra]

You are silmply a GENIUS!!

[@riffscapecom]

I didn't know Jake could shred! Awesome stuff.