How to Deliver a Perfect Solo
Guitar champ Steve Morse of Deep Purple, Flying Colors, Dixie Dregs, and more shared a few words of advice on how to deliver a perfect solo. He advises “You should start with two-bar phrases. Like, play one full bar and end it somewhere in the beginning of the second bar. “Put it in bite-sized pieces like that. Force yourself to imitate a vocal melody and people will like it.
“Automatically, everyone will think, ‘Wow, you’re playing with so much more feeling, so much more melody.’ And really, all you’re doing is giving a little breath between phrases.”
Focusing on his own thing, Steve added: “I change pickups a lot while I’m soloing and improvising. If you play a low G on the 3rd fret, you’re at the lowest frequencies, so you want more harmonics, so I’ll use the bridge pickup. But then, if you play up high that can be a brittle sound, so I tend to want the [neck pickup].
“Another thing that I tend to do is pick every note. Y’know, I love the power of using the alternate picking and having that attack be heard and felt.”
However, the man also strongly pointed out that soloing is NOT the No. 1 thing you should focus on, saying that mastering the rhythm domain is far more important.
He noted: “The most impressive thing is when a guitarist has mastered the instrument, but assumes a role as a support member, up until the time that they’re featured.
“Steve Lukather – one of my most hilarious friends – once said, ‘I did 400 records in LA as a session musician, and never got one job because of my soloing.’
“It’s all about the rhythm. The people in the band and the audience basically want you to be a great rhythm guitarist, and if you can be a great soloist, that’s awesome, but it’s like being able to do a wheelie on a motorcycle. It’s more important to drive safely, because that’s what you’re going to be doing most of the time.”
Mr. Morse also shared a rather down-to-earth stance about himself with these words: “I’m a very non-presumptuous person, and I’m realistic about things. So if I’m in front of a big crowd, it’s because of the event or because of the name and history of a group that I’m working with.
“I’m a replaceable cog in the wheel.
“Literally anybody else could be in the same position as I am. By the dozen, there are guitarists that would be a great asset to any band I’ve ever been in, who would be available in a matter of hours. So I don’t ever think of this as my spotlight. I think, ‘How can I nail this? How can I make this music cook?’ I want the audience to have a great time. That’s all I think about.”