I was recently invited to write up a blog post by Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters, plus some cool solo stuff), who has a cool podcast called Shred With Shifty. He basically interviews guitarists and goes into the nerd-y side of their style, influences and technique.
One of his episodes interviewed Lindsay Ell about her solo on Hits Me (here’s the song link - the solo drops in at about 2:09), which is a minor pentatonic-y, modern country solo.
It sounds simple, fits the song really well, but so many guitarists hear solos like that and think “I could never write something like that! How does she come up with it?”
Well fear not, as we’ll go through some of her tips (as well as a bit of my own interpretation and knowledge) to help you write your own country guitar solos!
Check out the full episode here or above if you want to hear a much more in-depth dive into Lindsay’s views yourself.
Knowing what you’re writing the solo for
You can’t just cut out a solo from one song, throw it in another and have it work perfectly. True, you can steal licks and repurpose them (and in fact Lindsay does this, as it’s an important part of country playing), but ultimately you need to work out the intention of what you’re writing.
As a minimum, there’s practical parts like:
How long is the solo? (in both bars and time)
What key is that solo section in?
What chords will you be playing over?
What other instruments and parts will be playing at the same time?
But Lindsay also points out she likes to think about:
What’s the intent of the solo? What is it trying to express?
Where should it start (in terms of notes and feel) and where should it end up?
Articulation, so how those notes should be played.
Which guitarist are you trying to emulate for this solo? (if any - totally fine if you skip this step if that’s not your approach)
In Hits Me, it’s a fairly short solo (8 bars), so every note has to count.
We’re in Bb minor, and for country that generally means you’ll lock into that key and stick to it (jazz-y soloing where you keep modulating to other keys is not the goal here).
The chords are the main chords that follow through the rest of the song, which is great, as it means she can build on the vocal melodies that have already gone through the song! Steal some ideas and repurpose them.
Scales & Notes
Once you know your key, you’ll generally stick to that and play either:
Minor pentatonic (if it’s in a minor key OR if it feels a bit blues-y)
Major pentatonic (if it’s in a major key)
Here’s a guide to playing scales for solos in general if you need to brush up on that theory, and if you want to get even trickier, here’s a guide to jumping between major and minor pentatonic.
But as Chris points out, Lindsay also throws in a few extra notes, and the big ones for me are using Natural Minor notes. Super easy to include as the Minor Pentatonic Scale includes the notes:
1 - b3 - 4 - 5 - b7 (in Bb, this would be: Bb - Db - Eb - F - Ab)
but then the Natural Minor note adds in the 2 and b6, to make:
1 - 2 - b3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7 (in Bb this would be: Bb - C - Db - Eb - F - Gb - Ab)
You can hear that C at the end of the first run - it’s the note that sounds kind of melancholic or strange, because it’s placed really nicely.
So only two extra notes, but it gives the option to be a lot more melodic. Just try not to overuse it as pentatonics are still the strongest notes for country and heaps of other styles.
Tone, amp settings, guitar settings & effects
This solo is written with a very strong strat sound - channeling Jimi Hendrix for a modern audience! Single coil pickups, on the neck pickup, playing up past the 12th fret, with a distorted tone with lots of reverb and maybe a bit of chorus to thicken it out.
The best way to copy tone is to use your ear - sit down and adjust each part from the start of the chain (your fingers and pick) right through to the end (the amp).
It’s good to dial in something close early though, as the tone will influence your playing heavily.
Techniques to include
There are some staples you’ll want to throw in, but don’t feel you have to jam it all in. Pick your moments and solos!
Bends: Lindsay starts off with some really fast bends and she uses them heavily through the song. Great for being expressive and for….
Vibrato! Making your notes wobble and sing is really important when you are letting them hang for a while.
Slides, going into and out of notes from above or below. Has the added bonus of making licks easier to play when you have to move positions - lazy guitarists are smart guitarists.
Double-stops: playing two notes at once, which is really easy to do if you barre your fingers when playing the minor pentatonic box
Drone-tones - basically keeping one note ringing while another note changes. This is very similar to a double stop, and can be combined with bends, but it basically means playing two notes, then changing one note. Play around with your finger choice or watch other guitarists to see how to make this sound right.
Next step: writing the notes!
This is the one that is either super easy or super hard depending on your point of view.
I would start by putting the backing on repeat, then just keep improvising over it until you get a rough feel that matches your vision.
However, if you’re newer to soloing, or are feeling lost, you can cheat by stitching together licks you already know as a starting point - write it out in tab if it helps! Then you can tweak it note by note or swap out licks to make it your own.
Just remember to:
Stick to the key (unless you really like the effect of changing key)
Stick to the flow you want. Don’t jump all over the neck unless that’s what you want it to sound like.
Focus on articulation - playing the notes in the way that sounds like you want it to (so if you play the correct notes but it doesn’t sound nice, work out why!)
Polishing and Making it Sound Musical
A massive part of country soloing (and most soloing) is getting the right feel with how you play, so as Lindsay says, the best way to get the feel you want is to listen and copy until the sound in your head matches the sound coming from your amp!
Easiest place to start is in lessons or in videos where you can SEE the guitarist playing, as then you can copy their exact movements and pick up on little grace notes, finger choices, hand position and all the little things. Feel free to stop your teacher and film them so you can copy at home - it can make a huge difference.
I’d go further and say that you’ll eventually need to isolate each part of your solo and refine it once you know it, as you can almost always improve it a little bit. It could be slight adjustments to the timing, or it could be landing in a nicer spot on the fret, but obsessing about the little things makes the difference between a technically accurate solo and a solo that has real feel.
Summary Steps:
Work out what you’re writing for, so:
Key, length, chords, instrumentation but also
Feel, melodic intent, general shape and flow of the solo
Choose the right scales and notes, which are generally:
Minor Pentatonic (with some natural minor stuff added in, or a b5 blues note)
Major Pentatonic (with some major notes thrown in)
These should match your root chord, or key of the song. So, if you’re in Bb Minor, use a Bb minor scale (simple!)
Dial in the tone.
For this style solo, it’s all about the strat sound! Read up on this topic if you’d like, but don’t go too far down the rabbit hole without actually trying to make sounds yourself first!
Think Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn etc for this tone (very single-coil neck pickup, warm sounding), but for more of a Chuck Berry sound try the bridge pickup for a brighter, more attack-ier sound.
Also feel free to go in a COMPLETE other direction - tone is subjective, but so long as you’re actively thinking about it, not just playing whatever, you’re on the right track.
Choose your techniques! Ones I’d recommend for country solos are:
Bends
Vibrato
Slides
Double-stops
Drone notes
Note you don’t have to include all of them, but at least try them all to find what matches your ideal feel best.
Write the notes!
Loop the solo section and improvise to work out what fits and what doesn’t
If you’re stuck, choose some licks from other solos, make sure they’re in the right key (move them if you need to) then stitch them together to make a Franken-solo.
Once you have the shell, you can focus on connecting up your ideas, which is much easier once you know where you’re going to and from over the fretboard.
Remember that most of this approach is the same for other styles of music too, so don’t feel like you have to stick to one style. Most of my favourite guitarists can play multiple styles, and it’s the combination of elements that makes their sound special and unique!