Well, lately, I've been in a rut. I'm having a hard time coming up with guitar solos that goes well with songs me and the band are workin on, is there any rules of thumb you guys go by when you guys are workin on your songs? Thanks.

Interesting question Clint. How long have you been playing? I think that's been a common thing amongst guitarists who find that their playing/creativity hits a brick wall after a couple of years playing. If you're looking to write solos that complement the framework of the song/chord progression you really want to learn modes. To be able to play using these though you gotta really know your scales inside out.

I would say that solos in songs need to be connected to the style or vibe of the song, but also to take the song somewhere new. You could just restate the main vocal melody in the solo, but to me this is really boring sounding.

You could start with a theme that has already been stated in the song and then develope it in different ways, building complexity as you go along.

You could also solo over the main chord progression of the song but modulate that progression into a different key. There are lots of possibilities.

Sometimes its nice to take the song somewhere completely different with the solo. For example if the song is in a major key, do your solo in a minor key or vice versa or break the song down into half time or go to double time - whatever seems most effective.

The best way to get ideas is to analyse solos in songs that you love and work out whats going on and why that solo has such a great effect in relation to the song.

Theres nothing wrong with modelling your solo on another solo from a song that has a similar vibe to the one you are working on - just dont make it sound too alike! No one likes to be called a rip off merchant!

I've been playin about 3 years now, and looking at my situation, I really have hit a brick wall here, I don't really know scales, I'm focusing more on arpeggios right now, I realize I probably should be working on both though, I HAVE however been working on a scale run in Guitar magazine that MAB uses, but I know I probably should be learning all the scales I can and be learning to play them as fast as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zPmGU74vqQ

Thats the song I'm working on, I'm workin on a solo that'll go over the main riff (the riff that repeats 4 times after the 1st riff of the song plays 4 times). I'm thinking about playing the main riff finger positions on just one string higher up on the fretboard by alternate picking, but honestly I have no idea how to go about soloing with somthing like that after the breakdown, but not a long solo, because I want a bass solo after my solo, conveying more anger.

Liked the riffing Clint. If I was you I would maybe just keep it simple with maybe pentatonic or blues scale ideas or maybe the Dorian mode.

Dimebag used those sort of things in a lot of his solos and to my ears his style of playing would suit your riffs.

Good luck with your solo anyway! :)

haha, you and my rhythm guitarist would get along great, he said that I needed a Dime-worthy solo in there, but I never realized he used the blues scale, I knew about pentatonic and Dorian, but blues actually does seem logical here.

Well the Blues scale is really just the minor pentatonic with a b5 note in it as well so it contains 6 notes instead of 5.

You really gotta get working on those scales Clint, it'll help your soloing big time. :)

I've found dime basically used the minor scale with the b5 but also used a lot of pentatonic licks.

This is something I found came with time, and practice mostly. The more you improvise, the better you get at it.

Seconded