- CONTROL -

Some remarks about this are already given on the page Playing guitar. Now I would like to go more in depth on this issue.

The way you control your guitar determines the way you play and how convincing you sound. So how can you get this control and when is the level of control sufficient for having a good quality kind of soloing that people are going to like.... Let's take a closer look at soloing.

In my opinion soloing consists of parts that are based on:
- practicing
- creativity
- feel (emotion)
- technique
- passion
- improvisation
- sound

Practicing is inevitable. I sometimes wish the existence of a pill that could make one a hot guitar player without all the need of time consuming practicing..... but there isn't. So here I have to go again: practicing is the only way to learn and develop your guitar playing.
When you want to play interesting licks that form a catchy solo you have to develop a certain memory in your fingering in combination with good pick technique. By repeating the exercises every (other) day you will notice that you reach a point where you actually can play the licks. That's the bonus: you will get better!

Starting slowly and speeding up is the trick as you know already. When you do this you have to be very aware of your fingering and picking. This is important while you develop your sound at the same time. If you press your fingers not hard enough or too hard you will have a sound that is either slobby or out of tune. Picking precisely asks for a synchronization of both hands. I notice that when I play fast runs or runs where timing is important, the focus on the pick helps to play more precisely. At the same time, the picking hand should be "linked to" the rhythm (drums). This becomes more automated if you play and practice more often along a drum computer/backing track. It's all getting used to and a development of second nature.

The combination of techniques, feel and creativity is responsible for the execution of your playing and make the famous guitar players what they are. If you're a beginner, don't worry about where to start or the long way you might have to follow to get there. The most important thing is: you just really have to want to play the guitar in a proper way on a certain level!

Of course you want to show of a bit if you have learned something new that sounds much like Mr. guitar hero. But in the end you have to be willing to pick up the guitar and be motivated to control that difficult piece of music for the reason that you are nuts about guitar playing and really want to be in control of it.

So the conclusion is that besides all the talk about practicing and technical ability you could wonder about yourself if you have this kind of passion and motivation inside you. If yes, then it's just a matter of how to practice, what kind of soloing you want and the way you develop. You will get your control.

If not.....you should find a way to get yourself more motivated and ask yourself why you wanted to play the guitar in the first place. I think that passion and motivation should be present inside of you.... just like someone who is nuts about playing tennis and really wants to practice to get control of the game and the ball.

 
Steve Vai - Great control and composer - click photo for an interview!