addin emotion to your solos

i got no idea how to add some taste when composing a solo. i got very good intros, but the worst solos ever...
any suggestion or advice?

There's no real advice to give to putting emotion or 'soul' into your solos (heh.. i just thought of a corny joke... puttin' the 'soul' back into 'solo.' oh god).

Try not to think about what you are playing. If you try to pay attention to mechanics and details about how your fingers are when you are fretting the chord, your solo/song may sound forced.

Just leave it to muscle memory, close your eyes, and just play. It should naturally flow out of you (hopefully).

I try not to just think of the notes in the solo but as an extension of the lyrics. If my solos get to mechanical it try to sweeten them up by using the axiom that less is more. I try not to overplay the solo but have it fit with the feel and flow of the entire song. The song is not seperate parts played or sung by different artists but a whole and all the parts need to fit to make the song.

I use a lot of palm muting and bending to liven up a solo or intro.Arpeggios are also useful.Sometimes I purposely abstain from playing guitar for a couple of hours listen to music and just start playing without much thought.Like justjeff explained DONT FORCE IT.

thanks all....
a good freind o mine told me yesterday: "its a lot better to write solos while hearing the rithmic guitar while improvising, its sometimes easier to compoes rithmic guitar than lead" so i tried it and, yeah, it did worked

One good advice I can give you is to download a tap from a solo you like, e.g. Jimi Hendrix who'd put a lot of "feeling" into his soloing. Learn exactly what he does and then try to put down some feeling into it. Go outside his phrames and try to make something of your own from it, adding a little bit of what you can do and a little bit that he does etc. It will surely help to start

just make funny faces

+1.

When talking about expression in music you gotta remember that music is art. What makes any art expressive? For me its the same as adding emotion to visual art; contrast, depth, technical skill, and detail.

What the hell I am talking about:

Contrast- Don't play all the notes the same way, make some super big and loud, make some short and quiet...add variety to how you play everything.

Depth- Don't play too much in the same spot. Use the whole fretboard.

Technical skill- Good finger control, sufficient knowledge of scales, and a good ear make it easier to express exactly what you want to.

Detail- Don't have filler in your solo. Don't have cool parts here and there, and everything in between them be kinda lame. I try to pay attention to every single note in the solo.

I hope this helps to some extent!

Lol... this was like 2 months ago...

sorry...just trying to get invovled...way to make me feel like a douche bag

Ahhhh.... sorry. Just saying. Doesn't really matter... better than no activity.

mattmurray's way is right nd dont 4get 2 vibrate nd bend the notes every now nd then i usually keep the whammy bar in my hand so my whole solo is vibrated nd i end it with a dive bomb they sound really cool..

wow

thanks

Look for a clip of Scott Henderson on YouTube. Type in his name and melodic phrasing...

I thought it was good.