Let’s talk about neoclassical soloing.
For those who don’t know – neoclassical rock and metal is a style of guitar playing that borrows musical concepts from the classical, romantic and baroque period.
Guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth, Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen are known as some of the most notable players in the history of this style.
If you’d like to play neoclassical guitar well, here are some things you’ll need to work on.
Vibrato
Vibrato is an integral part of neoclassical guitar playing. Guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Uli Jon Roth are renowned for their operatic, violin like vibrato.
Harmonic Minor
Neoclassical rock and metal is largely minor based. As a result, the most commonly used scales within this style are minor scales – most notably, the harmonic minor scale.
If you’d like to be able to play neoclassical rock and metal, the harmonic minor scale should become your new best friend.
Arpeggios
Along with the harmonic minor scale, arpeggios are a staple of neoclassical electric guitar.
Sweep picking is the approach most commonly associated with the use of arpeggios in neoclassical guitar. Though they are also played using tapping and string skipping.
A variety of arpeggios are used in this genre but the most common are major, minor and diminished.
Classical Motifs
The use of classical motifs, or “things that sound like classical music” are what defines neoclassical electric guitar playing.
Pedal tone licks, diminished runs, arpeggios, 4 note ascending and descending patterns, violin style phrases, these are all things an aspiring neoclassical electric guitarist needs to become familiar with.