Western Swing Soloing Lesson

Hi, everyone!

In this lesson, we're going to look at Western swing soloing. This is the hot jazz improvised soloing that the other fiddlers would do in Bob Wills' band.

The Dramatic Nature of Western Swing

Western swing gets really exciting and challenging because Bob Wills expected his soloists to be dramatic and to always surprise him. There's a story that he was quite a demanding band leader; he once told off one of his pedal steel players for not being exciting enough. In response, the pedal steel player threw his instrument off the stage and said, "Was that exciting enough?" before leaving the band.

Key Characteristics of Western Swing Fiddling

• Dramatic Soloing: Fiddlers must incorporate musical tricks to create tension and excitement.
• Expression: The essence lies in surprising the audience with every solo.

Approaches to Soloing

In this lesson, we'll look at three approaches:

1. Using the Major Blues Scale
2. Using Scales and Arpeggios
3. Using Specific Licks or Riffs

1. Major Blues Scale

Let's start with the major blues scale, which for D major sounds like this.

Note: I won't go into detail about explaining the major blues scale, as I have many videos on my YouTube channel, The Fiddle Channel, dedicated to this topic.

This scale forms the basis of a lot of country music improvisation.

Example with Chain Bowing

The first example involves using chain bowing to make it swing:

I'll play it again.
1, 2, 3, 4...

This approach works over the D major chord and also the 4 and 5 chords, giving you that bluesy feel. Any phrase created using this scale will work fine.

Instead of merely going up and down the scale, try different parts of the scale to develop a phrase.

Here's another example:
I'll play it again.
1, 2, 3, 4...

Notice the swinging bowing. We have that rhythmic element, da ba da ba da ba da, implemented with chain bowing, and there's a bit of syncopation at the end of the phrase.

2. Scales and Arpeggios

As another approach, rather than using a single scale, you can utilize scales and arpeggios for the individual chords.

• For a D major chord, you could either go up a scale or an arpeggio.
• For an A major chord or a G chord, you can apply the same technique.

This method allows for greater flexibility when transitioning between chords.

Example with Multiple Chords

Here's a phrase that goes through three different chords and incorporates both scales and arpeggios:

I'll play it again.
1, 2, 3, 4...

3. Licks or Riffs

Lastly, rather than completely improvising, consider using licks or riffs that you have learned and prepared earlier. These often provide the dramatic ideas needed for soloing.

Here's a lick in G:

We're going from an E to A to B flat, which is a big jump and a surprise.

When you learn a lick like this, try to transpose it to different keys. For instance, the same lick in D sounds like this:

Here it is in D...

As I mentioned, it's essential to learn licks not just for a single tune, but memorizing them allows you to use them whenever needed, regardless of the tune or key.

Assignment

Your assignment is to use the backing track for Red River Valley and try to work out little bits of solos that utilize these three approaches:

• The major blues scale
• Scales and arpeggios
• One or two riffs that you may already know or try the one we just covered.

Happy practicing!