This will give you the means to create the kind of ideas that they would use. This is one of the big pieces to sounding like your favorite guitar players or bands. it's not just learning the songs or solos but...
Analyzing them
This may seem difficult to do and it certainly can be but it doesn’t have to be in the beginning. If you are a complete beginner then obviously you can’t do this. But if you are in the late beginner stages you can analyze simple things like the rhythms that they use in their phrases. This is something you can start with and you can analyze more complicated things as you advance.
Let me give you a couple examples of things you can analyze for the melody.
Melody- what scales do they use? Do they use a lot of pentatonic most of the time for their solos and riffs? Or do they use a lot more modal scales? This makes a huge difference trust me. Angus Young and Joe Satriani sound completely different don’t they. I don’t mean the styles they play in, I mean the flavor of their phrases and riffs. This is because Angus Young uses pentatonic scales and Joe Satriani uses modal scales.
Or do they mix scales together? Joe Satriani uses the pentatonic and blues scales every once in a while also, but also uses modal scales afterwards, mostly Lydian.
Randy Rhoads would use the blues scale and add notes from the full major or minor scale for his solos. This sounds pretty cool in and of itself.
Phrasing: how do they play? This is more important than what scales they use. If you use the same scales but you do not play how they play you will not sound like them entirely.
Things like - how do they bend, apply vibrato, how do they slide? How do they combine these things? How do they combine these things with other phrasing nuances such as trills? What kind of bends do they often use?
What techniques do they combine together where it is speed picking, 2 handed tapping, sweeping, string skipping, whammy bar use or whatever?
There is a lot more to do with melody and other things that is not to do with melody which you can analyze about your favorite guitar players or bands songs and solos.
Pick something that is not too far ahead of your musical knowledge and analyze the things that your favorite guitar player does. (things you are aware of) then of those things that you like, start implementing those things in your own playing and creating. This is the beginning of sounding like your favorite guitar player!
About the author: Jake Willmot has been playing the guitar for almost a decade and uses a lot of harmonics as part of his soloing style. Perhaps you would like to do that as well! Well Jake Willmot is also a guitar instructor in Exmouth so it would be worth going to take lessons from him to learn to do this much quicker than you would on your own. Jake is heavily into metal music so if you are into that, he is definitely the teacher for you!
