hmm, what should I do?

My church's high school group does this thing once a year called starstruck cafe, which is basically a talent show, and I was thinking of participating. and I was also thinking that I wanted to play my guitar, even though I'm not very good... but I was wondering, should I just play a cover? or should I try to write something myself for it? and if I do write something, I would probably want to throw a solo in there somewhere, but I've never really been able to cover a solo before, except for real easy ones, so I don't really know exactly how I could write a solo at all, like, I don't know about scales or whatever, and I don't know how to put something that matches what the rest of the song. in fact I'll just flat out say that I know no theory, whatsoever... the show isn't till may 1st, so I have a little less than a month to prepare... any help or advice is appreciated

Either could be really cool, it wouldn't hurt to work on both a cover and an original and go with whatever is sounding best when it comes time to perform.

But since you're having trouble with solos and since it's tough to hold non-musician's attention with them, here's my advice:

Go with some kind of rhythmic break/breakdown type bridge, so you're still playing chords, but it's catchy and different from the rest of the song.

"Whirlwind" and "Second Skin" by The Gits and the bass part to the bridge of "Too Many Puppies" by Primus come to mind.

Cover Eaten from the Inside. The solos in that are pretty cool. All kidding aside, people react different to local/talent show/whatever type musical performances than they do big name tours. They most likely won't care if you went as far as to dry hump your guitar. Most will pretty much be satisfied as long as the song is completed (this is based on my experiences alone so don't expect that to always apply). I once performed in a talent show with a couple friends. We made an original composition and performed in front of a few hundred people. It sucked, it was trash, no rhythm what-so-ever, our timing was the worst part and the "solo" that we had conjured up was total trash as well. We were easily the worst performance in every way. But would you believe it if I said we were the only ones that got a standing ovation? If you're looking to impress people that's fine, take this as an opportunity to challenge yourself, but keep it reasonable as the studio is typically where you really challenge yourself and performances are for things you've already mastered. I'd say shoot for the original song but keep a cover as a backup in case the song doesn't pan out. All the same, best of luck to you.

well, last year, the person who won was this one girl who had had cancer several times, and sang the song that her dad would sing to her everytime she felt suicidal.. so she won from sympothy, so I was thinking about playing this one song that I've already written, and add a solo to it, not necessarily a blazing fast solo, since it's a pretty slow song... but I don't really know where to start on writing a solo, the chords of the song are Dm, Fmaj, Am, and Em... so what scales or whatever could I use to start writing this solo, also, how often should I use bends/hammer-ons/pull-offs/slides during that solo? this is a pretty slow, depressing song, but then at the end it becomes very encouraging, and I would probably throw the solo in towards the end. thanks for any help

The good thing about writing yourself is that noone has any expectation or is able to say anything negative about the sound since it is you who created it and since they have no idea how it should sound anyway.

Good luck mate

bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by: AICThe good thing about writing yourself is that noone has any expectation or is able to say anything negative about the sound since it is you who created it and since they have no idea how it should sound anyway.

Good luck mate

exactly what Akira says.. at least if u make a mistake or forget a part u can say that was part of the song, where'as if people know the cover ur playing and u make a mistake they will hear it and playing ur own song would be better anywho !!

ok, come on!!! I gotta bump it again, cause no one has answered my questions about writing solos!

Originally Posted by: 6strngs_2hmbkrsok, come on!!! I gotta bump it again, cause no one has answered my questions about writing solos!

Look, tab out all of the chords you use and you've got a scale -- maybe you'll have to focus on different parts of it over certain chords, but the chords you're playing are the basis of what you're going to be able to use in a solo.

From there, it's figuring out what's going to sound good over that and constructing something from there. You're going to have to experiment to figure out what it is, though because all of the theory in the world will only give you a framework of what you can do, not what you should do.

The thing to do is to record the chord progression you want the solo to go to into your computer, set it on repeat and work on it until you've got something. Just bear in mind that you're going to be doing this by yourself and that if it doesn't sound good by itself, you should probably save it for later and just worry on the chords and vocals (if you're doing any).

hum it then play it

Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovThe thing to do is to record the chord progression you want the solo to go to into your computer, set it on repeat and work on it until you've got something. Just bear in mind that you're going to be doing this by yourself and that if it doesn't sound good by itself, you should probably save it for later and just worry on the chords and vocals (if you're doing any).

ok, first of all, I have no idea how to record onto my computer. and secondly, in the live situation I'm not going to be able to have a backing track. and I haven't decided whether to do vocals or not, I really suck at singing, but the song that I would play would be a really boring song without any vocals..
but what you said about tabbing out the chords sounds good, I will definately do that.

Originally Posted by: 6strngs_2hmbkrsI really suck at singing

You should do your best to remedy that.

Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonYou should do your best to remedy that.

how?

10 character rule....

Work with ear training, get used to hearing what notes sound bad with the chords you play, and you'll find yourself gradually becoming more able to sing.