But I have also heard about a work-around that some drummers have tried. I do not know from personal experience, but they say you can use triggers and mics (I guess) to playing real drums and feed the input into the game. I would like to know just how that is done some day.

My POV is, if you can play guitar for real, you are a Rock Star!
FTW!

Question 2:
To learn a solo do as the other answerer said and learn it it pieces, slowly and in the correct rhythm. You may be surprised a how few pieces it takes to put the solo together sometimes. When you get up to speed, play along with the CD or MP3 or YouTube video, whatever. But play along with it to capture the correct feel and nuances. Don’t be happy just hitting the correct notes, listen carefully to the original solo as you play along.

Question 3:
On a piano for example, The C above Middle C note is always played by pressing one specific key on the piano. There is no other key for it.

On the guitar you can play that note on

String2/Fret 1 or
String3/Fret 5 or
String4/fret 10 or
String 5/Fret 15 or
String6/Fret 20

If you recognize that note by ear in a solo, which one do you play? One clue is the ‘timbre’ or sound quality of the note – the one on string 2 will sound crisp and clear and the one on string 6 will sound a bit muffled. Another clue is the the other notes in the solo. You have to find the area of the guitar neck where all these notes are in the ‘neighborhood.’ You may find that after studying guitar and learning scales and modes, that you will be able to find the area of the neck where the original guitarist thought up the riff and what mode or scale he hand in mind when he did it.

Hope this helps.

Good Question, and of course, this is a natural progression i the process of learning to solo. Here is a suggestion that will hopfully be helpful to you. I used to approach soloing this way when I started out. I didn’t have an MP3 player, or CD player, or any records (yeah, I’m old, we’re talkin’ 70’s here : – )… but I used to play along to the radio all the time. I used to play a game with myself to see if I could solo along to any song that came over the radio. I tried to figure out a formula that worked. Here is one that worked for me:

Most songs are in a pretty standard key. Pop songs are usuall in a very ovious diatonic key, Blues and funk are usually in keys, but a bit modal, Rock is usually kind of like pop. Now, I am being VERY VERY general when I say all of that, but follow me here:

Step 1: First learn what a major scale is, and how to play them in every key on the guitar. That is very easy, and once you learn one scale, you pretty much got it in all the other keys and can move up or down the neck to change keys. If you can do all this already, then great, on to step 2.

Step 2) Understand that each major key has a "Reletive minor" key. I’m really (really) oversimplifying things here, but: to figure out the "Reletive minor" key on guitar, just take your major key, and move down three frets. So, if the song is in "C Major" then the "Reletive minor" key for that song is "A Minor". This also works in the opposite direction.

Step 3) Listen to the song, play along to it, see which scale fits – As you play along, figure out the tonal center, i.e. the key. This should only take a minute or two. Then once you have figured out what the tonal center is, figure out if that note is the Major Key or Minor Key. In other words, if you hear "C" alot, and this seems to be the " I " (one, or tonic) of the song, try playing a C Major scale over the song. If you find it works, then you have found your scale. If you find that it works, but something sounds a little off, and that the note "A" sounds more centered, then maybe the song is really in "A Minor". This also works in the opposite direction.

Step 4) Once you are confident that you have found your key, play with it! – If you are in C Major, figure out if the song really has more of a bluesy feel to it. Play with Blue Notes by playing the third note of the scale flat (i.e. Eb) then diatonic (i.e. E), play around with the 7th note of the scale (i.e. Bb). if the Bb sounds good, then maybe the song is really in the key of "F" not "C", but the tonal center is "C" which would make it "Lydian". You could try playing an "F Major" scale over it and WHAM! you have that sound that you hear in alot of Allman Brothers songs.

The point here is that instead of memorizing alot of modes and scales, try training your ear to really hear what is going on. What is the tonal center of the song, what notes "Work". What flavors can you add that really work (i.e. a Flat-3rd, or Flat-7th) etc…. There is so much you can do, but start of by just trying to figure out what is happening in the song harmonically, first the key, they use your ear to determine what scale degrees really work.

If you would like more suggestions, please feel free to contact me via my Guitar Website: http://www.american-guitarist.com

Good Luck!

Kevin Chisholm – American Guitarist