What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the words ‘guitar harmonies’? For a lot of people it’ll be 80’s glam solos and other seemingly outdated styles… but don’t disregard this as it can be a very full and effective sound in most modern styles if played right (and that is the key!). If you’re lucky enough to remember the 80’s solos then you’ll remember that the guitar harmonies were flying hard and fast and were ever so slightly overused, but that was great for that style and time. Now you may have to consider spicing things up a little more in order for it to work, and there is one major way to do this.

If you’ve leaned how to play guitar solos in the 80’s then this can be a rough task to change, but all it takes is wanting to and it can be done. There is one main difference between ye harmonies of old and what is being created now, and that is repetition. Before, it used to be an entire pattern or scale run that was played completely in harmony and sounded somewhat predictable, and that’s why that sound has now dated. Now you can’t really get away with that so much with the new generations of listeners needing everything constantly changing and new (think of the attention spans) so there’s a need to add a mix of harmony parts with other techniques and keep it interesting, and then you’ll separate them from the stereotype of the past.

There are 3 main ways to play a harmony and they are 3^rd/ 5^th and Octave. The first guitar can play whatever notes you want, and to work out the harmony section it’s simply a matter of working out the note the first guitar is playing and then choosing either the 3^rd or 5^th note up from that in the scale you wish to play, or choosing the octave (the same note played an octave above or below). It’s really that easy to create a guitar harmony, and this will also help you when learning how to play guitar solos from other bands as the majority will fall into this category. One more thing, when you choose your 3^rd/ 5^th or octave notes they can be either side of the original guitar notes. If you play a 3^rd down from the first guitar, it’s the same ratio but you are just playing the lower harmony part.

Play around with this and think about using it as a way to accent small passages rather than whole scale runs, and you’ll stay clear of the stereotype harmonies – which are still great if that’s the desired effect, but you now have a choice!

Check out this video showing you how to put harmonies to a lead section.

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