soloing in different styles of music

[Spi.der.men]

For people who usually make their remixes in a certain style of music (ambient for example) do you have difficulty when trying to make a solo for an instrument when jumping to another type of music? If so, how do you typically get over this hump?

[Meteo Xavier]

I just study the hell out of the general genre, and if that fails, do what I always do and try to make it awesome all the same.

If it's good, people won't care that it doesn't fit the genre standards.

[Skyline Drop]

While it's true that different music genres have their own idiomatic approaches to arrangement, I think there is something to be said about having your own stamp on your solos. I wouldn't fret too much about trying too terribly hard to play directly into genre conventions in most cases.

[ectogemia]

Same as Meteo. I pretty much wing everything. Unless you want to write music of a specific style/genre as a specialist, I think that's the best approach to just becoming an all-around better musician.

[Spi.der.men]

So what you guys are saying is to not worry about it being 100% true to the genre? Would you say there is a point where you would need to change the other instruments in the solo to play more true to the solo? (Making the solo a ska breakdown as opposed to just having a ska-ish lead line)

[XPRTNovice]

I think the most important thing to do is listen. Different styles have different characteristics that make a solo distinctly "fit" inside that genre. As a jazz musician, I'm speaking primarily from a jazz perspective, but here's what I've noticed over the years about some different stlyes as an example:

Django (1920's gypsy jazz): heavy influence on the 6th, both in major and minor keys, give the style it's wacky tonality

Prog metal: Modes and arpeggios, modes and arpeggios...

Blues (and a lot of rock): relies heavily on the pentatonic for composing melodies

Those are just a few examples, but you might notice that while it's hard to tell why somtehing fits, if you try to play a prog solo over a gypsy jazz background, it sounds really weird.

I hope that helps.

[Skyline Drop]

So what you guys are saying is to not worry about it being 100% true to the genre? Would you say there is a point where you would need to change the other instruments in the solo to play more true to the solo? (Making the solo a ska breakdown as opposed to just having a ska-ish lead line)

I don't think there's any one right or wrong answer here. Like, if the arrangement is mostly dark and pensive, adding a ska breakdown in the middle wouldn't make much sense thematically, so you might not want to adjust the accompaniment for the solo quite so much, or maybe just nix the solo entirely. On the other hand, if you've got a more energetic arrangement with a lot of rhythm and groove to it already, you could much more easily get away with that kind of genre shift.

I guess what I'd suggest is do your best to keep a degree of consistency with the feel of your music, but don't forget that it's your music. Unless you're explicitly expected to reproduce a certain style (for learning purposes or as part of some contract), I don't see why you should sweat taking a few liberties.