How do I string together guitar solos?

I’ve been playing the guitar for years and I’ve finally managed to build up the skill to play faster that I could have ever dreamed. The problem is that I don’t know how to create music. I have the guitar athletics to play just about every solo out there but I know nothing about stringing together solos other than the fact that I need to know some scales. Any help? I need to know everything from a list of scales to how to put them together.

While the other answers are good (arpeggios, blues/pentatonic scales, etc) – they’re only specific tools you need in your tool box.

What you need… what you want… what will open a whole new *world* for your playing: is to study music theory. You need to learn about the very nature of music itself.

Typically you’ll start by learning scales and modes, chord arpeggios, etc. This is a huge step in the right direction. But along the way you need to also learn the “why” of all this.

Specifically, you’ll learn how each note sounds when played with any combination of other notes.

Sounds simple – that’s a concise way of stating what music theory is all about – but it is a long (and rewarding) road!

If you have a guitar teacher he/she should already be teaching you this if you’ve been playing for years. If they’re not, find a new one.

Otherwise, I can recommend a few excellent books to get you started:
Guitar Fretboard Workbook (from Musican’s Institute): http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221699131&sr=8-1
This book will help you learn and understand how notes are laid out on the guitar, what their relations are to one another, how to “see” the scales/modes/arpeggios/etc.
Of all the books in the world, I recommend this as the “must use” starter book.

Hal Leonard’s “Music Theory: Everything you wanted to know…” is a great one to get started with. It will give you a comfortable familiarity with all the primary considerations for soloing. You won’t finish this book and be a legendary improv soloist – but you’ll have that solid base that is *critical* if you ever want to get out of your rut and make up your own, good-sounding solos.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221699345&sr=1-2

Then there are a lot of other good books for specific things:

Berklee Press has a good book on a melodic approach to soloing (geared to jazz playing, but good all-around): http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Improvisation-Guitar-Melodic-Approach/dp/0634017721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221699468&sr=1-1

Another Musician’s Institute book gives you another take on melodic soloing: Chord-Tone soloing http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Tone-Soloing-Guitarists-Improvising/dp/0634083651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221699531&sr=1-1

(yet) Another Musician’s Institute book called Guitar Soloing will overlap a lot with that Hal Leonard music theory book, but it’s still worth checking out (definitely get one of these two):

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Soloing-Contemporary-Guide-Improvisation/dp/0793581869/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221699652&sr=1-1

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