How to write guitar solos from a keyboardist perspective?

Question

I'm a keyboardist and sole composer in a band, and usually I write organ/keyboard solos, but I wanted to write a guitar solo for one of the songs. I would let the guitarist make his solo, but he is a primarily rhythm guitarist without lead experience. So, I tasked myself with writing the solo.

I wanted to know differences when writing for guitar compared to keyboards. I know the basics, such as range, speed, chord voicing, and interval limitations, however I don't really understand how to phrase for guitar, and how to apply the textural changes, such as bending, vibrato, hammer-ons/pull-offs, etc.

I'm aware that this question is super wide and not specific at all, but I don't really know what I don't know. When I search on YouTube how to write a guitar solo, they tend to be broad tips on how to construct a solo and not instrument specific. I don't know where to begin, and when I try to write for keyboard and move it to guitar, it doesn't sound like it belongs on guitar. If there is a clarification needed, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll try to add more information.

Answer 1

The best way to write for an instrument you are unfamiliar is, is to work together with whoever is going to be playing the part.
Start by writing the piece as you imagine it, in a way that you think will work. Then show this to your guitarist and get them to play it for you. You'll get plenty of feedback on what works and what doesn't, and things you can improve. Modify your piece and try again. After a couple of iterations of this, you'll probably have something that works well and sounds good.
In general just writing the notes you want is a good start. A guitar player will know how to phrase the music and when to use things like bends or vibrato. They'll use those effects automatically

Answer 2

''I don't really understand how to phrase for guitar, and how to apply the textural changes, such as bending, vibrato, hammer-ons/pull-offs, etc.''

Well, you can't turn the keyboard into a guitar. However it's easy enough to emulate (and a surrogate emulation it is) a guitar solo on keyboard: use the pitch wheel for bending, some overdrive or distortion (yuck! this will sound quite bad as keyboards use digital distortion, whereas proper guitar sounds use tube amp distortion), and also use the pentatonic scale more than other scales, and hey presto. You have a great emulation of a guitar solo. :)

The best way to emulate it would be actually to learn a simpler guitar solo on keyboard, one that isn't too difficult, such as the ones found in 'Hotel California' or such songs. It will sound poor, again you can't turn a keyboard into the sound of Jimmy Page and his Marshall amp. As for phrasing your solos, that's a whole other field. If you can't phrase nicely, no solo will ever sound really that good, on any instrument.

And of course, don't forget Amazon. Surely many other keyboardists wrote books about how to do what you want to learn to do on keyboard.