Okay, I'm not a big soloist. I like playing, but I don't have a big need to solo on much. In worship music, it's not needed often, but when it's called for, I have some opinions on the subject.
A pet peve of mine that got solved along with the issue of the existence of 80's hair bands was the fruitless efforts of flying fingers against setting of an otherwise harmless and unsuspecting melody. To me, it quickly turns into a demonstration of skill rather than a musical movement propelling the composer's melody to heights unattainable by the lyricist.
Which brings me right to my point - if you have a solo, see if you can sing it first. If you haven't done this, slow down and take the time to really sing it to yourself. You'll find a big difference in what you can capture emotionally with your voice at a pace much slower than your fingers could muster, and it will have a greater emotional impact as a result. I like to improvise, but if I can't sing it in some way, I ask if it really belongs to the song or if it's just too much me in the worship movement showing off. That's not how I should be glorifying God.
Here are a few points I like to think before diving into a solo or writing a new instrumental part:
- Keep it simple. Try something as simple just walking up the scale every half-note from the 3rd above the root!
- Keep it stylistically relevant to the rest of the song
- Make it carry the melody first and take it to new places second
- Do not use the opportunity to just exercise my fingers
- Stay focused and (if improvising) have a clear, pre-planned exist strategy to get back to the song
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