Jens Larsen made a wonderful video discussing how, when crafting a solo, it’s more important to focus on creating a great melody than it is to “hit the right notes”. Granted, that’s not to say that the notes don’t matter, but just hitting the “right” notes won’t automatically yield a great solo. A great melodic hook will go much further.
He took a primarily jazz-oriented look at the idea, but I thought it would be helpful to reinterpret the same information for rock/pop players. Basically, it comes down to learning and playing more melodies (which is something that rock and pop players don’t get to do anywhere near as often as jazzers).
You can watch the video below.