Learning To Read Music With Chords

Great Article on Soloing and Pattern Sequences

How To Solo Over A Song

Recently I have found a great website that I allows me to select any scale, in any key, on any position on the fretboard and will then magically provide me a list of chords that I can use to solo over it.

From my last post on solos, I learned that most solos are just scales dressed up differently with various articulation, phrasing and emotion. With the help of this website I can take a chord and figure out what scales sounds good over it or I can do the opposite and find a scale I like and then find chords that compliment it.

*Here is an example of some D Minor chords:

Question: I want to solo over a D minor chord. What scales can I use to turn a unique solo?

 Answer: There are tons of scales that can be used. Here is just a handful of ones I found.

C Ionian

D Dorian

E Phrygian

F Mixolydian

D Melodic Minor

G Lydian Dominant

F Major Pentatonic

A Harmonic Minor

*Here is an example of an E Minor Pentatonic Scale:

Question: When soloing with an E Minor Pentatonic Scale, what chords can I use over it?

Answer: There are several chords that can be used. Here is a handful of chords I found.

G Major

D Suspended 2nd

A Suspended 4th

B Minor Sharp 5th

E Minor 7th

A 9th Suspended 4th

D 5th

A 5th

**HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE. I USED THE CHORD CALCULATOR AND THE SCALE CALCULATOR. THIS IS A WONDERFUL RESOURCE FOR ANY GUITARIST!!**

Solos: Van Halen Killed Them For Me

I was never really into solos on guitar. Sure, it was impressive that certain guitarists could burn up and down the fretboard but they usually failed in one really important area for me: If I can't tap my foot to it or bob my head then the song is not catchy and I lose interest pretty fast. I grew up just about the time "hair metal" was being killed by "grunge." Bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, Poison, Bon Jovi and guitarist like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai were all shredders that were on their way out in terms of popularity. As technical as their solos were I just did not care. Solos only started to impress me later on when I heard Pantera and even later than than Job For A Cowboy. Eventually I learned to also appreciate mellower solos that had more feel to them. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd seemed like he could say more in five notes than Eddie Van Halen could say in a hundred.

Question: How are solos created?

1) Using Scales: To solo over any chord sequence you'll need a scale first. This sets the range of notes that will fit with the backing chords. If a song uses chords from the key of C Major, all the notes of the C major scale can be used as the basis for your solo. You don't need to play all the notes of the scale, or play them in any set order. The aim is to make your solo sound fresh and innovative, not scale-like!

2) Phrasing: Be sure to leave spaces between notes so that you start to create short phrases. Within these patterns use notes of different lengths: some long notes that you sustain, balanced by some very quick and short notes. This rhythmic variety will add interest and shape to your phrases. Try to incorporate rhythmic variety into your improvisations, remembering that you should also vary the direction in which you play. Remember, there is no need to play up the whole range of the scale before you play some descending notes. Adopt a melodic approach in which your improvisation can weave up and down the scale.

3) Using Intervals: One thing that always makes a solo sound too scale-like is using notes that are adjacent to each other in a scale. This type of playing instantly gives away to the listener that the improvisation is derived from a scale. Using interval gaps when playing a scale is a perfect way to break from sounding too much like a scale.

4) Repetition: By repeating short series of notes you will begin to establish phrases that will give your solo a sense of structure. By repeating these phrases, or variations on them, you will give the listener something to recognizable to latch onto, instead of a seemingly random series of notes with no direction.

5) Specialist Techniques: Make wide use of string bends, vibrato, slides, slurs, ect.

6) Emotion/Feel: Solos are supposed to be an emotional extension of the player. Once you know the key, once you have an idea of what scale you want to base your solo off of, then it comes down to what emotion and you want to convey with your solo. Some guitarists will convey their emotion by blazing through their solo at whiplash speeds while others will take a more laid back feel and make use of silence and spacing between notes. Be creative and be honest but most of all be sure to have fun!!

*The two best solos I can think of off the top of my head are:

1) "Floods" by Pantera

2) "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd

*"Eruption" may have been the solo to end all solos of the 1980s, but frankly I don't give a shit!

Pentatonic Lesson For Guitar

While searching through a mountain of Guitar World Magazines I found a great article on Pentatonic Scales. There are great exercises on major and minor pentatonic scales as well as advice on different positioning.

Minor Pentatonic Scale

Minor Pentatonic Scale: Is a five-note scale derived from the natural minor scale. It is made up of the root, flat 3rd, 4th, 5th, and flat 7th scale degrees. This omits the "awkward" half step intervals, which are normally located between the 2nd and the flat 3rd, and the 5th, and flat 6th scale tones. A 'C' minor pentatonic scale has the notes C, E-flat, F, G, B-flat.

*An Example of a C minor Pentatonic Scale

*An Example of a C Minor Pentatonic Scale on a fretboard

*Here is a video lesson on the minor pentatonic scale:

Major Pentatonic Scales

The term "Pentatonic" has Greek origins. "Penta" means five, and "tonos" means tone.

Major Pentatonic:

The Pentatonic Major Scale is a five-note abbreviation of the standard major scale, with the fourth and seventh degrees of the major scale omitted. For example, the notes in the C major scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, B. To convert this into the C pentatonic major scale omit the notes F (the 4th) and B (the 7th) results in C, D, E, G, A.

*An example of what a C Major Pentatonic Scale:

  

*Major Pentatonic Scale in multiple positions:

*Here is a audio/visual example of a C major Pentatonic Scale