Finding chord tones

[Tony]

Some years ago a guitar teacher told me that the key to soloing was learning the chord tones. He didn’t elaborate beyond that and it seemed a mystery to me.

Then I saw a technique that was the lighbulb moment for me…

Strum a chord, find one of the root notes on that chord, slide up 4 frets for the 3rd, then up a string and down 2 frets for the 5th, then up 5 frets for another root.

Wherever you go, there you are

[Michael Krailo]

The key to playing great guitar is becoming very familiar with your instrument, and that usually doesn’t happen overnight. There is no one thing, it’s a combination of fundamentals that you eventually become aware of and apply them on a consistent basis. The devil is in the details.

As for your suggestion, that won’t work if you strum a simple open A chord and select the A root note on the G-String. You can slide up to the 3rd (up four frets), but then what? But even if it did, that’s still not really soloing. I sent you a friend request in case you would like to get some real lightbulb moments pointers on which lessons are best suited for you at this point in your journey. There is a lot of lessons on here that have helped many of us do exactly what you want to do.

Also it would really help if you filled out your profile to give others some idea what your experience level is and what guitars you own, etc…

Just click the My Profile link at the top of the page and then click on Profile.

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

[Tony]

Thanks Michael.

Yeah, when you use the A root note on the G string, you have to adjust for the different tuning of the B string as compared to the others. So you go up one string and back only 1 fret.

Yeah, finding just the chord tones isn’t soloing on it’s own. It’s certainly a helpful step in that direction.

Great suggestion on filling out the profile, thanks, still getting used to this site as I’ve only just joined.

Wherever you go, there you are

[charjo]

Hi Tony,

A more holistic approach is to learn your triads as target notes and the surrounding scale tones to use for colour and melody.
It’s easier said than done. It requires a knowledge of notes of the fret board, scale positions, intervals, learning triads over 4 string sets and hearing and anticipating chord changes. That, however, is a big part of the journey.

John

[Tony]

Thanks John. 100% agree. The lightbulb moment for me wasn’t about soloing per se, it was about an easy pattern to find the chord tones for any chord I play (at that stage rhythmically). Next I started looking at the scale patterns at the new tonic / root note and since then have descended into an obsession with triads.

A soloing challenge for me has been the transition from rhythm to solo withing a song. I’ve been lurking and following Brian’s lessons for some time, what made me finally join was his recent lesson on fills. ML-147. After I get on top of his approach there, I’ve saved a number of his triad lessons to dive deeper into.

Wherever you go, there you are

[Author]

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