Soloing

[Rickey]

How dooooo

I have been trawling the net for a tip on playing solos but cannot find what I am looking for. Basically I would like to know if there is some kind of formula when soloing.
e.g. if playing in the key of E, do you start and finish on an E for every chord in the progression or do you only start on an E when the E is playing and finish on the E when you get back around to it? when ever I try to solo it just sounds robotic ending on the root note every few notes.

Another example

A F G

with this progression would I start of on the root note A, noodle around until the change ending on A for each riff or would I noodle around and when the chord changes just start in the F pentatonic Scale?

Help 🙁

[Brian]

Hey wezzyboy – I think the issue is that you’re overthinking it. I NEVER worry about what note i start or end a solo with.. because it’s always different. Instead I like to think of guitar licks (or phrases) as words.. and an entire solo like a sentence. Using that analogy, there is no correct way to start or end a sentence – you can structure however it feels best. Soloing is very similar, but you first must understand the scales (or boundaries) and then licks within those boundaries. My Lead Blues Guitar Course covers all of this in detail, by the way 🙂

[bluesbird]

The simplest “formula” is to use the pentatonic scales. If you stick to these scales, none of the notes you play will be wrong regardless of the chord progression being used. How good the solo sounds however depends on the way these notes are arranged and how they are played and that’s up to you.

[Zed_Is_Dead]

This is an old thread but something that I am really interested in. I just bought the Blues Guitar lesson (which is really good — even though I am still early in the lessons) to help me.

I am learning the Blues Scale and the Minor Pentatonic (and all of its 5 positions) but am clueless when it comes to playing a nice bluesy lead.

I assume that it I were to keep everything within the Minor Pentatonic (with blues notes added), I would be fine, yes.

Let’s say that it is a simple I-IV-V progression in E. If I kept everything within the Blues Minor Pentatonic in E, maybe even the extended scale, I would be fine wherever the song (I-IV-V) is at a particular moment?

I thought that I would have to stop and start on the the root note but Brian says that’s not necessary? Anything within the Minor Blues Pentatonic?

Thanks!

[Deluxe Strat]

thats what ive been doing
if the chords are in the key of let say G, I play anywhere on fret board with in the 5 postions of G Pent. scale
I think this is a good place to start, then as you and I progress and learn all the notes on the fret board, and the song changes to the C chord I believe if you hover around the c note in the G pent scale it would sound good
im not quite there yet but getting closer
I know no music theroy so i may be totaly wrong,but it seems to sound good to my ears
Butch

[Rickey]

Use your ears, my boy. What does it sound like to end on E or the same note after every phrase? Yawn! See Brian’s latest lesson on lead playing.

[Rickey]

Read George Martin’s book, “All You Need Is Ears.”

[Author]

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