This Beginner's Guide to Guitar Soloing™ is brought to you by the following sponsors:
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Note Selection by Key/Chord (Choosing Scales)
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Before any musician takes a solo, there are a few things he/she will need to know. Some of
this information, style, meter, feel etc. can be learned by just listening and paying
attention to the other musicians. In addition, the soloist needs to know the key (or keys)
the song is in as well as the song's form.
For now, we'll deal with one key at a time although songs often change keys and have chords
with multiple functions. We'll worry about song form later.
One of the myths surrounding improvisation is that it is purely spontaneous. In reality,
a solo is built on phrases that the soloist has played many times before. Does this mean that
the solo is contrived? Not at all. Next time you have a conversation with someone, pay
attention to your own speach. How often do you use a sentence or even a word that you've
never used before? Does this mean that your ideas are old or invalid? Of course not. You use
words and phrases in contextual combinations that express your thoughts effectively and
"in the moment".
When you were very young, you learned to speak. First, with a few words, later a phrase or
or two until, eventually you could formulate ideas using your innate understanding of
language.
To begin to improvise, we'll first need some words. Words to the musician are in the form of
notes which we choose from scales. We'll start with the Pentatonic Scale. The
pentatonic scale has many uses in soloing and is ideal for helping the guitarist become
familiar with the idea of improvising due to it's simple pattern. Pictured below is just one
pattern for a pentatonic scale.
Learn this pattern for memory. It will be the basis of many other scales as your skills
develop. Right now, we'll use it to find notes to use over the 3 chord types.
Click to Continue...
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