{"id":3060,"date":"2024-01-24T18:35:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T18:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/?p=3060"},"modified":"2024-01-28T00:54:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T00:54:44","slug":"guitar-soloing-the-problem-with-scales-part-2-chord-tones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/guitar-soloing-the-problem-with-scales-part-2-chord-tones\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Soloing – The Problem With Scales Part 2 – Chord Tones"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\nPart 1<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 2<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 3<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 4<\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Targeting Chord Tones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the style of music, using a scale to create a solo is as much about the chords as it is the scale. Something like a typical blues solo will often be based mostly around the minor pentatonic scale combined with cliche licks and other commonly used ideas. Other music may require much more attention to chord tones, some genres or styles try to make more use of dissonance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we talk about scales, key and theory etc., the style and genre can change things entirely. There is no one size fits all approach and this is where a lot of scale talk can get confusing. This is something we should all be aware of. A scale isn\u2019t just a bunch of notes available to be played randomly, and a lot of what we learn is style or genre specific – generally speaking anyway. This is where it gets difficult for amateurs and beginners because most teaching leads us to believe a solo is all about the scale, which leaves us with the impression that all styles are equal when it comes to theory and method – but they aren\u2019t. Play a minor pentatonic scale over a major blues and it can sound great. Do the same thing over an easy listening pop song and it might sound terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to learn the basic stuff before we can get to grips with the more complicated things. What we\u2019ve been doing so far in this series of lessons is all quite slow and boring, but for good reason, we have to learn these things if we want to understand scales, how they apply, and make our solos sound more melodic or professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something to remember here is that when we play chord progressions that stay strictly in key (which is what we have been doing so far), then each and every chord will only contain notes belonging to the key. In other words, if we\u2019re in the key of C major, then every note of every chord in the key can be found in the C major scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example a I-IV-V in the key of C major contains the chords C, F and G. These are the chords in the backing track we have been using so far. At the beginning of this article, we also heard a backing track with two extra chords, Dm and Em. We\u2019ll get to that but we need to keep things as simple as possible for now to avoid information overload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how or where on the fretboard you play any of these chords, each chord note can be found within the scale. Collectively, the notes in the chords C, F and G, make up the entire C major scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve already learned that some scale notes clash over some chords. This is often more noticeable when it happens on a chord change or if a note is left hanging for too long without being resolved. We could avoid this by making sure we only play chord tones, but that would become very boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we need to do is learn where our chord tones (good notes) lie around a scale pattern so that we can target them more easily. Learning this across the entire fretboard takes a lot of time and practice so it\u2019s best to break things down into small areas of the fretboard to make things more manageable. This is the quickest and best way to practise until you get the hang of it. Once you get the feel for this way of thinking and playing, your solos will start to sound a lot more together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an example of how we can break things down into smaller parts to practise. Study the diagrams below for the chords C, F and G, and the C major scale all around the 8th fret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"C<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"F<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"G<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And for now we\u2019re only going to use the notes on the first four strings, which will end up looking like this. The diagrams show where the chord tones overlap the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Example 19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First we\u2019ll play through the chord tones only, something like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"three<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Example 22<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First something very simple to get used to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"C<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now we\u2019ll choose some positions for each chord and start by playing arpeggios just to help get used to where they are. It could be any chord position you want but I\u2019m going to choose the ones shown in the following TAB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arpeggios over the chords<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example 25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by just playing through the chord shapes we are going to use here, maybe something like this. You can skip this if you already know these chord positions well enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"C<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"C<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2: Slight variation of the above. This time I quickly slide into the first note and repeat the second. Also switch the picking order from the F chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3: Now all one one string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

4: Another slight variation of the above<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

5: Now some sliding between notes, again staying on the third string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

6: Similar again but adding a hammer on \/ pull off with the first two notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

7: Now a mix of short arpeggios and chord tones. Look at the notes I\u2019m playing, it\u2019s mostly all straight out of the underlying chords. It\u2019s still very similar to the previous ideas but starting to sound more melodic. I\u2019m slowly just building on ideas and mixing them up as I go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

8: Again another simple idea but this time I\u2019m not always starting each chord change on the first beat and I\u2019m leaving more space between phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

9: Just another mix up of ideas putting them all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You could go on for a while like this. Just run the backing track and keep going. Keep looking for the chord tones, experiment with the rhythm etc., and don\u2019t be worried about messing up. What I did here was one take but I\u2019d already spent a few minutes playing around before I hit the record button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercise here is to build ideas in small steps, each one leading on to the next. You might be tempted to go a bit wild with it all, that\u2019s OK sometimes but don\u2019t forget that the point of this is to work on the ability to quickly and easily find the chord tones under your fingers. This takes a lot of practice so don\u2019t expect any kind of overnight fretboard fluency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, one more idea before moving on to the next topic on scales for blues soloing. We\u2019ve already figured out that playing too many scale notes in succession, not only sounds like we\u2019re just playing scales, but also creates a potential for more note clashes. Too few notes sound much better but obviously gets boring quickly. Chord tones sound great but if it\u2019s all we do then that also becomes predictable and boring after a little while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We haven\u2019t really discussed the pentatonic scale much here, other than it gives us fewer notes to potentially cause clashes. Pentatonics generally sound good, we\u2019re all very familiar with the sound they create because we hear them in popular music all the time. The only problem is they can lack some melodic choice when we\u2019re really looking for a sweeter sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If however we take all what we\u2019ve looked at so far and combine it with the pentatonic scale, we usually end up with something that sounds far more complete and adds some necessary sparkle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the C major pentatonic scale that we\u2019ll be using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example 29<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"c<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Example 30<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\u2019re thinking only about the scale pattern, The common temptation is to play it something like this, basically noodling through the scale notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"guitar<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next, in Guitar Soloing Part 3<\/a>, we\u2019re going to ramp up the the overdrive slightly and get into some blues progressions.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\nPart 1<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 2<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 3<\/a>\n\n\n\nPart 4<\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Targeting Chord Tones Depending on the style of music, using a scale to create a solo is as much about the chords as it is the scale. Something like a typical blues solo will often be based mostly around the minor pentatonic scale combined with cliche licks and other commonly used ideas. Other music may … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3060"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3319,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions\/3319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitar-chords.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}