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By Jason Garoian
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Prepare for your first voyage into soloing with a simple chord progression and an easy scale. With audio examples
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| “The only reason I’m playing guitar is Nirvana,” says Bento guitarist Scott Iwata (www.bentomusic.com). “I wanted to know how to make that sound.” Photo by Anne Hamersky.
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Practice Plan
Level:
As you wend your way through this lesson, take it slowly. Make sure you’re keeping an even, steady time for all the exercises. You can also use the advice in “Behind the Notes: Moving Movable Shapes” (page 46, Spring 2007) to play these same licks in different keys.
Beginner Tip: Practice with the backing tracks on the last page of this online lesson to help you keep time (and let you feel like you’re playing with a band!).
Play It: “Lay Down Sally” (page 48, Spring 2007).
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Tune Up
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A great guitar solo can seem like it came from another world. While those solos make lead playing seem like terrain only the masters can tread, once you learn the lay of the land and pick up the proper tools—the minor pentatonic scale and a simple chord progression—you, too, will be ready to make the traverse.
Start with an Easy Scale
In this lesson, we’re going to use the minor pentatonic scale, which is common in all styles of American music from blues to rock to jazz. With fewer notes than an eight-note major or minor scale (pentatonic literally means five notes), the pentatonic is easy to play—you only fret two notes per string—and the notes fit with many chord progressions.
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Each finger is assigned a fret to cover, regardless of which string you’re playing. The index finger will play notes on the fifth fret, the middle finger plays notes on the sixth fret, the ring finger covers the seventh fret, and the pinky gets the eighth fret. Easy so far, right? Play through the scale a few times to help you start off on the right foot.
Use a Basic Chord Progression
When you’re taking a solo, you’re not completely alone. The chord progression provides a foundation to both launch from and connect with. Some of the most common chord progressions in popular music use the I, IV, and V chords, which start on the first, fourth, and fifth notes, respectively, of an octave scale. So for the key of A, the main chords are A (I), D (IV), and E (V).
Played together, in any order, these three chords don’t have much tension or dissonance. Since the minor pentatonic scale doesn’t have much tension, either, progressions using the I, IV, and V chords will give us a good solid ground upon which to solo.
When you practice these examples, play them over the chord progressions. You can either record your own (using the chords above the examples) or use the backing tracks in the Lessons section of www.playguitarmagazine.com (see the last page of this online lesson). Since these examples use the same chord progression as the chorus to “Lay Down Sally” (transcribed on page 48, Spring 2007), you can even play along with Eric Clapton’s recording.
Build an Ascending Line
Let’s start putting together your first solo. We’ll start with some shorter lines, then add pieces until the solo is complete.
For FIRST ASCENT, below, begin with your ring finger on the seventh fret of the fourth string. Play with all downstrokes, tapping your foot with each quarter note. Your pick should hit the string as your foot hits the floor. This first exercise is really just the minor pentatonic scale played in order, from A to A, with a half rest at the end. Play this a few times to internalize it, but keep in mind, the scale on its own is just the bare bones. The solo or melody you construct with it is the real living organism
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First Ascent
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First Ascent, Played Slowly
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THE GROUND UP, below, uses the same notes as First Ascent but adds some eighth notes for rhythmic variation. When you play eighth notes, think of your foot and pick as being connected. When your foot goes down (on the numbered beats), your pick goes down; when your foot goes up (on the ands), your pick goes up. Play this single-measure line over and over until you’re comfortable with it.
Notice that we’re starting and ending each lick on the first note of the scale, A, which is also called the root note. This adds a sense of resolution or completion to the licks, and it’s one of the things that helps the solo fit smoothly over the chord progression in the same key
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The Ground Up
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The Ground Up, Played Slowly
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Printable Version
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