Lead Guitar Soloing

[veteran]

All Music = Scales, Chords, and Arpeggios

Everything one learns about Chord theory automatically translates for Scales and Arpeggios.

One of the goals for guitar soloing in a Pop, Rock, or Country style (or similar), is to learn the Major Scale up and down the guitar fretboard.

What that means is at minimum, being able to play the Major Scale from the open guitar position all the way up to the 12th fret, because after the 12th fret it all repeats again.

There are 5 basic fingering positions between the 1st and 12th frets that are normally used. To get those in your head, the fastest way is to play them like a snake fashion up and down the fretboard, between the 1st and 12th guitar positons (guitar position no.1 is with your first finger on the 1st fret).

What you want to do is to draw a guitar fretboard diagram, and label only the whole notes, like C-D-E-F-G-A-B (C Major Scale). The first scale position that's easy to start would be on the 3rd fret, 2nd bass string C note. One finger per fret. Then find the next position up for those same C Major notes, and then the next, and so on, until your first finger should be at the last position on the 12th fret.

Play down across the fret board, then slide into the next fingering position and play back up, then slide to next position and play down across the fretboard, etc., like in snake position. The goal is to play all those positions smoothly, linking them together, going up the fretboard, and then back to where you began. Do it always using Alternate picking with your pick hand. No pick hand fingers resting on the guitar please (slows you down eventually), pick using your wrist from the elbow wresting on the guitar, not your forearm or pinky.

All notes are to be held as long as possible for a legato (long) sound. Hold down the previous picked note finger as long as possible while planting your next finger. (will build finger strength). Fret slightly behind the fret, not on or in the middle. No mistakes allowed. Slow at first means speed later. Making too many mistakes? Slow down unitl you don't.


MODES: (All examples in Key of C Major)

Each note of the Major Scale is a Mode (from ancient Greece). Simply, what note you START the C Major Scale on, that determines the type of Mode. They're all the same notes, BUT, each Mode has it's OWN tonal color sound. The reason is because the E-F and B-C note intervals fall in a different place, depending on what note you start the C Major Scale on. E to F (half-step, one fret away) is a minor type interval. C to E (whole step, two frets away) is a Major type interval. That's why... all the Modes sound different, even though it's always the notes of the C Major Scale.


Ionian Mode = C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
Dorian Mode = D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D

Do you see how those E-F and B-C relationships are placed differently between the Ionian and Dorian Modes? That's why the Modes within the Major Scale have a slightly different tonal sound from each other.

Phrygian Mode = E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E
Lydian Mode = F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F
Mixolydian Mode = G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G
Aeolian Mode = A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
Locrian Mode = B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B


Ionian Mode = Major Harmony - happy sound - Cmaj7 chord
Dorian Mode = minor sound, little bit jazzy, Carlos Santana uses it a lot.
Phyrgian Mode = almost a Spanish sound
Lydian Mode = Major harmony sound, used in Jazz a lot.
Mixolydian Mode = Leading tone sound, Dominant Tension, used in Blues a lot.
Aeolian Mode = the Relative Minor of the Major Key; commonly used in Chorus, Bridge of songs.
Locrian Mode = Leading tone sound, dominant, tension, used in Jazz a lot.

In C Major Key, go up to the 8th guitar position (1st finger on 8th fret). Play all those 7 modes in that SAME place on the guitar. Then you will actually HEAR the difference between the Modes. By doing this, you ALSO will be learning those previous Major Scale fingering positions I was talking about earlier. The FIVE fingering positions you'll use for snake fashion practice are the Ionian, Dorian, Phyrgian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian. So concentrate especially on learning those five Mode fingering patterns at the 8th positon. Then find those 5 fingerings for C Major up and down the neck between the 1st and 12 positions.


Learn the C Major Scale and Blues Scale:

C Blues Scale: C - Eb - F - Gb - G - Bb - C
Those flatted notes of the Blues Scale are called "Blue Notes" per tradition. Play that Scale and you'll hear why. Can play this over Dominant 7th or Minor type chord.

C Minor Pentatonic Scale: C - Eb - F - G - Bb - C
The Minor Pentatonic Scale is very close to the Blues Scale, only one note difference, no flatted 5th. Play this over a Minor type chord.


Most of Rock, Blues, Metal, Country and Bluegrass soloing is based off those Scales above.

All those fingering patterns for C Major, C Blues, and C Minor Pentatonic Scales automatically translates to all the 12 Keys. You simply move the fingering patterns on the fretboard for the Root note of the Key.


Electric Guitar Lead Technique:

It's common to use a Half-Bar for the fret hand when lead soloing with the Blues or Minor Pentatonic Scales. All that means is laying your first finger over the bottom 3 or 4 strings like you would a bar chord. And then using your other three fingers to fret the notes of the Blues Scale. (one finger per fret, though some older Blues players don't use their pinky finger much, like Eric Clapton).

It's also common to do string bends when playing the Blues Scale, especially the old T-Bone Walker blues riff that Chuck Berry made famous with the Johnny B. Goode song. Listen to Larry Carlton bend the strings. You'll notice his string bends always sound in tune and smooth.

To build up strength with the fret hand, on the little three bottom strings, do a half-bar with your first finger, then plant your 2nd finger on the next fret, and bring the 4th finger down on the same string sharply, and quickly pull your pinky downward and off (keep your bar finger and 2nd finger planted). That's called a Pull-Off. Do the opposite with planting your pinky sharply down on the same string and hold it. That's called a Hammer-On. Many lead players use hammer-on's and pull-off's with their picking. All rock and country players I've heard use it a lot.

Another thing, your fret fingers should be bent like key hammers on a piano, using the very ball tips of your fingers, not your fingerprint area of your finger.


Over a Minor Chord, you also have other Scale choices, like the Harmonic Minor scale and the Melodic Minor scale.

Over a Dominant 7th Chord, can use the Blues, Minor Pentatonic, and Mixolydian Mode of the Major Scale.

Try the Blues, Minor Pentatonic in different locations for a Minor, Dominant, or Major chord. You might be surprised at some of the cool contrasts you'll get, some of them 'outside' sounding but cool for adding quick tension and then quicly moving back to the original scale used.

 

[veteran]

Here's a graph of the G Major Scale Modes graphed for the Guitar fretboard. NOTICE the fingerings are in the Key of G MAJOR (G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G):

Just keep clicking the picture icon until it brings up the full graphic.


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The RED dots represent the ROOT notes of the Key (G Major ). I chose G MAJOR FINGERINGS because it's fingerings are in the most useable areas of the fretboard for soloing.

1. Learn those FIVE fingering patterns for the G Major Scale.

2. SLIDE your whole hand into the next FINGERING to connect all them, playing them in a snake fashion up the fretboard, and then back down to where you started. Should practice this exercise every day until you can easily fret all five fingerings at consistent rhythm with no mistakes, sliding into each fingering.

Here's the slide technique when changing to a new fingering on the fretboard:

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As you can see, you don't just reach for the next note in the next fingering and then change to the next fingering pattern, you move your whole hand to the new fingering, and whatever the next note is, that finger then frets it (excepting like a one-note stretch with your pinky, like the Dorian and Aeolian Mode patterns contain; need to reach for those notes while not leaving the initial pattern position).

One finger per fret for 4 frets for each fingering position. Some fingering patterns will require you to slide downward a fret and then back up, like the Mixolydian Mode pattern. Move your whole hand into position with that one. Other fingering patterns will require you to stretch only your pinky finger beyond a 4 fret hand position, like the Dorian Mode and Aeolian Mode patterns.

Keep all fingers close as possible to the fretboard, at all times; no flying fingers, or you'll never develop much speed.

Later scales you might learn may cover a span of 5 or 6 frets wide. With practice the fingers can simply stretch wide to pick up those notes without leaving the initial fingering position (6 fret stretch! Yes, you can do it, but it's like exercise man. Tuck Andress sometimes does like an 8 fret stretch to pick up a certain note; I know, he's a pro). So you don't literally have to always slide the whole hand with those kinds of scale patterns, but you haven't gotten that far to be able to do that yet, right? Stick to sliding the whole hand first, it'll improve your chord position playing up and down the neck.


Diagnonal Fretboard Playing

There's actually a huge advantage to a Diagonal scale approach. The fretboard scale approach covered above is all about parallel fretboard technique, playing across the fretboard from an anchored hand position. With the Diagonal approach, the goal is to continue the scale not across the fretboard in one position, but diagonally up or down the neck. With the Parallel approach you'll only cover about a two octave distance, but with the Diagonal 3 or more octaves can be played up the neck diagonally. The disadvantage with the Diagonal scale approach is that it requires a lot more position movement by the fretboard hand. But it's excellent for solo playing in a semi-linear fashion. You always know you're going up or down in note pitch, kind of like a keyboard player. The classical guitarist from Spain, Adres Segovia, has some scale exercises for learning to do this; might want to check 'em out.

See the graph below for an example of the G Major Scale played diagonally up the fretboard:


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Linear Scale Approach

Now this approach truly is linear. It's about playing the scale on just two or three strings up and down the neck. There's no doubt you'd be mimicking a keyboard player with this approach. Lots... of hand movement with this style. It's a style that opens up opportunity for a lot sliding into and out of notes, something that guitarists like Pat Metheny has mastered. I think it also promotes a very Melodic style of solo.



Intervals

An Interval simply means the distance between 2 Scale notes. Here's the whole note intervals of the C Major Scale:

1st to 2nd Scale Degree = Major 2nd
1st to 3rd " = Major 3rd
1st to 4th " = Perfect 4th
1st to 5th " = Perfect 5th
1st to 6th " = Major 6th
1st to 7th " = Major 7th
1st to 8th " = Octave

There's also notes in between those, called Accidentals. When the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th Scale notes are flatted, their called minor intervals. When the 4th and 5th are flatted they're called diminished or flatted intervals (like b5); when sharped they're called augmented intervals (like #4 or #5).


Double-Stops

When you play just two note intervals, it's called a Double-Stop (from an old violin term for stopping two string notes). You'll hear this quite a bit on country and rock guitar solos with a lot of slides into the notes covering a wide range on just two strings, going up or down the neck. Most often the interval of minor 3rds or 6ths are used...

Playing the C Major Scale in 6ths means playing the notes of the Scale while keeping an distance of a 6th between the notes, like: C-A, D-B, E-C, F-D, G-E, A-F, B-G. That's mostly done on two strings going up or down the neck, especially in country, pop, ,and rock (the Eagles used it a lot in solos and fills behind the vocals).

You can play any Scale Interval on two strings. Playing Octaves (8ths) is used a lot in Jazz, especially by '50's era guitarists like Wes Montgomery. Later Jazz guitarists like John Scofield uses interval playing quite a bit, both in solos and in comping behind another instrument. If your solos sound like there's not enough interest and the notes too close together, then throwing in some wider scale intervals like 6ths, 7ths, 9th, and 10ths, will definitely soup it up. To practice that, simply take the same Major Scale fingering patterns covered above, and play those scale notes in an interval fashion.