Soloing Basics. Part 1 - Soloing Pattern

If you have not mastered the art of note bending, slides, pull-offs and hammer-ons, you will probably have a difficult time with some of the topics discussed here. But read on anyway. I happen to have a personal disdain for the pentatonic scale. So while I will not dissuade anyone from using it nor dispute its usefulness, I will not be discussing it here. Let's say that your makeshift band is jammin' on a simple three chord warm up progression, Dm-C-Bb-C.

It's your turn to solo and what are you going to do? Based on the chord progression, we'll pick D minor as our soloing key of choice. I have always had luck memorizing a particular pattern and moving it around depending on the key. Here is the one that I use most and can use in any key major or minor. Here it is in our Dm position:

Pattern 1
E---l---l---l---l-x-l-x-l---l-x-l---l-r-l
B---l---l---l---l-x-l-R-l---l-x-l---l---l
G---l---l---l---l-x-l---l-r-l---l---l---l
D---l---l---l---l-x-l---l-x-l-x-l---l---l
A---l---l---l---l-r-l---l-x-l-R-l---l---l
E---l---l---l---l-x-l-x-l---l-x-l---l---l
  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

The RR'sS represent the root of the major key (F) and the Rr'sS represent the root in the minor key (D). Technically I suppose you could call this an F major scale in phrygian mode (beginning on the third, A). But I really don't. It's just a particular set of finger placements that are comfortable and reliable for soloing. Since when I solo I will be stressing the notes of the major and minor, the A phrygian is just a coincidence.

OK. Now we've got a scale to use. Notice that this scale contains all the notes of the chords being played. Like so:

D minor scale		D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C
Dm chord		D-F-A
C chord			C-E-G
Bb chord		Bb-D-F

Now when we solo (which you will remember is supposed to be a story within a story, not just a bunch of licks) we can really play any note in the scale and it will fit. It won't always sound good, but it will fit in some way. Here are two more positions of the same scale.

Pattern 2	(F major scale)
E---l---l-x-l---l-x-l-x-l---l---l---l---l
B---l---l-r-l---l-x-l-R-l---l---l---l---l
G---l-x-l-x-l---l-x-l---l---l---l---l---l
D---l-x-l-R-l---l-x-l---l---l---l---l---l
A-x-l---l-x-l---l-r-l---l---l---l---l---l
E-R-l---l-x-l---l-x-l---l---l---l---l---l
  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

Pattern 3	(D minor scale)
E---l---l---l(x)l---l-x-l-R-l---l-x-l---l
B---l---l---l(x)l-x-l---l-x-l---l-r-l---l
G---l---l---l-R-l---l-x-l---l-x-l---l---l
D---l---l---l-x-l---l-r-l---l-x-l---l---l
A---l---l---l-x-l---l-x-l-x-l---l---l---l
E---l---l---l-r-l---l-x-l-R-l---l---l---l
  7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15   16

(x) alternative fingerings to use if you want to stay in one position.

Notice that this is the D minor scale and that the D minor pentatonic scale is contained within this scale. Where did you think the pentatonic it came from?

If you link patterns 1, 2 and 3 together starting with the F on the E string 1st fret (pattern 2) you can move up and down the fretboard all the way to the 24th fret (if you have one) without leaving the patterns. Like this: (In TAB form)

E------------------------------------8-10-12--l
B---------------------------5-6-8/10----------l
G-------------------2/3-5-7-------------------l
D-------------2-3-5---------------------------l
A-------1-3-5---------------------------------l
E-1-3-5---------------------------------------l

E-13-12-10----------------------------13-15-17/18-l
B----------13-11-10----------13-15-17-------------l
G-------------------10-12-14----------------------l
D-------------------------------------------------l
A-------------------------------------------------l
E-------------------------------------------------l

E--20-18-17----------------------------18-20-22/24l
B-----------20-18-17----------18-20-22------------l
G--------------------19-17-19---------------------l
D-------------------------------------------------l
A-------------------------------------------------l
E-------------------------------------------------l

Try playing this slowly and smoothly hammering-on each ascending note, pulling-off each descending note, and sliding where notated. Stop at 20 if you don't have the upper frets, or if you get tired.

Now, the nice thing about remembering patterns is that the pattern works for any key; just change the position. Pattern 1 above starts on the third of the major scale. (remember it's only a pattern, not a phrygian scale). So the starting points on the low E string that I remember are:

C major/A minor		open
D major/B minor		2nd fret
E major/C# minor	4th fret
F major/D minor		5th fret (as above)
G major/E minor		7th fret
A major/F# minor	9th fret

We can find a few licks within each pattern that we can use to augment our solos. Like these:

Dm
E-----5-6-8-6-5---5-------l-8-----5--8-----5-8-10-l
B----6---------8-6--8-6-5-l--6---6----6---6-------l
G---7---------------------l---5-7------5-7--------l
D-------------------------l-----------------------l
A-------------------------l-----------------------l
E-------------------------l-----------------------l


E---------------------------5---5-6-5-6-8-6-8/10--l
B----------5--5-6-5-6-8-6-8---8-------------------l
G----7-5-7--7-------------------------------------l
D-------------------------------------------------l
A-------------------------------------------------l
E-------------------------------------------------l

Also notice as we put the patterns together and complete the major scale up the neck that the chords for the tune we're playing become available for licks. Like this:

Dm
E-5--------13-10-----l
B--6-------------10--l
G---7----------------l
D----7---------------l
A-----5--------------l
E--------------------l

C
E-8--------15-12-----l
B--8-------------13--l
G---9----------------l
D----10--------------l
A-----10-------------l
E-------8------------l

Bb
E-10-------13-10-----l
B--11------------11--l
G---10---------------l
D-----8--------------l
A--------------------l
E--------------------l

We can use these triads in our solos to really accentuate the chords and pull-off the triads in kind of a "Hotel California" "Sultans of Swing" solo kind of thing. Find a pattern that you like and that feels comfortable for your fingers and playing style. Then play it a thousand times. Have a friend play the chords over and over and try it out. Or play along with a tune in each key.

Comments

[Oswald]

I didnt understand anything of your lesson!

[Gossseb]

Bit confusing but not bad.

[ggirl12]

What? I have been playing for 9 moths and thay was the most confusing i have read. make it clear.

[lilius]

your article seems too hard to understand can you make simple?

[Rocker3829]

i'd appriciate it if you could make it a bit easier to read,

[Oswald]

Yes, make it easier to read!

[iMaiden]

Very usefull , but i wont start using it lol .. im just playing for 3 monhts, i understand what u mean and just read the article for fun , but i wont start with solo's yet .. hell no , not after reading this :P

[ensaepit]

i had no problems reading the article at all... very useful and informative... Thanks for the article.

[mongbrain]

how can u not understand this article. All you gotta do is read numbers with correspond to a certain fret and string...the same as any guitar tab. wtf?

[KuPo]

I think this stuff is great. FOr you guys out there that cant read tabs, i can understand that its confussing.

[perfec_circl]

Some of it was confusing, but overall it was good. I understood the majority of it.

[loxman]

thanks for the article, it seemed a little confussing at the the diagrams but once I got it, it was useful. Go to cyberfret.com under improve for lessons even retards could learn but, you'll probably have to go over the lessons a few times because it takes time to understand this skill. Anyways UG stranger go to stevevai.com and listen to the slip of his song bad horsie, this guys got a 7 mph alt.strum and has been ranked as one of the best guitarist in history. S H I T man! he became Frank Zappa's lead guitarist at the age of 14 so ay of you who feel like there bad-a s s because they can the solo to teen spirit or whatever need there pride strip from them and shoved up there a s s and noone will ever be able to solo like hendrix because he was a genius and none will be able to do the certain tech's he did or solo just like him because there not him

[stafford126]

fairly new at guitar .Dmlicks bit will try with sultans of swing thanx

[Koni]

This was a bit difficult for me to follow, but thanks for the effort. I'm going to try to digest it some more and try again.

[cloudsquall17]

all u have to do is practICE

[RANCIDFAN]

it was abit tricky but ive only been playing for 5months.but still good lesson otherwise and its good that someone has spent time putting that up

[luc-peters]

If you read it SLOWLY it's easy to understand!!!

[TOOL13]

The tabs at the end were cool but most of the stuff in the beginning, Ive never seen crazy diagrams with 1's all over em.

[Aslak87]

Make a video example of the lesson...

[charger356]

dude, i have been playing guitar for about 6 months and i have just recently learned to read sheet music. how am i supposed to know all these musical terms? i thought this was supposed to be "soloing basics"... if you really want to make a useful lesson, make a "musical term dictionary". simple as that

[Empyrium88]

The Guitar Grimoire
gri-moire, book of magical formulas
go buy it and make use of your playing

[LordSephiroth]

I had to go through and delete over 20 or 30 stupid comments here. If you don't have any constructive comments, then do not comment. If you want to discuss something or talk, goto the forums or chatroom, but do not do it under comments.

[jetman_james]

the lesson is good if you understand that the "l" is a fret, the "r" is the root note and the "x" is the other notes in the scale

[Guitar Basher]

good but more details, confusing most people that read this.

[IntlManOfMisery]

This was good, but your diagrams were ***ed i think the fret numbering went wrong o/s

[South Paw]

it was ok, nothing special, everyone reading this should just get lessons, i been takin a while now, one of the best guitarists in my county. lessons and theory is the key.

[Remebol]

bah, see i have easy ass time thinking of some neat riff right,, and easer time thinking of harmony stuff, but solos just take the cake, i never know where to begin, and i am sure |---x-x|--x--r--x|xx--x|s
-| is not were i begin... so ya.. thanks

[Remebol]

well i guess the hardest part for soloing for me is, how the *** to get into them lol

[Remebol]

ok actualy, i under stand it, i think every one that didnt not under stand it. should really reconcider learning the basics about traids/chords/diminished/
aug/all that shit...i think this was a good lesson, let me sum up what he is saying: instead of pentatonic usage (last lesson), u can take the rhythm of the song , and figure out the different scales u use and what not, and use the scales of ur song, to creat a back bone to ur solos.

[dimebag_andy]

Nice lesson but i had difficulty reading the 1x1x1x1 part explain please, but i have just picked up my guitar for the first time in awhile and i dint have a High e string so i couldnt play your really nice solo scales.

[stm]

This is top of the range material and will get me well underway with my soloing and improvisation.

[TheNextEdVH]

christ can u make it any more confusing?

[oshonlie]

what was that

[fu man chu]

ug stranger needs to shut the hell up and find himself a girl cause he's annoying the hell out of me, any way i dident underdtand all the weird ass tabs at the beginning of the lesson plz help p.s. pretty good lesson overall

[rae_5000i]

very basic dude. very helpful too (if you're not that stupid to read diagrams.) kids, just remember that you can play any note within the scale. The pentatonic scale just takes the burden of you hittin a "bad" note. Peace ya'll!

[Out Ta Get Me]

THIS IS SO SIMPLE

[dwnbowden]

what the hell did the diagrams mean

[Lizuk]

Okay...I didn't understand a thing from all that patterns....

[p0204619]

hey cool lesson, now i know scales on guitar hahaha but i dont understand why u go two levels up and 1 level down on the pattern. (as a guide maybe?)

[xoixtoyx]

um you cant hit a bad note. we went over this in guitar class... as long as you stay in the key then whatever you play will sound good. but i guess it a certain note could sound "bad" to some people.

[gtwiz66]

not bad but ill pick it up

[Guitar ace]

this exact lesson is on olga.... can anyone say playgerism? also this lesson sucked

[omgitscj]

It could be the same guy...

[P_WiseGuy]

i thought it was a very usefull, i think everyone that is bitching should have to realize that if you really want to play the guitar, your gonna have to learn this shit, and just cause you dont understand it doesnt mean its stupid, dumb asses

[omgitscj]

it would be easier to readi if he put "o" instead of "x" when he was making the position that would make it easier to read. I admit I got lost but it was later in the page. And yes if you want to make songs and solos you need to know this stuff.

[Pertoleum]

im more confused than in science class

[pink_guitarist]

ur pattern 1 is a phrygian mode scale

[liam177lewis]

same here, jesus get a life man... lesson pretty heavy-giong, please could people stick to normal tabs... y'know, the ones most people can read, a lot of my friends keep moaning to me about it...

[omgitscj]

Ok I can understand it all now and it is good and I can move on to #2

[omgitscj]

I gave you a 5....

[14GreenDay]

0 023 97 5 575 3 0 /12
i like this riff

[kelz101]

i didnt understand any of the written stuff, but all the tabs were wonderful n i really like the way the sound even tho my guitars kinda broke n untuned right now. good job.

[deadroseromance]

Hey good lesson. This type of lesson is probably more for people who actually understand music and can intrepret chord diagrams into soloing patterns to fit music. I give it a 5, people who don't understand this most likely have no good musical experience to understand chord layouts lol. Good work

[deadroseromance]

I don't see how people find it so hard to understand... it's really simple and makes soloing even simpler. A method i use that is very similar to this is "Boxed Soloing".

[dopeydayle]

what the hell? lol

[eedee_rocker]

Sorry dude but this doesn't make a lick of sense. Why doesn't someone make a simple lesson involving the actual basics like a few simple penatonic scales, like the only one I know the Natural Minor Scale instead of all this crap about C minor and A major conjoining to do this crap and all that.

[tango2150]

this was really useful! so good, if you know how to play guitar and youve had at least a little experence with scales (mine consisted of learning the A major scale) or even can just read properly withour prior negative opinion,this guide will help you

[Reggy]

Im pretty sure I have read this in a book, the line '(which you will remember is supposed to be a story within a story, not just a bunch of licks)' is clearly referencing something that was written before, thats why this lesson is a little hard to understand, its taken completely out of context. Not a good idea really to just rip something off from someone else blatently, sure people need the information, who may not have access to it otherwise, but passing it off as your own....oh dear.

[Reggy]

Im almost 100% sure the book was called 'Guitar on tap' by Joe Bennett

[ESP Guy]

I agree with dopeydayle

[rev_olie]

i dont know wethr tht was confusin or not cos i fell asleep after the first paragraph cos it rambled. o n then read it again n agree with most. my head hurts but hey nice try :o

[METAL4LYF]

i dont understand what ur digrams are about but i know wat ur talking about.
Hendrix was high, sry no offence

[celluloid]

Hey people out there! It's really quite confusing. If you really want to learn soloing just search to yahoo and type "guitar lead pattern" and im sure you'll gonna love it. Happy New Year!!

[Sk8_4_liberty93]

it was okay but why do people have to use the o's in that weird diagram?

[Tenacious D'er]

Why do people use '1' instead if '|' as a break between frets and after string names in Tabs...?

[redhavok]

DUDE HERES AN IDEA, USE " | " INSTEAD OF " 1 ". IT JUST LOOKS LIKE JUMBLED BULLSHIT

[Guitar-Nooby]

GUNS N ROSES!!!!!

[metal-fury]

Interesting article. The '1's in the tab make the diagrams difficult to interpret - probably not helped by he black background on the page. The later Tab diagrams are much clearer.

I'm going to re-read it again and try it when I get home - it'll be interesting to try something that isn't pentatonic.

[Shabalaba]

I understand it, but it is hard to follow at times.

[leftyomama]

pretty good i understood after a while

[Lix!!]

Good stuff man, Rock on!!