by Darren Senn

Created on: June 05, 2008

For a guitar player, there are few experiences in this life that can rival the thrill of improvising a killer solo. Improvisation is the essence of truly living in the musical moment. This topic is very broad, so I am going to focus on using the minor pentatonic scale as a launch pad for improvising solos because of its versatility. I like to introduce basic concepts that provide a foundation for you to eventually teach yourself much more of what you want to learn. Therefore, we'll take a very basic look at soloing over a standard twelve bar blues progression. This employs the three major chords of a key, the I, IV and V. If I do my job, hopefully the light bulbs will start turning on for you and you'll be able to expand upon the knowledge you gain to begin teaching yourself!

STEP ONE: LEARN THE SCALE AND WHERE THE ROOT NOTES ARE LOCATED

We'll use the key of A as an example and break down the "pattern 1" A minor pentatonic scale spanning between the fifth and eighth frets. If you are not at all familiar with the scale, do an Internet search and you will soon find it. In brief, there are two notes per string. On the sixth string (low E), they are at the fifth and eighth frets; on the fifth, fourth and third strings they are at the fifth and seventh frets; and on the first two strings they are again at the fifth and eighth frets. There are three A notes in this scale, one on the sixth string, one on the fourth string and one on the first string at frets five, seven and five respectively.

STEP TWO: USE THESE ROOT NOTES TO CONSTRUCT YOUR SOLO

Now, say you're playing a standard twelve bar blues tune in the key of A and it's time to take a solo. Pretty much any note in the scale will work at any point in the progression, but certain notes work better at certain times. At the top of the twelve bar blues in A, we'll be playing an A chord (the I chord). If you aren't sure where to begin your solo, why not slide into the A note on the fourth string, seventh fret? Start with your ring finger at the fifth fret and slide up to the seventh fret. This note emphasizes the A chord, making it a very safe, if not excellent choice. From there, use your ear and hit a couple other scale notes surrounding that A, but come back to that A note at the starting of each bar beginning with the A chord. Enjoy the freedom of building your own lick, but be sure and come home to that A note for some structure and emphasis. You'll be surprised at what will happen. Leading off with the root inspires

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