Why learn scales? This feels like an unnecessary question right? Scales are awesome! Just check out our other articles from the learning scales series:
OK all jokes aside, learning scales really is the most important and easiest route to soloing. My personal opinion is that scales start off boring to practice play. But this is the biggest differentiator for going from “good” to “great”! Playing great solos is what probably every musician (especially guitarists) wants to do right?!
When I look at many of my favourite rock guitar riffs, licks and solos they can be played using the minor scale. In some cases, you only need the minor pentatonic scale to get started.
So what does this mean? Well, it means that guitarists and musicians in general stick to one type of scale when writing a solo. When starting out you should do this as well. Of course, once you become more proficient you should explore all other options.
In this article, we're going to create some starting points for our solos. We'll be exploring different chord progressions and scales. Be sure to check out our guitar scales cheat sheet for all the scales you need. Also, if you want to find out what chords you can play or what sounds good together in each key, check out our handy tool “Decoder: Circle of Fifths."
Example in Am
This example will be in Am. Take a look at the circle of fifths and you'll see that the key of Am has no sharps or flats. To write our first solo we'll use the following chord progression: Am - G - F - G.
Since this progression is in A minor we can use the A minor scale or minor pentatonic. Let's choose A minor pentatonic as our scale.
OK, great so how do we begin writing? A useful technique is to simply outline the scale. This means that you'll play some of the scale tones going up and down. You especially want to play the important scale tones such as 1, 3 and 5. Here's what we came up with.
Let's repeat this phrase one more time to create a sense of cohesion. Now let's write a melody that goes in the opposite direction. This will create a sense of expansion.
To create a full unit of 4 phrases, you can either repeat our first melody or the 2nd one. An exercise that you can try at home is to play this melody in different scale positions.
Example in G Major
Let's continue with a chord progression in G major. What scale can we play? That's right the G major scale. The major scale has two scale degrees that are very important to its sound. These are the 4th and the 7th. So we'll be incorporating these into our next melody. If you want to learn more check out our book Scale Compass For Guitar. G - Em - C - D
This melody has a bright and happy sound but that's also what we can expect from a major scale. It slowly climbs its way up the 5th scale degree. The active rhythm gives it some extra life. Also, it prominently features the 4th and 7th scale degree. Which are the C and F#.
Example in C Lydian
This last example will be especially interesting for some of our advanced readers. Here we are going to enter into the world of musical modes. To refresh your memory, here is our handy scales formula overview:
The C Lydian mode is like a C major scale but with a raised 4th scale degree. The most important tones of the Lydian scale are 1 and #4.
Here simple but beautiful chord progression that we can use to write a Lydian melody/solo: C - Am - Bm
Let's use the same approach as our first example. We outline the Lydian scale and use repetition to create unity.
Now that we have repeated our first melody, it's time to write a contrasting one. We can do this by starting on a higher note. To create unity, you can either repeat this melody or repeat the first one.
