Hello, This lesson is about guitar soloing. If you are better than beginner, but not quite "advanced" yet, then I would suggest going about half way through the lesson to part 2 about fills, otherwise, if you are a beginner, read along. Advanced players, this is probably not the lesson for you.
1. Progression
So, the guitar is now known to be popular in Rock Music, and occasionally Pop music, but it started in music known as the blues. A lot of what you hear in rock music originated from the blues, such as those progressions. Here is one you might hear a lot.
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------------------------------------------------------------
D|------------------7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7---------------------------------------
A|-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----
E|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-------------------3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-----
That is a pretty basic A D G A progression. But you know what, we can turn this progression into something amazing. So play this progression, and as we learn, keep adding stuff on. This Lesson may get harder and harder, just take it easy, and do what you know you can, try the other stuff. If anything gets too hard, I'd suggest slowing it down, and building up until you can play it at the desired tempo.
So, The Chords are A, to D, to G, and back to A. For those of you who don't know, those are power chords in the tablature I showed above.
The Actual chord progression goes something like this.
A D G A
E|-0----2----3----0---------------
B|-2----3----3----2---------------
G|-2----2----0----2---------------
D|-2----0----0----2---------------
A|-0---------2----0---------------
E|-----------3--------------------
Those are called open chords, most open chords are easy for beginners to form and play. In rock music, open chords are acceptable, and even used in certain songs as an easier way to get the desired sound. But in a lot of songs, Chords are used that are known as Barre Chords. Barre chords require you to use a finger (Index) to hold down more than one fret. Chords such as F, or B, require a Barre, and no open Chords exist to play them. Here are all the Barre chords in the position of E.
Note: all Barre chords are open chords positions, your just changing the open fret to a held fret.
E F G A B C D E
E|-0--1--3--5--7--8---10--12---
B|-0--1--3--5--7--8---10--12---
G|-1--2--4--6--8--9---11--13---
D|-2--3--5--7--9--10--12--14---
A|-2--3--5--7--9--10--12--14---
E|-0--1--3--5--7--8---10--12---
Those barre chords can be tricky to master, but are well worth the practice. Not only do they provide a richer, and easier to identify sound, but they show you more about the scale of a chord, which brings us to the next part of the lesson. Notice how the first tab was power chords, but then the open chords were on a totally different part of the neck. That is because a power, or 5th chords uses the root note and 5th note. Those can be done in open chords, but are much easier to find in barre chords. Usually a barre chord will go 1 5 1, and that right there is your power or 5th chord. So learning what and where barre chords are, will in the long run help your lead and note reading skills later on.
2. Scales
Scales are used in guitar soloing, and also in many popular riffs. Some songs that I would suggest looking into for great scale work are.
Carry on Wayward son. Kansas
Texas Flood (Advanced). Stevie Ray Vaughn
While my Guitar Gently Weeps (Intermediate). The Beatles
Anyway, scales can play an important part in learning how to do guitar fills, and improvisation. So, here are some easy and movable scales.
E Major E Minor E Pentatonic
D|-------------1-2-| D|-------------1-2-| D|-------------0-2-|
A|-------0-2-4-----| A|-------0-2-4-----| A|-------0-1-2-----|
E|-0-2-4-----------| E|-0-2-3-----------| E|-0-2-3-----------|
Those are 3 of the most common scales used in music. You can move then up and down the fretboard. Try it, See if you can play then in F, G, A, B. See if you can make it all the way up an octave to the next E note. Try them, see what types of little licks and riffs you can make.
Rock Guitar in some cases, has guitar fills. A guitar fill is where you improvise within the key of the song to make what some call a small solo, or lick. Guitar licks can be slow, and very few notes, or fast with alot of notes jammed in there, but really all that matters is how you feel in the song, and how well you keep the lick in key. For good guitar licks, Listen to guitarists Like Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the list is endless. Alot of the blues guitarists have made great use of liks over the years. Here are a few ways to get started on guitar licks. Don't worry beginners, those bends and vibrato just take some getting used to. They are great techniques, and any guitarist playing Rock or Blues need to have them in their arsenal.
E|-------3-6b8-6-3-5b6-|------------|-------------------------------|
B|-----3---------------|------------|------10b12v-10----------------|
G|-5b7-----------------|------------|-9-11-----------11----9b11v----|
D|---------------------|-------7v---|-------------------11----------|
A|---------------------|------------|-------------------------------|
E|---------------------|-3-4-5------|-------------------------------|
Those are all fills in different keys. The first and second ones are in G, and the last one is in E. Now, don't go and think you can memorize these fills and be set, go out on your own and learn those scales, or atleast the notes of the chords, and where they are. These are just examples, but there are so many more possibilities for chords and fills, and progressions. It just can't be described. Learn Fills and come back for lesson 2 coming soon.
This concludes part 1. Part 2. will be coming soon as requested. I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and I hope I helped. I know I am not always the most organized or the best, but I try. Thanks.
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