Just felt like sharing this technique which i recently understood or rather i am still strugling to understand it more deeply. 1st Technique:- Follow the chord changes and play ur licks starting and ending on the notes of the particular chord for that particular bar. Now doin this we need to stick to a particular scale. lets take an example in the C Major scale C D E F G A B C Our common progression C Am F G We have to improvise or play a lead on this chord progression. Starting chord C - notes - C E G Start ur lick based on any of this notes and end it on any of these notes. This will help the lick to gel along well with the chord that is being played in the background. I prefer using pentatonic scales 5 positions for playing leads and improvising. So since Am is relative minor of C Major . Am pentatonic can be played for all the above mentioned chords in the progression.Similarly follow for the remaining chords. This is one technique of playing the lead. 2nd Technique:- Now here modes come into the picture. Lets take an example in the E major Scale. E F# G# A B C# D# Major chords - E A B Minor Chords - F#m G#m C#m Diminished chord - D#dim Progression used - E C#m A B (dont know how it will sound coz i dont hav my guitar to play and hear it right now. Just took random chords to explain the theory) Every Scale has 7 modes - Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrain Lets start wit the E chord in the above progression. Now as per the understanding from the 1st technique we can use the E major Scale or the C#m pentatonic scale for creating the lick for E chord. Similarly for C#m we can use C#m minor pentatonic. E - E major scale or E major pentatonic or C#m pentatonic can be used C#m - E major scale or E major pentatonic or C#m pentatonic can be used - A - F#Minor pentatonic can be used since F# is relative minor of A. This is a Dorian Mode of E major Scale B - G#m pentatonic can be used since g#m is relative minor of B. This is a Phrygian mode of the E major scale. C#m pentatonic - C# E F# G# B (1 3 4 5 7) F#m pentatonic - F# A B C# E G#m pentatonic - G# B C# D# F# In all the above Minor pentatonics all the notes fall under the E major scale and none of them is OFF note. The conclusion from this technique is WHEN YOU HAVE A MAJOR CHORD in a progression USE the MAJOR PENTATONIC OR THE RELATIVE MINOR PENTATONIC. This way u will get an idea how the modes are constructed and how they sound and thus giving ur Solo a very Decent professional touch . This holds true for other scales as well. 1st technique differs from the 2nd technique coz in 1st one we restricted ourselves to a particular scale whereas in other technique we actually used different scales(Modes). I hope i hav not complicated things over here .
great dude......finally someone...has postedthis nd i am very happy...... jus wanted to noe......when to use bends,double stops and vibratos.....to make the solo sound little more interesting??
You definitely have made it more complicated. The minor pentatonic scale IS NOT the same as any mode of a major scale. Sticking to the major or minor pentatonic scale is a "safe" way to play but it isn't necessarily more professional sounding. Using modes is a little more complex than how you've put it and requires further understanding of scales and intervals. @satrimaniac: There is no rule as to when to use bends double stops and vibratos. You can use them wherever you feel like. Generally notes held out for long sound good with some vibrato.
the simplest way is to feel n play... U myt make a composition perfect according to the rules, but it needs to carry the idea wt u want to present... Simply sticking to scales will create very mediocre music... Pour in yr emotions in the melody... Or there r still rules fr creating a composition fr a particular feel but dat makes it all d more complex...
