In this lesson we will be looking at a solo that incorporates a great melody and some other tools that will help you start learning how to play over simple chord progressions. This solo is probably considered to be an upper intermediate solo. You will need to know a few pentatonic scales as well as a few different arpeggios to pull this off this solo. Notice the vibrato lines on the tab. This solo presents a great opportunity to work on developing your own personal style of vibrato. We have provided you with the tab and sheet music. If you are not familiar with all of the characters on the tab, you can go to the lesson on how to read tab.
The solo starts of with a simple melody. If you need to, you can watch the video a few times to get the melody in your head. The first real lick of the solo comes in the eighth measure and is based off of a G Major pentatonic scale. In measure nine we are using a C Major 7 arpeggio over a C Major chord, and a D7 arpeggio over a D major chord. Licks like this, that use arpeggios to outline chord tones, are a great way to start playing over chord changes. Right after this lick the melody picks up again. The next lick occurs in measure six-teen. This is a lick uses a typical three note per string G pentatonic scale.
The B section of this solo starts on measure nine-teen. The melody is a bit slower and more lyrical. Use this as an opportunity to bring the intensity down and create some dynamics in the solo. In measure twenty-five we outline the A minor and B minor chords with A minor and B minor arpeggios. Measure twenty-six brings in a palm muted lick over the C Major chord and a D Major arpeggio over the D Major chord. The final lick of the solo begins in measure thirty-three. We are just using a longer version of the A minor and B minor arpeggios to outline the chord tones of the A minor and B minor chords. In measure thirty-four that same C major palm muted riff is used, followed by a D major arpeggio over the D major chord.
If you haven't played anything like this before, you might want to check out the lessons on arpeggios. After you get a few basic arpeggios under your fingers, you should have no problem with this solo. Use a drum machine or metronome if possible and make sure that it is set to 6/8 time. Take it slowly and remember that repetition is your best friend when it comes to learning something like this.
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