Solo Guitar
Learning solo guitar is pretty easy as well as a lot of fun. If you start by remembering the pattern you see in the diagram you will be on your way to getting your solo playing started solo guitar.
The pentatonic scale is used by everybody and so can you just by remembering this simple pattern. It is known as box 1 which is a group of 5 that we will cover as we move through learning to solo.
The pentatonic scale is made up of 5 notes, but you don’t even need to know this as we get you started. This shape you see can be moved and down the fret board to suite the key your playing in. The name of the key comes from the route note which is the R in red. Where you place this is the key your playing in. Sound easy? I hope so! The key comes from the not on the thick E string that you start the pattern on.
—– EF – G – A – BC – D – EF —–
Notes on the Fret board
Lets start with the basics. The thick string is the E string. Starting at the nut the notes are as above. There are some pairs of notes that are always next to each other like B & C plus E & F. Generally the notes are on every second fret as you move down the fret board with the exception again of B/C and E/F.
The first fret to the 12 fret is one octave. You may think of this a s the first level of notes. These notes then repeat from the 12th fret to the last fret. If the guitar has 24 frets then you have two octaves or levels.
Its like having 2 guitars in one. The nut to the double dots you see are the first octave then the double dots to the end make up the second octave.
Whats an Octave?
The first octave is the pitch of a note. When you sing : Do Ray Me Far So La Tee Doe, your singing one octave. Its simply represents the same step the first 12 frets on your guitar. If you can sing the next step of: Do Ray Me Far So La Tee Doe then that’s the second octave. This is the double dots to the end of the fret board.
Why is this important? If your playing a solo in Am then the root note is at the 5th Fret. If you play the notes as you see them then they will fit in with the music you are hearing. If you move up or down it will sound wrong. Now that you can play at the 5th fret in the first octave of the guitar you can move up to the 17th fret and find the 2nd “A” note on the E string. Here you can play as well and it will be much higher in pitch but it will fit just fine. The patter just repeats again.
24 Frets – What does it all mean?
Lets look at the guitar above. This is a beautiful Paul Read Smith or PRS guitar. It has 24 frets on the fret board. From the nut you can see the twin lightening bolts which indicates the 12th fret. If you look further towards the body you will see a second set of lightening bolts. This indicates the second Octave where you can solo.
Guitars vary in how many frets they have. Gibson Les Paul’s often have 22 where Fender guitars often have 21 frets. The extra couple frets don’t make a big difference to many players but if your a solo guitar player then those couple extra can be the additional cream to your soaring guitar solo.
Solo Guitar – Practice
The next step is simple! You need to play solo guitar with the little box of notes over a backing track to get started.
There are some amazing guitar backing tracks available so I’ll put one here for you to start. This is in Am so start with your first finger on the 5th fret and have a play with the notes you have in this Am Pentatonic Box 1 as we all know it.
Blues in Am
The three Am Pentatonic boxes above will get playing solo guitar fast. Start playing the Am backing track and get the guitar in your hands.
I recommend starting using the first pattern at the 5th fret. The next step is using the 12th fret position which differs a little. The 3rd step is jump up to the 17th fret which is at A in the second octave. Have some fun – You cant go wrong giving this a go.
In future posts we will learn the techniques that make soloing great like sliding, string bending both up and down, vibrato and much more. Just get that guitar out and start soloing.
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