We've all been there...you're jammin' with some dudes and in the middle of the tune the bass player gives you the nod to take your solo. What do you do? Every moment you wait makes you look like more of an amateur. Quick, what key am I in? What are the chord changes? What scale? What mode? What's my name? What's the capital of South Dakota? Damn...damn...damn!

Well, let's make sure this never happens by preparing ourselves with today's lesson:

Soloing basics.

A few notes before we start.

If you have not mastered the art of note bending, slides, pull-offs and hammer-ons, you will probably have a difficult time with some of the topics discussed here. But read on anyway.

I happen to have a personal disdain for the pentatonic scale. So while I will not dissuade anyone from using it nor dispute its usefulness, I will not be discussing it here.

Let's say that your makeshift band is jammin' on a simple three chord warm up progression, Dm-C-Bb-C.

It's your turn to solo and what are you going to do?

Based on the chord progression, we'll pick D minor as our soloing key of choice.

I have always had luck memorizing a particular pattern and moving it around depending on the key. Here is the one that I use most and can use in any key major or minor. Here it is in our Dm position:

Pattern 1
E---l---l---l---l-x-l-x-l---l-x-l---l-r-l
B---l---l---l---l-x-l-R-l---l-x-l---l---l
G---l---l---l---l-x-l---l-r-l---l---l---l
D---l---l---l---l-x-l---l-x-l-x-l---l---l
A---l---l---l---l-r-l---l-x-l-R-l---l---l
E---l---l---l---l-x-l-x-l---l-x-l---l---l
  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

The RR'sS represent the root of the major key (F) and the Rr'sS represent the root in the minor key (D).

Technically I suppose you could call this an F major scale in phrygian mode (beginning on the third, A). But I really don't. It's just a particular set of finger placements that are comfortable and reliable for soloing. Since when I solo I will be stressing the notes of the major and minor, the A phrygian is just a coincidence.

OK. Now we've got a scale to use. Notice that this scale contains all the notes of the chords being played. Like so:

D minor scale D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C Dm chord D-F-A C chord C-E-G Bb chord Bb-D-F

Now when we solo (which you will remember is supposed to be a story within a story, not just a bunch of licks) we can really play any note in the scale and it will fit. It won't always sound good, but it will fit in some way.

Continues here: http://www.guitar.com/learning/Lessons/Lessons/soloing_basics.txt