Lead Guitar Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Jon explains and improvises using the C Lydian scale. Notice that not all the scale tones are used right away. Notice further that the same notes can be found in several places on the neck.

This is a solo trading exercise. Trade licks with Jon every 4 measures. If you can keep up and make it sound like a musical conversation, you'll know you have it mastered.

One of the best tips I can pass along that will almost instantly make you sound better is learning how to tweak the third of the scale. In a blues we are very often playing over a dom7 chord which contains a natural 3rd. The minor pentatonic scale contains a flat 3rd. This is a potential problem as those two notes are a 1/2 step apart and can really be unpleasant. To remedy this we can bend the flat 3rd to either the natural 3rd or the ever cool quarter step bend. Getting control over this bend it essential to playing guitar, not just blues. Like everything, we need to consciously practice this. There are so many subtle ways to play it and they can all sound different. I find it endlessly fascinating.

PRINCIPLE 44 - ROCK STYLE SOLO’S

With the diversity of rock music being what it is these days how do we define what rock lead guitar soloing is all about? Well, it would be subjective at best but we can look at some typical approaches, scales, arpeggios and techniques used by the modern rock guitarist.

I’ve put together a classic rock progression that will allow us to play modally using a variety of scales and arpeggio’s including the major / minor pentatonic scales, the blues scale, major scale and even the harmonic minor scale.

Let’s check that out!

So far we’re six modes into our 13 count and we’ve covered the major modes that truly matter. For the rest of course we’re going to explore modes outside the diatonic system. In fact, every scale but the last two will be modes from the other two systems that matter--melodic minor and harmonic minor. Starting with the parent scale we look at the melodic minor system first. The formula for melodic minor is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7.

The melodic minor scale, in a classical context, runs a unique course. While it ascends as the formula just stated, it descends as a natural minor scale. In the context we’re are going examine it in, which is the one that matters for modern applications in improvising, the scale formula will not change under any circumstances. What goes up will come down just the same. In some circles playing melodic minor in this way calls for identifying it as "jazz minor" to distinguish between the two.

The next two segments will throw melodic minor into a funk jam and a fusion setting. As you’ll soon hear melodic minor has a quirky quality to its sound and will serve as a very cool alternative to other more common minor applications.

The first thing you may notice in this kick-off melodic minor jam is you're not playing over a minor chord. Instead you have lone a sus4 chord. Sus chords, when subbing for minor chords allow you to play whatever minor scale sound you want making this a perfect vehicle for you to not only to test out melodic minor, but also play other minor applications against it for comparison. If you take this hint be sure to take advantage of this and pit the melodic minor scale against Dorian (just a matter of adjusting the 7th degree) as that makes a great combo to bounce from one to other.