1 Simple Hack How to play a guitar solo in any key and not screw up

Guitar solos can sound really bad without this piece in place.

Not all scales fit to every song or background chords.

That means you cannot just take any random scale and start playing it wherever.

You will most likely not create the music you want to.

Guitarist playing a solo on stage

How to get started.

Take a scale shape that you know the name of, for example A minor pentatonic.

The first shape starts on the A note on the fifth fret on the low E-string.

If your song or backing track is in A minor, you can start jamming now and you will sound pretty fitting most of the time.

The A minor pentatonic has 4 more shapes though.

Those shapes are all connected in a fixed pattern:

The first note of the next scale starts on the second note of the previous shape.

This never changes.

For example the second shape of the A minor pentatonic starts on the 8th fret on the low E-string.

But now let’s change keys to B minor.

That means the general notes and chords are built on the B minor scale.

Since the interval (the tonal distance) between the A and the B note is a whole step, two frets on the guitar, all you have to do is:

Move ALL scale shapes up by two frets.

If you want to know how scales and keys are built, wait for my next article.

The first shape starts now on the 7th fret, the second shape now starts on the 10th fret.

I leave it up to you to find the start positions of the other shapes.

The way to get this into your fingers now is:

Learn where all the notes are on the E-string so you know where to place your fingers when somebody shouts “We’re playing this in E-minor!”

But that is not where it stops.

It is a good idea to over time get independent of only finding the notes on the low E-string and get used to finding all scale shapes regardless of which string you want to start on.

For that matter, you should also try to practice your pentatonic licks horizontally, ALONG the fretboard, on one string or on two or three strings.

If you want to learn how to do this and many other things:

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