In this video, I show you one of the easiest and most fun ways of learning to play a guitar solo. We'll cover the scale shape, a jam-track for it, and I'll teach you an easy solo that you can learn to play in minutes. 

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GUITAR SOLOING:
If can’t play guitar solos, or if scale shapes are still confusing for you - well, rest assured you have come to the right place... 

In this video, I’m going to introduce to you a highly functional pattern that can be used to play guitar solos very quickly and easily. 

In this video, we’re going to cover an easy shape on the neck, and we’ll also cover how you can get a lot of mileage out of this pattern - whether you’re playing it ascending or descending.

Plus, to get you soloing right now, (in this video), I’m going to give you a great sounding jam-track, and along with that - we are also going to break down a sample guitar solo that you can practice and learn within minutes.

By the end of this video, you’re going to have a scale shape, a Jam-Track and you’re going to have a solo that you’re going to be able to play.

Coming up next, I’m going to break down a nice descending version of our shape. Plus, we’ll also learn a jam-track to use this shape over and I’ll teach an easy solo as well… 

But first, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that I have for a collection of some of the most popular handouts that I use here in my studio, it’s my; Handouts Collection eBook.

The cool thing is that this idea (of learning a layout ascending and descending) this approach can offer us a few more options when it comes to using our scale shape... 

Now, speaking of the practicing and playing of this shape, let’s next learn a backing track that I’ve put together for you so that you can have a solid practice progression that will help you to integrate, as well as, actually start using this scale.

Example 03).
The Jam-Track Progression 

The last thing that I'm going to get into here is something that most practicing musicians will often skip over, (or sometimes a student who is studying a scale just unfortunately doesn’t really put enough work into this). 

What I’m talking about is learning and practicing how to take a scale and use it to both compose and improvise a melody, or a guitar solo.

In the final example, I want you to learn a short guitar solo that applies the notes of the scale that we’ve made a study of in this lesson. 

Take your time learn the fingering and develop the rhythm and the dynamics of this part so that the solo feels natural when you play it along with the jam-track.

For those who are not sure what a Scale Overlay is or what the term means then let's start there. A "scale overlay" is a guitar diagrammatic image of a scale on the fingerboard that includes the notes of two scales simultaneously. 

When we do an "overlay" we are not doing any note replacement with the scale, but rather we are including all of the tones from two different scales to be able to see the core differences.

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Some teachers might have you believe that seeing any kind of progress after viewing a scale overlay cannot occur. And, if we were pursuing that one result, they'd pretty much be correct.

However, what is more important about the overlay process is how a scale overlay will offer a musician something of a shortcut to cherry-pick the exact notes that end up producing a change to the overall sound.

For our example, the Major sound will be highlighted and the we will isolate a new series of notes that produce the Minor sound.Our goal will be to know what notes specifically operate to produce the difference in color from major to minor.

The best part about this exercise is that all that you’ll need to do is focus on this information once. The fact of the matter is, if you’ve ever tried to make sense of major and minor scales but you ran into problems, then you need to know this information. 

If you cannot make sense of scales and you’re an older guitar player, then you need to learn about this concept known as the Major and Minor Parallel scales. 

THE FIRST WAY WE LEARN SCALES:
When we are younger (and we don't yet know anything much about scales), we will typically learn about them by way of how the scale "functions" within a song as a shape. 

We won't necessarily learn how the scale functions in regard to music theory, or how the scale is related to the key signature of the underlying music, but more so how the scale actually sits upon the neck geometrically, (as a shape). Study the scale shapes shown below;

fig. (1). "C Major" scale:

fig. (2). "C Minor" scale:

fig. (3). "C Major and Minor" Pattern Overlay:

NOTE LEGEND: 

• Red dots = Root Notes (examples show "C")
  
• Blue dots =  2nd, 4th and 5th (static tones - no change)
  
• Orange dots = Core Major tones (create Major)
  
• Purple dots = Core Minor tones (create Minor)
  

SONG LEARNING:
Songs are critical for learning most of our early principles on the guitar, (technique, rhythm, note locations, etc.). When it comes to learning scales we will tend to take a small piece of a scale that we learned from a song and use it in very generic ways. The application of those tones is often very limited.

Normally, we won’t fully comprehend how that “piece” of a scale we learned from a song truly  works with regard to theory, (or even more so, why that piece of the scale worked where it was played). Rather, we tend to only focus on how the scale sits on the guitar neck and how it sounds when it is used in a simple manner.

TONALITY:
To further you playing skill and your musical knowledge, we will need to study how you can understand the most common scale concept on Earth, the "Major and Minor" tonality. 

Tonality is actually quite simple. It is the "color" of whether a scale section being employed is of the effect of Major or Minor in a musical phrase. 

If "Major" is in use, we have the tones shown above in "fig. 1." But, if "Minor" is applied, we will see a shift occur. That shift will be involving the use of a new group of notes that promote the minor effect. In our example above (see fig. 2), these notes will be, "Eb, Ab and Bb."

MAJOR and MINOR:
Using the parallel major and minor idea is something that takes time (and skill). For a guitarist to be able to make sense of using both major and minor musical sound it all starts with being able to properly hear the effect of these scales and how they are functioning in a musical sense. 

Let's begin by using a very simple practice technique that will allow you to bring in the color of each major and minor sound. Plus, we can use this technique to be able to start creating music with these different sounds.

PARALLEL MAJOR /MINOR (2-BAR):

Example 1). The first example that I want to go over is based upon applying the sound of both the major scale notes and the minor scale notes across 4 measures, but the shift will cover 2-bars, (allowing for plenty of time to change notes). 

In the example below, the major scale will work for measures one and two (on the “C” Major Chord), and the Minor notes will need to be added on the 3rd and 4th measures to cover the “Ab” Major chord. Play through the example below.

The final exercise is going to go over switching between scale tones faster. This time, we’ll switch between Major and Minor scale notes on every measure across a four bar progression. 

Doing this is a little more challenging, but if you take your time and learn the notes that have to change, you’ll find that the sound will become more manageable and it will also start to become easier to do.

Example 2). The final exercise applies the sound of both the major scale notes and minor scale notes but it will switch them on every measure. 

In the example below, the major scale will work for measure one, (on the “C” Major Chord), and the Minor notes will need to be applied on measure two, (for the “Eb Major” chord). 

The Major notes will have to come back on measure three (for the “F Major” chord). And finally, you’ll need to apply the Minor scale notes on that last measure (to cover the “Ab Major”). 

IT STARTS WITH OBSESSION:
Your obsession for music, (and for playing the guitar) is no less important in your practice routine than learning all of your scales and arpeggios. 

In fact, your level of obsession might even be more important because it promotes the development of your best belief system for practicing guitar.

In this post, (and its accompanying video), I will show you the value of how by not paying attention to the strength of your limiting beliefs and philosophies it will in-turn help you to create more options. 

I'll also cover areas and philosophies that could be preventing you from making the most out of; your study time, the way that you're composing, and how you do transcription.

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10x BETTER:
We’re kicking off our 10x Better Series by discussing a few powerful ways that you can change your playing and your practice habits to help make a serious move toward better; commitment to your musical studies, and to become better focused on the music that you’re playing, (both as you practice and as you’re performing). 

We will also discuss how to improve your musical memory in a way that will help you to be able to more rapidly memorize lines and get the music that you’re performing into your mind at a much deeper level. 

That includes getting your eyes away from sheet-music, (that you may be relying on – sometimes a little too much) and having the music become more burned into your memory. All this will go a long way to help you create a better and a more automatic musical performance. 

Let’s start into this, BUT just before we do, I want to ask you to please comment below as you go through this post. Let others know about the things that have helped you the most in becoming a better guitar player and a better all around musician!

MUSICAL OBSESSION:
One of the first things that you need to focus on is getting yourself to develop an Obsession for both learning about music and for playing the guitar. 

This might sound like it’s really obvious, but the bottom line is that; most students rarely have a really high focus on wanting to improve their skills up to a serious level. 

Say the following statement out loud to yourself; 

“I want to become the best guitar player that I can possibly be.” 

When a musician has a persistent preoccupation with either the idea or with the feeling of being absolutely compelled and motivated to the point of obsession, they learn to naturally develop an avoidance to things that will cause them to miss their goals.

Musicians can either; go down the wrong path, or have bad results, or negative results, or have their time wasted away with pointless activities. All of these things will become a long-term issue when it comes to improving playing skills. 

Think of it this way, if you want to develop a serious playing and practicing approach, start by developing an obsession for music and for the guitar. 

You’ll find that obsession will improve your focus ten-fold and your playing skills will form much faster than as if music and guitar were only something that you considered to be, "kind of" fun or just, "sort of" interesting.

Coming up next, I’m going to discuss the benefits of finding a balance between options and commitment.

But first, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that I have for a collection of some of the most valuable handouts that I have here at my studio, it’s my; Handouts Collection eBook.

CONSIDER MORE OPTIONS:
There’s a powerful balance that exists for musicians who are able to find options when they are studying anything that involves music or their instrument, (especially when it comes to performance). 

A dedicated music student, (with the ability to analyze their options), can scrutinize a musical task and compartmentalize the task so that they remain relaxed and never feel rushed.

PRO-TIP:   Know how to create the opportunity for more time, and understand the need to practice and develop music through finding a balance for withholding commitment to less important things, (like maybe sitting around watching TV or playing video games).

Use the time you've just gained (as a way) to instead:

• practice more music 
• compose more of your own music
• become better at learning about music
• invest in the study of guitar

The cool thing is that this idea (of creating options and assessing commitment levels) doesn’t end only at how you’re thinking about your time and your dedication for music. 

It also relates to composing new music, (or the overall idea of how we spend our time when writing songs). 

When we compose music we tend to always do better in our compositions if we can establish a balance between our writing time, (that’s the time we’re spending on composing), and balancing that with our transposing time, (the time we spend learning other people’s music). 

The thing that happens when we learn to create balance between these two is that our ideas for; song structure, keys, chords, modulation, song parts, dynamics, and rhythm (all this stuff), never stagnates. We are always being introduced to new music.

Our sense for music is always expanding, so if we have a balance between the time that we spend writing music, and the time we spend learning the music of others, both of these areas start to benefit us equally and they will help us move even closer to becoming the best musicians that we could possibly be.

ALLOW TIME FOR MUSIC TO SINK IN:
The final point that I want to get in is a topic that most musicians will tend to avoid. But, I believe that it actually gets avoided accidentally. 

And, what it is that I’m talking about is how a lot of musicians will not give themselves the space and the time to be able to let the music that they’re studying settle into their unconscious mind. 

Instead, far too many musicians will push themselves to learn a song part by playing it over and over without any “breaks” and without getting up and stretching their legs, clearing their mind, and doing what we’ll just call taking a pause from the repetitive work of going through the music being studied. 

Playing any 'one' thing for too long, (20 min. or longer), including a song riff, a lick, an exercise, or a guitar solo (running it through over and over again), can sometimes do more bad for you than good for you when it comes to memorization and deep learning. 

It is important to understand that when we avoid taking any time off from practicing, (to clear our mind, and allow information to take hold), our playing can get stressed. That stress will more often than not tend to make our playing and our studying even worse.

But, when we walk away from what we’re doing we allow our mind to go on pause and collect our thoughts at an unconscious level. 

Taking a scheduled break (away from further repetitive practice), will actually benefits us far more than sitting and forcing ourselves to continue studying.

Next time that you sit down to learn a song - take a pause after 7-10 min. and get up and walk away from what you’re working on. If you just get up and take a break and walk away, what it will do for you is it keep your mind fresh. 

The period away doesn't need to be very long, (2-3 min. would be fine), but the benefit of the break will actually allow what you’re studying to settle-in at a much deeper level. 

And, the best part is that when you return you’re going to play far better than you were playing before!