In the first video, we saw how the scale is the basis for improvising... You have to know the scale before you can start improvising!
In the second video, you learned a chord progression, which provides the context for our solo.
In this video, we look at a very popular string stretch riff, and begin to apply it to those two scale patterns we're working with. This is the stage where the scale finally starts sounding like music!
When soloing over chords like you guys were doing, is there any requirement to pick any particular note at chord change time? For example, when the chord is changed to an Am, should you pick an A? Or as long as you are playing notes in the correct key, it doesn’t matter what notes you are playing as long as they are in time?
Thank you!
Hi Frank, the choice is really yours… I know, that’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but it’s true. If you’re in the pentatonic scale, you have a lot of freedom to simply noodle around wherever you want to in the scale, over any chord in the progression.
That said, as you get better and better in your playing, you’ll discover that if you start targeting your notes to the notes that are found in the chords, things start sounding a bit more melodic. You can start by targeting the root notes of the chords, but if you understand your theory, and know what notes are present in the various chords, any of those notes make for great “targets” as part of your riffs.