Chord Tone Soloing Lesson

Hey how’s it going guys,

Before we begin, I'm interested to know what you guys think of the 2014 Gibson Les Paul Studio. Comment or mail :)

Today’s lesson is honestly a lesson that I should have put up at the beginning of the blog. It’s the kind of VERY IMPORTANT guitar lesson that could be the turning point of your soloing journey. It can turn ordinary solos into more melodic and awesome solos. Today I’m teaching you how to solo using chord tones.

INTRODUCTION

As I have mentioned in numerous instances in the past. Chords are the gateways to soloing. Also taking the arpeggios into consideration (a comprehensive lesson on arpeggios is on the blog so be sure to check it out in the archives section on the right of the screen), it is clear that the notes that directly come from the chord sound amazing over the same chord. For the player who is familiar with arpeggios, soloing with chord tones is an added benefit as it is easier to access than arpeggios. It is way easier to learn to solo using chord tones than arpeggios for the player unfamiliar with either.

WHAT ARE CHORD TONES??

Most chords are made out 3 notes. Can you guys name the notes in the C chord? If you thought C, E, G then you’re right. These are chord tones (basically notes of the chord). Then if you resolve your solo mostly around these notes over the relevant chord (in this instance C), you can guarantee a melodic solo. In this manner if you can identify the notes of the chords that the backing track is made out of, and then mostly utilize those notes, it will be more melodic and basically BETTER.

FINDING CHORD TONES

How to find these notes in different places might be slightly tougher. There are 8 notes in a scale including the higher and lower root. All the notes from the chords or chord tones are included in these notes. Therefore by generally resolving to these notes a bit more, it is the better. Another method of doing it is finding triads (three note chords like things which consist of the three chord tones) along the fret board and experimenting a bit, like bending into those notes with unison bends or an ordinary bend or sliding in. Having said that, don’t only use triads; mix them into your solo.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT USAGE

THE MOST IMPORTANT USE OF THESE CHORD TONES, ARE AS A SAFE LANDING NOTE. I’ve often told you that for a successful solo, small spaces or gaps in between licks are required. For that, you need to play your stuff and then land on a final note prior to the pause or space (Don’t forget vibrato). If you’ve attempted this method of leaving gaps (which you should!), then you might have noticed that most notes that you finally land on, sound out of place or basically wrong and doesn’t match with the music. Even so, when you need to find a safe landing note, you can be sure that the chord tones will work. You might be able to find good notes other than chord tones occasionally, but you can always rest assured that chord tones will work. Each and every chord tone will seem different when it comes as a landing note, but it will always work.

SUMMARY

So all you guys have to do to be more melodic in soloing style is to,

-       -- Play the chord

-       -- Identify the notes (chord tones)

-       -- Resolve most of your notes to these chord tones, which are basically scattered in patterns all around the fret board.

Hope you guys enjoyed this lesson, be sure to use this technique of chord tone soloing, as it is awesome and relatively easy to master. Cheers,

Visal.