For me, I use both chord tones and scales when I solo. I guess this is because I started out learning scales from the very beginning, and I've practiced them for so long that I'm able to play them all over the fretboard. It's worked for me, so I've stuck to it, but I still want to learn Kirk's chord tone technique.
Now although I know strong melody is chord tones, I still think scales are important. After all, don't many of the greatest guitarists use scales in improvisation? To me, scales aren't about how fast you can play the notes all at once or playing runs of notes at impossible speeds. To me, scales are a template of which notes to use in creating melodic lines and phrases. Scales are based around chords and chord shapes, both two sides of the same coin.
[FONT="Times New Roman"]"My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it."
Eric Clapton (interview 1998)[/FONT]
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