[NewGuitarist]

When you play a solo in say C major.
Do you just play the notes in A min pentatonic or do you choose to play all of the notes in Cmajor?
Does it matter what kind of music you are playing to.....
or can you just go crazy and play all of the notes in C major
Because what I have been doing lately is just playing the pentatonic.

[allthumbs]

Non of the above. I play through the chord progression not the scale.

[Michael_Lee]

I tend to look at what chords are being played that you want to solo over. I like to think of how my solo notes will 'lay' over the chords underneath.

What makes the perfect note choice is how it 'lays' on top of the progression. I have read here that Kirk goes in the chord approach and others say scales. Im a mixed bag of nuts and say both. TO me nothing is more important that the ryth. section and the groove they are laying down.

I try and pick my notes to compliment them. If you know your scales and chords then try and NOT think about the scales and all the theory and clutter that brings in, if your that bz thinking on theory its hard to listen to the band playing to see what needs to be there.

After this many years playing I tend to listen way more to the band than think about scales and such. I can just let it pour out from Heart to fingers and let it fly. Now Im not kirk and every preformance isn't perfect but every improv I do is from the heart and thats what I am after.

Now that being said get a recording or have someone play that chord prog for you and play each note of the scale against it one at a time. Each note creates a feel. Learn how the notes feel over the chord and load that into the brain for future use. Some note just sound sweet and some are very grating and feel tense, some feel strange and mysterious. All these feelings will be called for sometime in your career as a player. Then you can play the notes you wish at the right times to create the correct feel your after.

If you want to listen to some things try old King Crimson Cds for the tense use of notes. The guitar player there (robert fripp) is one of the best players out there for that note that can make you shiver or cause a tense moment in a tune. BB king tends to find the perfect SWEET note at any time he chooses. Frank Zappa could use every feeling in the book in every tune... what a master composer he was. Alot of people missed that when they listened to him. Get past the funny stuff of Zappa and listen to ' Shut up and play your guitar' series.

Hope this helps and wasn't just a long winded blathering.....

[allthumbs]

I think you put that really well M.L.

[Rockerbob]

I'm firmly in the "Whatever works" camp.

[Aunt Doty]

I'm in the "praying I can learn what it takes camp" !!

[knight46]

I went to Summer Camp one year.

[Dewy]

I have a lot of trouble "Improvising" over a major key... but no trouble with the minor keys and minor pentatonics. And I see where your coming from by using the Amin over the Cmaj... but its not the real answer. To start with Amin pentatonic has the root of A and is built around (and flows most smoothly) the root of A. Forcing a C on it (which is in the scale) doesn't cut it in my opinion.

That having been said, it is most important to refer your "soloing" to the rhythm, and play notes that correspond to the chords being played underneath your solo.

I find myself writing a melody line to play variations of when soloing over a major... just a way I try to overcome a default limitation I haven't defeated yet.

[AX7221]

I got a vibe from your post that you were unsure of what you are suppose to do and would like clarifiaction. Unfortunately that can't be done. There are so many things you can do, different ways of looking at it, and they all work. So it just comes down to trying out different stuff and finding your nitch.

[carol m]

Hi Michael, I found that really helpful - I hope Redneck Central appreciates who they have amongst them. Right now I'm off to listen to Frank Zappa all over again