Paul Tauterouff is a professional musician and guitar teacher in upstate New York.
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Click here for a printer-friendly version of "2-Note Sequences For Lead Guitar Soloing".
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Do you sometimes fall into a rut and feel like you run out of ideas during your guitar solos? Do you find yourself repeating the same old scale runs and patterns?
In this lesson you will learn a simple, easy to play sequence that can help you to create some new and interesting sounds. The cool thing is that you can apply this idea to pretty much any style of guitar playing.
For this lesson we'll use the A minor pentatonic scale since you probably already know it.
Figure One - A minor Pentatonic Scale
In Figure Two the 2-note sequence is applied to the pentatonic scale. In this example we are playing 2-note descending patterns as we move our way up through the scale.
Note: When playing the same fret on two neighboring strings (as in the second and third notes in Fig. 2) try to "roll" the appropriate finger from one string to the next. This will enable you to play the lick more smoothly.
Even though this is a fairly simple sequence and scale it still creates a cool, interesting sound. This is due to the distance between some of the notes, especially when compared to just playing straight up and down the scale.
Free Companion Video with bonus licks and audio examples - see link near the end of this lesson!
Now let's look at using the sequence to descend the pentatonic scale.
Figure Three is basically a mirror image of the ascending version. This time you are playing 2-note ascending patterns while working your way down the scale.
Note: When descending you can either "roll" your finger similar to the ascending version, or you can use a different finger to grab the note on the lower of the two strings. For example measure two could played 1st finger, 3rd finger, 2nd finger, 1st finger, 1st finger, etc.
Get The Free 2-Note Sequence Lead Guitar Video Lesson - Click Here.
Want to get more value from this lesson? Here are a few suggestions:
* Apply this concept to all positions of the minor pentatonic scale, the modes, and also any arpeggio shapes you know.
* When using sequences in your solos you don't need to play whole scales or it may sound like an exercise - small passages typically sound more musical.
* Invest time into becoming very comfortable with this sequence so that you can break into it (and out) smoothly while soloing.
* Practicing this pattern may also help to improve the synchronization between your right and left hands.
* Don't just play the ideas written here - use this lesson as a springboard for new ideas of your own!
Additional Columns by Paul Tauterouff
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- And 3 more in the Guest Columnists series, view the index
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Vol. 16, No. 6: Apr.-May 2012
