Lesson #1: Why Target Notes, Not Scales, Are The Trick To Better Solos

A common question in many theory groups and guitar forums I see is what scales should I learn? 

You’ll hear about the pentatonic scale or the major scale, then start noodling….and eventually get bored. 

Or maybe you learn a bunch of licks and can’t put them together into a solo of your own. 

There’s a great reason for this…….

YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT NOTES YOU’RE PLAYING!

And also……

YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE CHORDS EITHER!

Sorry for the caps. This is the biggest takeaway I want you to have from this mini-course…..

1. Soloing is much easier when you choose one note to “target” over every chord. 
2. It becomes A LOT easier when you know the chord tones of each chord you’re playing over, as well as how to create other intervals like diminished 5ths, perfect 4ths, minor 7ths, etc. 

So let’s do it now with the chords of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns n’ Roses: 

Using the idea of target notes, I would choose one of three notes in every chord you see above. 

When I start on D major, I would hit the notes D, F#, or A. The shapes above have all three of these notes. 

For C major, I would hit the notes C, E, or G. 

And then for G, I would hit G, B, or D. 

These are the root, third, and fifth of each chord, and many scales contain some or all of these notes. 

That’s a longer discussion that it’s in my Slash Course and my Play It Loud Method Course. 

But this is the core idea! 

While I’m playing over D major, I’ll hit F#, then I’ll hit G over C major, and then finally I’ll hit D over G major.

You can play any other note over these chords too, but the root/third/fifth will often be the best choices. 

To figure out the chord tones and best target notes, go to all-guitar-chords.com and choose the arpeggios function and then the chord. 

If you want to have some common interval choices to make as you solo….

Then keep going into the next lesson!