
#1 Tip to Effective Melodic Guitar Soloing – Steve Stine Guitar Lessons
(heavy guitar music) (melodic guitar music) – Hi, Steve Stine from Guitar Zoom here, and today what I’d like to do is help you in trying to make your
solos have a bit more melody and a bit more direction to them. So what I’ve got here is a jam track where I’m just playing C, G, A minor, and F. Okay, so C, G, A minor, and F. And my palette at this point is going to be the C
major pentatonic scale. Now, you might be using
something else, right. You might know your C major scale, your diatonic, or whatever it might be. Or you might know your C major pentatonic, but you might be playing
it in a different position. And all of those things are just fine. I just wanna show you kinda
what I’m talking about here. So, I’m gonna use this as my example. I’m gonna use C major
pentatonic sitting right here. Which is the same as A minor pentatonic, which many of you probably know. I’m gonna use that same shape
except my emphasis note is C. So I have C. And the reason pentatonic is so nice is because all the notes basically work really well over all of these chords. So these chords are in the key of C major, C, G, A minor and F, and the scale I’m using
is C major pentatonic. So it has some sort of
connectivity, right? So what many of us do,
especially when we first start kinda trying to learn how
this soloing thing works, is we’re memorizing
shapes on our fret board, scale shapes and chord shapes, and all these different
things, which we need to do. But unfortunately what begins to happen is we spend a lot of time hoping that we land on the right
notes at the right time. So let me show you an example of that. What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna take this C major pentatonic
scale that I just played, and I’m just going to try and kind of aimlessly play it over
this chord progression, over this jam track, okay? So no rhyme or reason, just kinda playing. (upbeat guitar music) Okay? And what I want you to notice is, none of it sounds necessarily bad, but it just doesn’t sound like it’s really making a connection. It just sounds like I’m
kind of moving around. So the trick here is learning how to make some sort of melodic connectivity to the chords that are being played and there’s two ways that
you can approach this. One way is you know your theory, so for instance you might know the notes of the C major scale, and you might know the
notes of the C major triad, and a G major, and an A minor, and F major. And you start finding those
notes on the fret board right? So I’m thinking okay, so
I’ve got a C triad here, so I’m gonna be thinking
about the notes C, E, and G, and then the G chord comes
up so I’m gonna start thinking about G, B, and D, and then the A minor chord comes up so, I start thinking about A, C, and E, right? So I’ve got, and then F comes up. And I might try and see
those on my fret board, and if you can do that
that’s great because that’s obviously the first
step to really trying to create some sort of melodic content, is making those connections. Now if you don’t really know your theory just hold on because I’m
gonna get to you next. But lets say you have that, so what I do is I start
making some sort of skeletal connectivity of these shapes so I’ve got C, E, and G. Now I can do this
anywhere on the fret board with any shapes that I know, chordal and scalular, but right now I’m just kind
of trying to think about this pentatonic sitting
here and I see the notes C, E, and G, and then G, B, and D, and then A, C, and E, and then F, A, and C. Now, I could do something like this, let me play that jam track again. (upbeat guitar music) Okay? Now, I’m playing a lot and I wouldn’t normally do that but the point is, you can hear that all
of a sudden there’s more connectivity happening between the chords that are being played, what I can see of these chords, and then the scale that I
was playing before, okay? So now if I start trying to
make some sort of connection between what I’m seeing right now, this C, E, and G, and G, B, D, and A, C, E, and F, A, C, and I also utilize the scale underneath it to give me kind of access to a road to move around a little
bit in between these. I can start making a bit more of a realistic authentic musical connection. And again, if you don’t know your theory you can certainly try what I’m trying here but don’t worry about
the words that I’m using, but I’m going to show you something else in just a second here as well, so let me show you again. (upbeat guitar music) And again, it might be a little much it might be not enough, it might be in a different
position than you’d like. All those things are completely up to you and what you’d like to
do when you’re playing. But you can tell that all of sudden it begins to sound more
like actual soloing, actual music, actual melody, if you were writing a song
or a vocal part for somebody. Now lets say you don’t really
understand your music theory and C and G and all these
things that I’m saying don’t really make sense to you, okay? That’s okay. There’s also a visual
aspect to this as well and for most guitar players I think we use both of these anyway. But lets say I was
visualizing this C chord, the fifth string bar chord, and then this G, the sixth string bar chord, A minor and then lets put F… For now to keep things easy put F down here on the sixth string. That’s a little bit further away than I’d like to be but
lets just do that for now. So what I wanna do then is let’s say I’m just kind of learning
how to play my pentatonic so I’m seeing this C major
pentatonic sitting right here. But at the same time I’m also
seeing this C major chord, this fifth string bar chord. G major. A minor. F major. And while I’m thinking about
it I also wanna say this, remember that as guitar
players we don’t always have to rely on last
minute improvisation like, we don’t have to wait
until we get in front of an audience or get
in with other musicians, before we start figuring
out what we wanna do. It’s very okay to pre-plan
some ideas, some elements, maybe you don’t do the entire solo and all these different things. But you know I think we always think that we always have to be
dangling from the cliff to come up with ideas to
really be good musicians and it doesn’t always have to be that way. Sometimes already having an idea or a plan before you come in is
a great place to start. So that’s what we’re kind of doing here is developing a plan. So I’ve got this C, G, A minor, and F. Now I can see this pentatonic
but let’s again say I don’t know my pentatonics very well so I don’t have them all
memorized on my fret board. So when this C chord
comes up I’m visualizing this C right here, so as I’m visualizing my pentatonic, This is the same note as this. But I’m seeing it off
this shape right here. So I’m making a connection visually between the chord and
scale that’s being played. So now I can see already
if I kind of visualize that pentatonic and this C major chord on the fifth string, I can see that some notes
are connecting, right? This one. And this one. And this one. I can see those three for
sure are part of this scale, and if I look deeper I can
see some of the other ones. That already is gonna
give me more to work with than just guessing, right? So even if I just thought
this one, this one, and this one, which
are part of that chord, and they’re also part of that scale. So on the C chord, (upbeat guitar music) That’s gonna work. (upbeat guitar music) That’s gonna work. (upbeat guitar music) That’s gonna work. Okay? So I know that there’s
notes that are going to work and it will do that over each chord. Let me show you over G. So we have a G chord scale, and again if we try and
visualize that G chord we have: Now it’s a bit outside
the position that we’re in but that’s okay. So we can, again, the
more you can learn about chord shapes across your fret board and the more you learn about
the positions of your scales, the more you’ll see these things overlap and you can create some
really awesome stuff that way. So we’ve got this G chord sitting here so now what I’m gonna do is, I’m gonna try and emphasize some notes out of that G shape. Now it requires me to have to move though because my position is right here. In this scenario we’re in right now. Again if we were talking
about more positions we’d have more options, but let’s just stay with what we’ve got. So I’m in this position, that’s really a nice note. I could slide from five and
come back to the four here. Now the cool thing about this four is that it’s not a note of the C major pentatonic, but it is a note of the G major
chord that’s being played. Therefor it becomes a new, fresh tone. A new, fresh note for
me to use in my soloing and it sounds very colorful. Had I never used it, it
wouldn’t be available to me. But now that I know that it’s there it’s a great note to try and
emphasize over that G chord because it’s different. It’s not just pentatonic. Now that isn’t the only note
I could emphasize, right? I’ve got this whole shape so I could go, and drop down to this right here, which I could find on the next string. If I start exploring my
fret board a little bit I could find it in other positions too, but again, I don’t want
to get off the idea here. So I can drop down to that
or I can drop down to this or I can play this five or this five because they’re all part of this chord. So now I’m gonna take that C and that G and use this logic a little bit and here’s what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna play this note, over the C, because it’s part of that chord. You can see that’s part of that scale. Okay and if you know
your theory this is a C. Or if you know your
notes on your fret board. It’s a C. So it makes sense. Over the G what I’m gonna
do is I’m gonna move back to the four because
it’s a part of that chord. Now if you know your theory I’m moving to the third, the major third, which is B. That’s what I’m moving to. So let’s just start with that. (upbeat guitar music) Okay. Now that works. It’s not very exciting, but it works for creating a melody. Alright so lets keep going now
we have A minor that pops up. Now A minor I can see
is five, seven, seven, five, five, five, five. Okay? You know your theory we’re
dealing with A, C, and E. Right? And I can also see my
pentatonic sitting right here. So I again wanna make that connection. I can play this or this or this, I can play any of those notes. But from a melodic standpoint
since I’ve done five and four, I could go back to the five because that’s part of that chord. That might sound nice. Or I might keep going down and go five, over the C, four over the G, and then seven over the A. Now lets try both of those, so lets see what this sounds like. (upbeat guitar music) That sounds kind of nice, now lets try it the other way. (upbeat guitar music) And that sounds nice too. Okay. Now we come to the F chord. Now our F is way down here, so that means we’re gonna
have to jump down there to get to some of these notes of F. Okay? Well that’s okay. If we went. Maybe I drop down to this note. Because that might sound nice. Or if I was going. Maybe I’ll drop down to that. Again I’m out of my
pentatonic visual position that I was in, but I’m just trying to make
some sort of melodic connection. Now I’m gonna take it one
step further in a second here but let me show you
what I’m talking about. C. Here comes the G. A. F. And here’s the other way. (upbeat guitar music) So again I’m just
plotting some points here, just plotting some places that I can go. And there’s a multitude of
ways that you can do this but I’m just trying to
get you started here. Okay? Now to make this a little
bit easier on myself what would help is if
I could see some other F chord shapes on my fret board that are more compatible
with the position I’m in. So there’s one I like to use, I teach a course on caged chord system, and I use the caged, C-A-G-E-D, you’ll find videos I’m sure
too on YouTube and such but that I’ve got for this stuff, but the caged system what it does is it enables you to make a chord
across the entire fret board. So lets say I stuck F right here. Don’t worry about this
if you don’t know this I just want you to see this. So what I’m doing is taking
a C chord and moving it up until it becomes F, with my built-in capo here
which is my first finger. So what I can do now, is I can visual the F
chord sitting right here, my F, A, and C are all sitting right here. And that’s really nice
because now all of a sudden I don’t have to leave this position, I can see the F chord right here and then decide what I’d
like to do from there. So lets say I go C, I’m playing this G, I’m playing this A, I’m playing this, and then F chord comes up. I’m gonna drop down to
this note which is the F. The root. Okay? So it now looks like this. (upbeat guitar music) Okay now here’s where the fun begins the more you can learn
about this connectivity between the scale that you’re playing and the chords that are being played in whatever capacity you know, and of course this gives you a whole, another sort of avenue of
education that you can go through, because I’m telling you
the more you learn about your fret board and how
this whole thing works the more options you have, the more confidence you’re
gonna build in yourself, because there’s always
places that you can go that are gonna sound really nice. And there’s a lot of other musical tactics that we can learn too, and not just, you know,
landing on the right note at the right time. There’s lots of other
things we can learn too. But for now, again,
let’s just focus on this. So let’s say for instance, now I’ve got this basic idea set up, so what I wanna do is I wanna
start using the scale again to give me some interesting motion in between these things. And what I mean by that
is lets say I’ve got this sort of set up here, so I’m gonna play. (intense guitar music) And I start trying to
figure out some other things I can do between these
plotted points that I’ve done to make it more interesting. And again, I’m just improvising, it could be literally anything, right? (upbeat guitar music) It just, it could go on and on and on, and it’s really great
because that’s a great way to start just building
something that sounds like a real solo. And many of us, what we tend to do, is we tend to build something like this and then we’ll spend,
if we have enough time, again sometimes you only have, five or eight seconds to solo, so you don’t have a lot of time. But if you’ve got some time, you’ve written an instrumental or you’re playing over a jam track, or you play in a band
and you’ve got some space to improvise on stage in a
song or whatever it might be. What we tend to do is
kind of flip in and out of what I’ll call, pre-planned ideas and improv ideas where sometimes I won’t plan everything, I’ll just plan some ideas here and there, and I’ll start creating something, and then I’ll go off and do my own thing and I’ll kind of come back to
some pre-planned idea again. It doesn’t have to be
just this one position. It could be all over the fret board, but that’s where the creativity comes in, is as you’re moving around
and all of sudden you go, okay here comes an F I
need to make a connection. Okay well you move into that and you start trying to do that across your fret board. So I hope that helps you a little bit in understanding how to approach basic fundamental soloing
to create a melody. It’s just really important to learn how to see these two pieces
and kinda how to think about how to planning a
little bit ahead of time to make these connections so when you go to play
you’re not just relying on instinct or a 50/50 shot that things are actually going to work. You’ve actually got some things
that you’ve thought about that you know are gonna
work over each chord. So take care, stay positive,
and please share the video. Subscribe and just tell people
about it if it helps you at all, I would sure appreciate that. So take care and I’ll talk to you soon. Hey thanks for watching this video and if you liked please do me a favor, like it, share it, subscribe, and please check out guitarzoom.com.
In this guitar lesson, Steve Stine teaches you the #1 tip to play emotional, melodic guitar solos starts with making connections between the rhythm and chords that are being played, and your scale of choice.
Whether you know your music/guitar theory or not, learning how to "see" the fretboard's chords and scales and how they interact is essential to understand how to create melody in your guitar soloing.
This is the first step, needless to say the learning and education keeps going, but learning how to make that first connection is really important to your guitar playing success.
Learning to visualize your fretboard with guitar chords AND scales will continue to open up opportunites for more creative guitar solos, so stick to it and don't give up!
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Steve Stine is dope!
If you can play a Bar Cord you're doing well.
Say what…trying to follow that lesson.
Steve looks a bit like Mark Farner in his earlier days.
SUPER GREAT solo lesson. Makes it very easy to follow and understand.
Thanks Steve great lessons…!!!
you rock brother
Nufs respect Steve¡¡¡
Brilliant stuff! This is exactly what I need to be thinking about. I was thinking about how I could change the scale I am playing for the different chords, but I think this will be a lot more effective for now.
Steve, always thought that playing solos was such a difficult thing to do but watching your lessons really makes me feel like practicing everything you show. Let me tell you that you are an excellent teacher as well as a musician. Thanks a lot!
Lemme know link of backing track, please.
You, sir, are the Guitar Jesus.
I've watched a ton of guitar teachers on YouTube and the only one that can hold my interest long enough for a 20 minute video is Steve Stine. God Bless you, double-S.
this is what i want. a lecture and a demo to be easily understand.. thank you sir.. i learned new things from you..
Thank you! Your example is very helpful. I am going to use my Loop Station to put together the C, G, Am & F backing track and practice these suggestions. I do believe your videos are the best instructional videos. This example in particular is right about where I am at with scales and trying to be more melodic instead of sounding like I am just running through scales. I'm just an old guy playing in my basement for fun. Thanks again!
I have watched this video more than 100 times. Every time I watched I discovered something new and organized my understanding and actual application. I’m still moving around the pentatonic scale on the fretboard, but I’m developing the logical connection between pentatonic and the major scale of whatever the key of. I had been stuck, but this video sheds some light on the path. Thank you Steve!
ahhh eye opener!
I've started writing software to make these concepts visual. Here's a demo of an early prototype integrating MIDI and display of chord tones on the guitar neck. https://youtu.be/2NIESneoPNQ
This Is great Content a lot of us struggle with playing over a chord progression you have explained this really well. Steve I must say you make a single note sound great.
So impressed with all you do. As an older player, I find that your teaching style and knowledge is inspiring. Keep that passion rolling. It is contagious. God bless.
Guitar playing is so tricky, im 60 and have been learning electric guitar for about 4 years, i like the sound of a 4 piece, live metal band, crue, dokken, so i play with a loop pedal, and never solo with a rhythm guitar, its a cop out i know, i just like how its done, jak e lee was one of my heroes live. Great video.
Great explenation. You are a amazing teacher. Youre ability to translate youre knowledge to others is 1 in a trillion. 🙏🌹
This is gold. The way you break down the chord, then experiment with finding the notes to target, then build the fills. I'm gonna work with this method. Thanks
i'm discovering the new world ahah Thanks Master Steve 😀
牛逼!!!
I have never seen a guitar instructor like Steve . He is truly the one who knows how to teach . One thing I wish Steve could do is to show the chords/scales as he plays on the top right so we know more what Steve is playing and especially with the dots on the strings Steve plays. That would be completely perfect .
Hey Steve do you have this sound track I can buy to practice ?
I love your teachings Steve Stine I hope to see more videos from you
You make it simple enough for beginners to understand, as well as all the levels above that! great teaching.
Man, your tutorial are amazing and so clear! Thank you so much! You are helping me alot with my solo writing. Definitely gonna credit you once my band goes big!
Great video. Thanks for posting brother.
Can someone tell me the name of the background music?
I will apply this tonight!
Hey Steve Thanx man that was a really good lesson it was super clear and easy to follow not to complicated and not to simple. I knw u can't Pls everybody on the net that's jst a gimme but this guys certainly happy like, save and subscribed signed sealed delivered ooooh yeah! Couldn't resist it sorry Thanx again Steve al b watching you……
Way above my playing level but very interesting as ever, Steve.
I wish u could my teacher since i have started playing guitar u are awesome sir
Thank you for teaching
what a great mentor
C position chord up an F, you have incredible finger control.
My ring finger is still all twisted up with my pinky, lol
Thanks for all your efforts.
great video,
thanks from germany
What a great teacher
…and so continues the legend of Hen…
Still can’t believe all your lessons are free!!
Amazing playing man!
what type of pedal? tanks😀
tem como você disponibilizar este back track para donwload ?
Thanks Steve, the best teacher i have ever seen. Clear and direct.
Steve… thank you man. You've not only broken down and demystified soloing for me but reinvigorated my enthusiasm to practice and play more. Blessings…:-)
Very good lesson
Awesome video and lesson. Thank you.
I like the way you explain things, very simple but very effective, specifically for beginners like me…
Useful – thanks!
Great lesson Steve 🎸🎶🎸 . Thank You 🙂
nice
Thanks sir I'm new student
👍👍
Excellent tutorial.
You're really good and I have learned a lot of guitar playing secrets or techniques from you. Thank You for your instructional videos !
this guy is good
Nice po idol
Hi Steve, wheres your backing tracks, to practice with.
make video over guitar processor distortion tone
That was great,thx for teaching
You are great man, Thank You..
Baground tracks plz…
What was the kind of beat that? How can i get ser?
Thank you Steve, I learnt something very important through this video 👌👌
Very helpful Steve. Thank you.
Steve is a great musician with a matching style and personality in getting you wanting more an more to learn.
Thanks a Lot 1A
3:39 … Van Halen sounds 😊
So I'm confused as hell on the second way
Thanks Steve, you made me have a major break Thur in understanding with this lesson!
You are amazing Steve thank you for your time, talent and simple explanations.
Awesome video, thank you very much!!
Steve you are just fantastic teacher. My favourite subscription.
居然有中文字幕,真過癮!
Where can i get the support jam track being used by Steve?
He chosen C major pentatonic as the basis palate over C, G, Am and F progresson. What if someone choose G or F major pentatonic?? Will it work too??
Excelente class!! Thank you very much! Say hello to Brazil!! 🙂
cool.. I've been playing for years. I learn neat stuff from you. Thanks. cool axe.
One of my fav. Teacher 💖 i can understand it more 🖤
I have to agree with all others here, you ARE EXCELLENT and very in tune with who your audience is. When you mentioned not knowing theory I perked up as I have played since I was a kid but didnt know any chords (still dont at 45 LOL) I go by ear but have played in many bands. Yes it is nerve wracking not to know the "box" to play in but I love the freedom of going all around the fret board and bending (you get really good at it with my uneducated method…) Needless to say it's important to let people know that even though they haven't taken formal classes the ear/feeling or eye (as you pointed out) is just as critical. And yes, I'm the 50/50 guy you mentioned but more towards the 30/70 now..lol.
Im not a beginner but in behalf of the beginners, thank you steve.. you are a very patient and beginner friendly teacher..
This was a good lesson, I started learning pentatonic shapes but they didn't stick after a while I got fed up hearing myself run them up and down the feet board and I started playing along with instrumentals using what chords I knew, the two pentatonic positions I knew and my ear to guide me I would find the chords and use their notes and try to cross into my shapes using my ears to guide tonally and it sounded good, but back then I could not understand why se notes sounded good yet they weren't in the scale I was playing it turns out it's because they where in the chords that where in the key of the scale
I like you……
I mean, I like your talent.
Steve… your the best guitar teacher ever… I've been playing guitar for fifty four years and never took a lesson, but then I got to see one of YOUR videos about a year ago and have been watching ever since… thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge and wisdom… your a natural born MUSICIAN & Guitar player…
Brilliant – just what it says on the tin!
Great lesson!!!!
🎸🎶🎶🎶👍
Thanks.
Fantastic lesson Steve ..It will help me a lot!! THANKS a MILLION!!!!
I can’t solo
Sounds more like playing modes
Thank you Steve Stine. I've wonder how that was done. I still have a lot to learn. But guys like Steve makes learning fun and educational. Thanks Steve your a great teacher. It hard to find guys like you. I'll check out your other video's too. Steve your the best. Thank you. Todd P.
Good stuff, Steve (as always!)! This is really helpful. God bless!
Really more undrestand fa n ta
Bro u r the best teacher ever love ya
13:54 Like if you sang "No woman no cry!" 🎶 after those 4 notes.
Steve you have the best way of explaining and conveying these lessons. I have been at a learning standstill and your lessons have gotten me back into actually learning the instrument instead of just playing it. Thankyou for everything and I hope all the best for you – Frasier Osland
THANKS MAN.
Dude your awsome so easy to learn what your teaching you break it down nice and slow too bad im playing on an old martin acoustic guitar my dad left me. I really want an amp and guitar im not sure what to get .
Seems to me more like a lesson in Arpeggios and Modes than actual soloing using a scale.