Scales

I am apparently a very visual learner. Just like with bar chords, nearly all of the soloing that I do revolves around two shapes. When reading elsewhere, they are usually referred to as soloing scales. As a logical progression in my playing, I suppose it is no surprise that I built my use of these scales around the E and A bar chord shapes. For simplicity sake, let's look at what I call the E shape, starting at the 3rd fret, or G on the low E string:

G root:

 e:--------------------------------------6--8--10

B:-------------------------------6--8-----------

G:---------------------3--5--7-----------------

D:--------------3--5----------------------------

A:----1--3--5----------------------------------

E:--3-------------------------------------------

Just about any solo you hear in a blues or rock song, with the exception of some metal, revolves around this scale shape (AKA the fabled minor pentatonic scale).

You can also play this scale with the root on the A string like this:

C root:

 e:----------------------------------6--8--11

B:------------------------4--6--8-----------

G:-----------------3--5---------------------

D:-------1--3--5----------------------------

A:----3--------------------------------------

E:--------------------------------------------

Use the scale rooted on the E string when soloing over E shaped bar chords, and the scale rooted on the A string when soloing over A shaped bar chords.

You can extend the A shape scale down to the E string too, it looks like this:

C root:

 e:------------------------------------------6--8--11

B:--------------------------------4--6--8-----------

G:-------------------------3--5---------------------

D:---------------1--3--5----------------------------

A:--------1--3--------------------------------------

E:--1--3------------------------------------------

My personal experience, when it comes to my training plan, is that there is no substitute for accurate repetition. Start ridiculously slow until you get the feel for the chord shapes. Also, listen to the progression. I bet it will only take a few trips up and down the neck before you hear something that reminds you of a song that you know or solo you have heard. 

When I started playing and got the scale patterns down, I would literally sit in my chair, with the TV on or whatever, and just play ascending and descending scales over and over and over again. This creates a few different results. First, if you are new to guitar, you need to build up the callouses on your fingers, and nothing does that better than running scales. Second, when you are playing these scales, get in the habit right away of alternate picking. Alternate picking means that you pick the first note of the scale with a down stroke, the second with an up stroke, the third with a down stroke, so on and so on. This is critical to eventually building skill and accuracy. Finally, chances are, these scales will make up the majority of soloing you will do going forward, so the sooner you learn them the better.

Remember when you are practicing .... Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast

Now go rock it!!!

B