One of the best ways to improve your improvisation is to study great guitar solos by analyzing why those solos work well and then applying those insights to your own playing.
There are three key questions to ask when studying a solo:
If you analyze each phrase and relate it to the rectangle and stack framework, you can apply the key ideas from that phrase to other contexts, e.g., a different position on the neck or over a different chord.
Always be on the lookout for phrasing ideas that capture your ear. When you hear something you like, figure out how it works by analyzing it this way, and then practice applying that idea in your own solos. This is what musicians mean when they talk about developing vocabulary.
Musicians often use numbers to refer to chords. This is a communication shorthand that makes it easier to switch keys and to more easily recognize common harmonic patterns.
There are two common numbering systems in widespread use that are easily confused. The Classical system uses Roman numerals (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiº) based on the home chord of the song. Major chords are written in uppercase Roman numerals, minor chords are written in lowercase, and chord variants are indicated with special symbols or numbers (e.g., a diminished chord gets a º, and a dominant seventh chord gets a 7). So in the Classical system, if the song is in the key of A, if there’s a D minor chord, it is labeled iv, and if there is a D major chord, it is labeled IV.
The Nashville system traditionally uses Arabic numerals (1, 2-, 3-, 4, 5, 6-, 7º), using a minus sign to indicate a minor chord. The big difference, however, is that the Nashville numbers are always based on an underlying major scale, so you will almost never see a 1- chord. If a song is in the key of A minor, the home chord (Am) is called 6- in Nashville notation, and i in Classical notation.
To make things even more confusing, many guitarists use Roman numerals with Nashville notation. Usually, you can figure that out from context, but not always. I use this hybrid system in this course so that Arabic numbers always refer to scale degrees, and Roman numerals always refer to chord functions. I apologize for any confusion this creates.
In this course, our primary reason for adopting the Nashville system is that it simplifies improvisation. With Nashville numbers, most scale shifts (from Module 5) become trivial: shift your pentatonic scale up a string for the ii or IV chord, and shift down a string for the iii or V chord. And, as you’ll see later in the module, finding chord tone targets overlaid on a baseline pentatonic scale is also straightforward if you know the Nashville number for the chord.
In this module, your goal is to learn the positions of all of the F notes on the fretboard.
Reuse the exercises from previous modules to memorize the positions of all the F notes on the fretboard. Don’t forget to mix things up to constantly challenge your memory.
One of the most widespread and battle-tested improvisation methods is to base a solo on a single pentatonic scale, adding in chord tone targets for each chord by overlaying them on the scale. We used this approach in Module 4 to play over the “Stairway to Heaven” outro chords, and in this module, we’ll extend that approach to other chords.
The approach presented in this video uses the Nashville number system, and the target patterns presented are correct for songs written in the Ionian or Aeolian mode. The basic idea is that it’s worth memorizing the target notes (and root positions) for each of the seven diatonic triads as they relate to the pentatonic rectangle and stack.
In the video, the examples are the seven diatonic triads overlaid on the minor pentatonic scale that starts on the 6th scale degree, which is the same as the major pentatonic scale that starts on the 1st scale degree. The triads all fit the “staggered” pattern from the Hidden in plain sight method.
Memorize this: These seven triad overlay patterns are all we need to improvise over any chord progression based on the Ionian or Aeolian modes. For purposes of this course, it is not necessary to memorize which of the target notes is the root, but that knowledge is helpful if you ever want to target a specific interval:
This approach can be extended to the other four pentatonic-based modes, but that is beyond the scope of this course. However, if you want to explore them on your own, here’s how it works. If the base pentatonic scale is the minor pentatonic starting on the 2nd scale degree (Dorian) or the major pentatonic scale starting on the 4th scale degree (Lydian), the overlays corresponding to the Nashville number system triads fit the “bright” pattern from the Hidden in plain sight method.
If the base pentatonic scale is the minor pentatonic starting on the 3rd scale degree (Phrygian) or the major pentatonic scale starting on the 5th scale degree (Mixolydian), the overlays corresponding to the Nashville number system triads fit the “dark” pattern from the Hidden in plain sight method.
These exercises focus on developing rapid recall of the triad overlays presented in the previous video. The goal is to practice retrieving these shapes from your memory until they feel like second nature. It’s okay to start by referring to a diagram, but the faster you get away from a visual reference, the faster your brain will remember this information on its own.
Exercise 1: Visualize an A minor pentatonic stack on the fretboard. Play the root and the other notes of the stack to establish the sound of A minor. Then, starting with the I chord (C major) play the triad target notes from the I overlay. Continue with the ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and viº chords, playing the pentatonic scale followed by the triad target notes.
Exercise 2: Repeat Exercise 1, but this time recall the overlays and play the target notes in cycle-of-4ths order: IV, viiº, iii, vi, ii, V, I
The song “Little Wing” is in the key of E minor, so its baseline scale for improvisation will be E minor pentatonic. The relative major key is G major, so the Nashville numbers are relative to G. These are the Nashville numbers for the key of G/Em:
| Triad | Nashville number |
|---|---|
| G | I |
| Am | ii |
| Bm | iii |
| C | IV |
| D | V |
| Em | vi |
| F#º | viiº |
Six of these chords appear in “Little Wing,” and you know how to find their chord tone targets using the overlay approach. There’s also an F chord in the progression, which would be labeled ♭VII in the Nashville system, but the easiest thing to do is just memorize the target positions for it. Here they are in the rectangle and stack:
It might be helpful to think of these target notes as being like the IV chord targets, with one note raised by one fret.
It is not necessary to memorize these extra patterns to use this system in general, but sometimes, if a song contains a borrowed chord (i.e., a chord from another key), it’s worth doing.
The concept of Approach Notes is the idea of playing some number of notes from the underlying pentatonic scale that lead up or down to a target chord tone. The basic idea is to be able to play a short phrase that lands on the target note on a strong beat (e.g., right on a chord change).
It’s worth practicing playing one, two, three, and even four approach notes leading to chord tone target notes.
Exercise 3: Focusing on one E minor pentatonic stack, for each chord in the “Little Wing” progression (vi - I - ii - vi - iii - ii - IV - I - bVII - IV - V), visualize the triad target notes overlaid on the stack and play two scale tones that lead into a chord tone target. Practice approaching from above, below, or a mix of both. For some target notes, you may need to borrow one or both scale notes from a neighboring rectangle.
Exercise 4-n: Repeat Exercise 3 with an E minor rectangle and with different numbers of approach notes.
It will take some time and practice for the triad overlays to become second nature, but this is practice time well spent. This visualization technique is highly effective, and your efforts will pay off later.
Before we get to “Little Wing,” let’s revisit the I - V - vi - IV progression in the key of D from Module 5. To improvise a solo over it:
I - V - vi - IV in D
D · 88 BPM · 4 chords · 21.8s loop
The Module 5 progression again, for Exercises 1 to 3. Use one D major pentatonic scale throughout, with the triad targets overlaid. The switch under the player brings back Module 5's scale-per-chord view if you want to compare.
Exercise 1: Using a single D major pentatonic stack plus triad overlays, improvise over the I - V - vi - IV in D backing track.
Exercise 2: Repeat Exercise 1 with a D major pentatonic rectangle.
Exercise 3: Repeat Exercise 1, playing freely across the fretboard using the D major pentatonic scale and triad overlays.
Recall the Nashville numbers for the chords of “Little Wing”:
vi - I - ii - vi - iii - ii - IV - I - bVII - IV - V
Note that ♭VII is a borrowed chord, and we learned the extra overlay patterns for it in section 7-5.
Exercises 4-n: Improvise over the “Little Wing” solo using the E minor pentatonic scale with triad overlays. Start by doing this with a single stack or rectangle. Then, try spreading out to a full in-position pentatonic pattern or try moving diagonally between stacks.
If any of these exercises feels too difficult at first, don’t worry…that’s completely normal! Try creating some limitation exercises to help you focus on your bottlenecks. Here are some ideas:
This is the most challenging technique in the course, and this “Little Wing” exercise is probably the most challenging one in the course, so give it time, simplify things until you can play with good phrasing, and build up your ability over time.
Little Wing
E minor · 70 BPM · Em–G–Am–Bm…
If you're having trouble keeping up with the changes, drag across a smaller set of chords to loop just those, or take the tempo down as much as needed.