Solo in the key of C - backing track lesson 1.
This is the first lesson in the C Major soloing series. The diagram below shows the "first position" of the scale. There are five different main shapes for a certain scale.
Instruments: Bass, drums and rhythm guitar
Chords: C, Am, Am7, F, Fmaj7, G, G6, G7, Dm, Em
Tempo: 85 BPM
When improvising by playing scales over chords, it's normally great to know which chord is played at every moment for being able to target notes in the chords, but the educational purpose with this lesson is to focus on scale shapes (there are other lessons on the site, in which specific chords are displayed). Learning the shapes will, in small portions, give a visual acquaintance of the whole fingerboard.
The C Major scale can be used over the whole jam track, (the notes belonging to the scale are the same as in the chords belonging to the key of C Major). The shape presented above is called the first shape of the Major scale and is, in the case of C Major, played in 8th position. This shape is the most fundamental why it's used in the first lesson.
A tip is to mostly play on the top (the thinnest) four strings, but this is not a must. The goal is to use a larger portion on the fingerboard, which can yield more melodic ideas, but the purpose with using only one shape is, as said, educational. Try also to use all four fingers on the left hand.
Solo in the key of C series include five lessons:
Lessons are based on the C Major scale.
Go to Lessons overview