How exactly do you use the scale to create a solo?
It is simple: just pick and choose between the available notes in the appropriate scle.
At its most asic — you can simply run the notes in the scale.
Remember: you don’t just play a single scale, you fit the scale to the type of chord.
- eg. for Dm chord, you play the D melodic minor scale
- for F chord, you play F major scale (not C major scale)
- for G7 chord you play G mixolydian mode, otherwise known as the G dom scale.
C: C D E F G A B C
Dm: D E F G A B C# D
F: F G A Bb C D E
G7: G A B C D E F G
this in fact is a good way to practice your scales.
Identify the appropriate scale for each chord in a progression and run each scale up and down until you have mastered it.
This way, you will be familiar with the available notes when you encounter each chord type in the future.
But running up and down the scales is not the height of improvisational creativity.
There are other approaches you can use to construct a scale-based solo.
Emphasizing key scale tones
One of the imp things to know about scale-based solos is that not all notes of the scale are equally important.
In particular, there are 3 key scale tones:
- emphasizing these notes to create more cohesive solos:
- the 3 key degrees are:
1. tonic: you can’t neglect the home tone of the scale. Start or partic. end your solo on the tonic note to lend a degree of finality to what you are playing.
2. 3rd: the 3rd degree of the scale defines its harmonic nature: that is , whether the sale is major or minor. Emphasize the 3rd to emphasize the color of the music.
3. 7th: the 7th degree of the scale is the leading tone: this note positions you to a return to the tonic. It also, along with the 3rd, defines the major or minor (or dominant) nature of the scale. Emphaszie the 7th to add tension toy our solo.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
–empahsize these three key tones of the scale.
don’t forget the chord tones.
in any given scale, the scale tones used to create a chord are the most imp notes at that point in time.
Using step-wise and skip-wise motion
When you play the notes of a scale in your solo, move up or down the scale, start and end on any given note.
Remember those key scale tones.
You add interest to your solo by varying the intervals between the notes you play.
That is, you should employ a mixture of step-wise and skip-wise motion.
Step-wise motion is just as it sounds.
Move from one note to the next note one step away in the scale.
In the c major scale: step-wise motion moves from C to D to E and so no.
Or go in another direction: from C to B to A and so on.
When you run the notes of a scale, you employ step-wise motion:
C: C D E F E
Dm: F E D C# D
F: C D E F G A Bb A
G7: G F E F G
Skip-wise motion:
employs larger intervals.
Instead of moving in smooth steps, you skip from one note to the next, in intervals of a 3rd or more.
For eg. in C major scale: a step-wise solo might skip from C to E to G
or
from C to F to A
or
from C to G to B — up or down, or in some combination of directions.
C: c e d g f b c
Dm: d c# d a g e f
F: f c Bb a c e f
G7: g b d g f
step-wise solos are smoother than the skipwise.
skip wise solos are more angular.
vary your solo lines between step wise and skip wise motion to suit your own personal tastes.
Tip: you don’t have to limit yourself to intervals of a third or less.
Feel free to introduce larger leaps in your lines: 4ths, 5ths, 6ths or 7ths.
It’s even ok to include the occasional jump of an octave or more.
Remember — the larger the leap, the more distinctive it sounds; the more attention it does to itself.
Use large leaps for dramatic effect — and to mark your own personal style.
Play patterns
When you are picking and choosing scale notes to play, it’s not the notes themselves that are important,it’s the patterns they form.
When you have all 8 notes of the scale to play with, you can create lots of interesting melodic patterns.
when you’ve mastered your scales and are ready to use those scales to form both short and long patterns, there’s more in later sessions.