Skip to content
7-day free trial
Lesson 11 of 11 · 12 min · Lead guitar

Your first guitar solo

Five notes, one shape at fret 5, and no wrong notes: the minor pentatonic is the door to lead guitar. Learn box 1, the techniques that make single notes sing, a first lick, and how to improvise over a chord, then play the box in the exercise.

Start the lesson Start the 7-day free trial

From chords to single notes

Until now you have played rhythm guitar: chords that carry a song. A solo is the other job, playing single notes that sing over those chords. It sounds like magic, but most rock, blues and pop solos come from one small family of five notes, the minor pentatonic scale, and one shape on the neck. With it, you can start improvising today.

The A minor pentatonic scale

In A, the minor pentatonic has five notes: A, C, D, E and G. It is the natural minor scale without the two notes that make half steps, so none of its notes clash with the chords of the key. Play it over an A minor chord, an A7, or the chords of a blues in A, and whatever you play will sound at least right. That is why it is the first scale every lead guitarist learns.

Box 1, at fret 5

The A minor pentatonic scale, box 1, frets 5 to 8: low E string A at 5 and C at 8, A string D at 5 and E at 7, D string G at 5 and A at 7, G string C at 5 and D at 7, B string E at 5 and G at 8, high E string A at 5 and C at 8.EADGBE45678ACDEGACDEGAC
Box 1 of A minor pentatonic. The A notes, the root, are highlighted: three of them in one shape.

Put your hand at the 5th fret with one finger per fret: index on fret 5, middle on 6, ring on 7, little finger on 8. Every string has two notes. On the low E, A and high E strings, play frets 5 and 8, index and little finger; on the A, D and G strings, frets 5 and 7, index and ring finger; on the B string, frets 5 and 8 again. The index finger stays on fret 5 the whole time.

Play it slowly from the lowest note to the highest and back, with alternate picking: down, up, down, up, one stroke per note. The root A sits at fret 5 of the low E string, fret 7 of the D string and fret 5 of the high E string: those are the notes to start and end your phrases on. The A minor pentatonic page shows the four other boxes that continue the shape up the neck.

Make the notes sing

A scale played note by note sounds like an exercise. Four techniques turn it into a solo:

  • Hammer-on. Pick fret 5 of the G string, then slam the ring finger down on fret 7 without picking again: the second note sounds from the force of the finger.
  • Pull-off. The reverse: with fingers on frets 8 and 5 of the B string, pick fret 8, then pull the little finger off sideways, plucking the string so that fret 5 rings.
  • Bend. Put the ring finger on fret 7 of the G string, the middle and index behind it to help, and push the string up towards the ceiling until the note rises a whole step, from D to E, the pitch of fret 9. Check it against fret 9 to stay in tune.
  • Vibrato. On a long note, bend the string a tiny bit up and down, again and again. It is what makes a guitar sound like a voice.

Your first lick

Tablature of a lick in A minor pentatonic: high E 8 and 5, B 8 and 5, G 7 and 5, D 7; then G 5, G 7, a bend on G 7 up a whole step, and D 7 to finish on the root A.EADGBe8C5A8G5E7D5C7A5C7D7bend7A
Down the box from the top, then up to a bend on the G string, ending on the root A.

This short phrase comes down the box from fret 8 of the high E string, then climbs back to a bend on the G string and lands on A, fret 7 of the D string. Play it slowly, with alternate picking, and let the last note ring with a little vibrato. Then change it: skip a note, repeat two notes, hold one longer. That is improvising.

Move the box to change key

The whole shape is movable, like a barre chord. Its first note, under the index on the low E string, is the key: at fret 5 it is A minor pentatonic, at fret 3 G minor, at fret 7 B minor, at fret 12 or open, E minor. Find the root of the song on the low E string, put your index there, and the same fingers play the solo in that key. The guitar scales chart has every key.

Improvise over a loop

To practise, you need something to play over. Strum an Am chord on the online guitar, or loop a beat in a drum machine, and play short phrases from box 1 over it: three or four notes, a pause, an answer. Start and end on A. Leave space between phrases, as a singer breathes. Ten minutes a day of this and your fingers will start to find melodies on their own.

Exercise

Play the A minor pentatonic, box 1

Twelve notes, from the low E string to the high E string, two on each string, at frets 5 to 8. Click the fret the page names on the neck, or use the keys of your computer keyboard shown on the strings.

Practise it: A minor pentatonic scale → Online guitar →

Questions

Frequently asked

What scale is used for guitar solos?

Most rock and blues solos use the minor pentatonic scale, five notes such as A, C, D, E and G in A. Its first shape, box 1, is the one beginners learn first; the blues scale adds one note to it.

Where is box 1 of the A minor pentatonic?

At frets 5 to 8: index on fret 5 of every string, ring finger on fret 7 of the A, D and G strings, little finger on fret 8 of the low E, B and high E strings.

How do I bend a guitar string?

Fret the note with the ring finger, support it with the middle and index fingers on the same string, and push the string towards the ceiling with the whole hand, rotating the wrist, until the note rises a whole step, the pitch two frets higher.

How do I play a solo in another key?

Move the box. Its first note on the low E string is the key: fret 3 for G minor, fret 5 for A minor, fret 7 for B minor, fret 8 for C minor, fret 12 or the open string for E minor.

How long does it take to learn to solo on guitar?

You can play box 1 and a first lick within a few days. Sounding fluent takes months of short daily practice: learn licks, then change them, and improvise over a loop as often as you can.

Learn guitar course

All the lessons

  1. A risograph poster of a whole acoustic guitar with its six strings in six colors, map pins pointing at the headstock, neck, sound hole and bridge Guitar parts and string names Headstock, neck, frets and body, the six strings E A D G B E, and how to sit with the guitar. 8 min
  2. A risograph poster of a yellow guitar tuning peg turning on its gear, its string sending out pink sound waves, beside a clip-on tuner with the needle in the center How to tune a guitar Standard tuning, a tuner in the browser, the fifth-fret method by ear, and why strings drift. 9 min
  3. A risograph poster of a guitar chord diagram with six strings, finger dots and open-string circles, beside a six-line tab with yellow dots Reading chord diagrams and tabs Chord boxes and tablature, the two pictures every guitar book uses, and your first melody in tab. 10 min
  4. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard near the nut where pink, cyan and yellow fingertip dots press three strings for an open chord Your first guitar chords Em, Am, C, G, D and E: the six open chords behind thousands of songs, and how to make them ring. 10 min
  5. A risograph poster of a pink pick sweeping across the strings over a guitar sound hole under a row of down and up strumming arrows Strumming patterns Down on the beat, up on the "and": four strumming patterns from the simplest to the classic. 10 min
  6. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard where curved yellow arrows carry a pink chord shape over to a cyan one Changing chords smoothly Anchor fingers, moving all fingers together and the one-minute change drill. 10 min
  7. A risograph poster of a bar of yellow light pressed across all six strings of a guitar fretboard, pink and cyan finger dots beyond it Barre chords One finger across all six strings: F, Bm and the two shapes that give you every chord. 12 min
  8. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar resting against a log by a campfire, an open songbook at its feet and notes rising with the sparks Your first song on guitar Amazing Grace in G: four chords, a waltz strum and the whole song from start to finish. 12 min
  9. A risograph poster of a pink electric guitar plugged into an amplifier that blasts yellow lightning bolts and rings of sound Power chords Two fingers, one movable shape: the rock chord on the low E and A strings, and a first riff. 10 min
  10. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar with six colored strings, four glowing fingertips plucking them over the sound hole and ripples of notes Fingerpicking for beginners Thumb on the bass, fingers on G, B and E: three patterns from an arpeggio to Travis picking. 12 min
  11. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard under a stage spotlight, a box of pink and cyan scale dots and notes streaming out of it Your first guitar solo The minor pentatonic at fret 5, bends and slurs, a first lick and how to improvise over a chord. 12 min
Ready when you are

Solo over your own backing track

The online guitar and the scale charts are free. GOONS Studio adds drum machines, a bass synth and a sequencer to loop a groove and solo over it, with a 7-day free trial, no card required.

Start the 7-day free trial A minor pentatonic
Ready to solo? Open the free online guitar →