Clicky

View post (Chord Tones)

View thread

ChristopherSchlegel
Full Access
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,834
ChristopherSchlegel
Full Access
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,834
09/28/2010 6:49 pm
Hey & welcome!
Originally Posted by: db3266I know the pentatonic scale and all the various positions and box's etc.

What I am struggling with at the moment is identifying chord tones and target notes when playing solo's. I want to improve my soloing by identifying and learning the target notes to hit on the chord changes to make my solos a little bit more structured.
[/quote]
I find many people learn the pentatonic boxes, but only as walls of dots to play. They never did the most important thing: visualize the scale degrees. That will help go a long way toward identifying chord tones.

Check these tutorials on pentatonic boxes & the basics of improv, they have lots of fretboard images to help you grasp the application of targeting chord tones in soloing:

Pentatonic Scales: Boxes & Frameworks
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=296

Pentatonic Major Scale Exercise: All 5 Shapes
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=722

Pentatonic Minor Scale Exercise: All 5 Shapes
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=185

Introduction To Improvisation For Beginners
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=876

Introduction To Improvisation In A Major Key
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=483

Introduction To Improvisation In A Minor Key -
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=491

The improv tutorials are especially useful in this context because I use the basic pentatonic boxes as a handy visual reference for learning to target chord tones.
[QUOTE=db3266]I've studied the courses on this site, but wondered if anyone had a magic site that pictured the scale patterns and the associated chord tones?

The above tutorials will help you get the visual patterns down. Then you might benefit from these tutorials that work explicitly on targeting chord tones in the context of the blues style:

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 1
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=217

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 2
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=232

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 3
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=826

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 4
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=244

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes. Have fun!

Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory