Soloing over chord changes?

[ThrowBackMan]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

 

[Emg77]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

Well,
There are many options. Each scale position has all of the notes in a key with in its shape. You can use many notes over a chord as long as they are passing tone with no real resolve. Starting and resolving is where you want to make sure you are playing one of the 4 notes of the chord. But,, there are endless possibilities.

 

[richardt4520]

Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord?

That's kind of like painting and asking, do I need to use blue sometimes? That's all up to you. You can change following the chords, just solo over the root key, use different modes or scales over a triad to imply different things (dorian, phrygian, locrian, jazz minor, hungarian minor, whole-half diminished, etc can all be used over a basic minor triad if used correctly), play atonally...that's all up to you and what you're trying to create at that moment in time. I know that doesn't sound very helpful but you're the artist. It's up to you to decide how you want to use the notes.

 

[War Admiral]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

You can do it a couple of ways. To answer your first question...you can solo using one scale...the D major scale over Em, A and D. This is playing in a modal sense and will give you the Dorian sound over Em...Mixolydian sound over the A...Ionian sound over the D. This is the easiest of the bunch and will work fine...just let you ears guide you over the chord changes.
The second is much more complicated and requires a good understanding of harmony and intervals. You decide what you want to play over each chord as they pass...this is way more advanced and I dont recommend it for you right now since you had to ask the question.
I would concentrate on mixing pentatonic scales over these chords and understand which notes work over these chords first then add the missing notes from the diatonic scale to form 7 note scales so you fully understand modes then noodle with my first concept I explained with the D major scale.
If you have any questions just ask

The hardest thing grasping this at the beginning is asking the right questions for you...as you can see lots of people answer you but dont really answer your question...too generalizing and doesnt apply. You ask the right questions for you and break it down with each response. Its easy for some one to say some thing generalizing when they have some grasp on theory but to some one that doesnt it goes right over their head...

 

[ThrowBackMan]

Thanks everyone. I wasn't sure if this was a good question. I kinda new the answer I see now, in that I typically did the right thing but didn't know why, in that I just choose the notes that sound good over each cord. This is my ear thing working for me, but this is music to me and I guess that's what counts. I just like to understand "WHY" it works. You folks have helped me so much and I really appreciate it and find it fascinating! Thanks so much..

 

[Gorehog]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

You can do it a couple of ways. To answer your first question...you can solo using one scale...the D major scale over Em, A and D. This is playing in a modal sense and will give you the Dorian sound over Em...Mixolydian sound over the A...Ionian sound over the D. This is the easiest of the bunch and will work fine...just let you ears guide you over the chord changes.
The second is much more complicated and requires a good understanding of harmony and intervals. You decide what you want to play over each chord as they pass...this is way more advanced and I dont recommend it for you right now since you had to ask the question.
I would concentrate on mixing pentatonic scales over these chords and understand which notes work over these chords first then add the missing notes from the diatonic scale to form 7 note scales so you fully understand modes then noodle with my first concept I explained with the D major scale.
If you have any questions just ask

The hardest thing grasping this at the beginning is asking the right questions for you...as you can see lots of people answer you but dont really answer your question...too generalizing and doesnt apply. You ask the right questions for you and break it down with each response. Its easy for some one to say some thing generalizing when they have some grasp on theory but to some one that doesnt it goes right over their head...

 

[Gorehog]

lol

 

[hunter]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

You can do it a couple of ways. To answer your first question...you can solo using one scale...the D major scale over Em, A and D. This is playing in a modal sense and will give you the Dorian sound over Em...Mixolydian sound over the A...Ionian sound over the D. This is the easiest of the bunch and will work fine...just let you ears guide you over the chord changes.
The second is much more complicated and requires a good understanding of harmony and intervals. You decide what you want to play over each chord as they pass...this is way more advanced and I dont recommend it for you right now since you had to ask the question.
I would concentrate on mixing pentatonic scales over these chords and understand which notes work over these chords first then add the missing notes from the diatonic scale to form 7 note scales so you fully understand modes then noodle with my first concept I explained with the D major scale.
If you have any questions just ask

The hardest thing grasping this at the beginning is asking the right questions for you...as you can see lots of people answer you but dont really answer your question...too generalizing and doesnt apply. You ask the right questions for you and break it down with each response. Its easy for some one to say some thing generalizing when they have some grasp on theory but to some one that doesnt it goes right over their head...

Thanks! How do you discover the root note in a chord progression?

 

[Gorehog]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

You can do it a couple of ways. To answer your first question...you can solo using one scale...the D major scale over Em, A and D. This is playing in a modal sense and will give you the Dorian sound over Em...Mixolydian sound over the A...Ionian sound over the D. This is the easiest of the bunch and will work fine...just let you ears guide you over the chord changes.
The second is much more complicated and requires a good understanding of harmony and intervals. You decide what you want to play over each chord as they pass...this is way more advanced and I dont recommend it for you right now since you had to ask the question.
I would concentrate on mixing pentatonic scales over these chords and understand which notes work over these chords first then add the missing notes from the diatonic scale to form 7 note scales so you fully understand modes then noodle with my first concept I explained with the D major scale.
If you have any questions just ask

The hardest thing grasping this at the beginning is asking the right questions for you...as you can see lots of people answer you but dont really answer your question...too generalizing and doesnt apply. You ask the right questions for you and break it down with each response. Its easy for some one to say some thing generalizing when they have some grasp on theory but to some one that doesnt it goes right over their head...

Thanks! How do you discover the root note in a chord progression?

ummm

 

[War Admiral]

Hey Guys. New to the board and love it. You guys rock. I really appreciate all the help. I'm an older guy that's been playing a long time, but again, I have mostly played blues based rock and have always wanted to learn theory. Now I have the time and will, and so I thought I'd ask some more questions. I thank you in advance:
T

So, if I'm soloing over chord changes. Do I need the scale to be the same notes as each chord? I mean, do I have to use a scale that fits that chord only? Say the song has a Em, A, and D chords played in that order. Can I just solo in EM, or do I need to solo in EM first, then A, then D? I know with a 1, 4, 5 bluesy thing I typically change each time the chord changes, but is this always true?
Thanks
Tim

You can do it a couple of ways. To answer your first question...you can solo using one scale...the D major scale over Em, A and D. This is playing in a modal sense and will give you the Dorian sound over Em...Mixolydian sound over the A...Ionian sound over the D. This is the easiest of the bunch and will work fine...just let you ears guide you over the chord changes.
The second is much more complicated and requires a good understanding of harmony and intervals. You decide what you want to play over each chord as they pass...this is way more advanced and I dont recommend it for you right now since you had to ask the question.
I would concentrate on mixing pentatonic scales over these chords and understand which notes work over these chords first then add the missing notes from the diatonic scale to form 7 note scales so you fully understand modes then noodle with my first concept I explained with the D major scale.
If you have any questions just ask

The hardest thing grasping this at the beginning is asking the right questions for you...as you can see lots of people answer you but dont really answer your question...too generalizing and doesnt apply. You ask the right questions for you and break it down with each response. Its easy for some one to say some thing generalizing when they have some grasp on theory but to some one that doesnt it goes right over their head...

Thanks! How do you discover the root note in a chord progression?

Well the root note in any chord progression is the tonic (I) of whatever chord is playing at the time. I dont really get your question...maybe you want to know what key a certain chord progression is in??

 

[War Admiral]

lol

Whats funny?

 

[Gorehog]

Nuthins funny. I PMd the OP. He said i had the wrong person about this topic. Made me think i was crazy. So i couldnt "delete" my post. So i had to edit it. But RT wouldnt just let me erase the words in my post and lv blank. So i had to write something. Lol and ummmm were the first things that came to mind. Thats all.

But, in the Key of E min/G major. U cannot/ shouldot solo in D major if u wanna stay diatonically in the the key of Emin/G maj. Becuz D major incorporates a C sharp note that the Eminor/G maj does not have. So instead, soloing in D mixolydian would be proper.

 

[War Admiral]

Nuthins funny. I PMd the OP. He said i had the wrong person about this topic. Made me think i was crazy. So i couldnt "delete" my post. So i had to edit it. But RT wouldnt just let me erase the words in my post and lv blank. So i had to write something. Lol and ummmm were the first things that came to mind. Thats all.

But, in the Key of E min/G major. U cannot/ shouldot solo in D major if u wanna stay diatonically in the the key of Emin/G maj. Becuz D major incorporates a C sharp note that the Eminor/G maj does not have. So instead, soloing in D mixolydian would be proper.

You could but that was not his question....he asked about soloing over Em, A and D. Thats in the key of D, a II, V, I progression

 

[Gorehog]

Well in that case, i see your point however,its not fair to throw theory related to jazz on RT. We must never stray too far away from " lay it down". Im alerting the Mods sir.

 

[War Admiral]

Well in that case, i see your point however,its not fair to throw theory related to jazz on RT. We must never stray too far away from " lay it down". Im alerting the Mods sir.

...ok....stay in Dm...throw in a few passing tones...some wicked vibrato and voila!!!
and dont tell Warren that he cant throw in a C# when playing in Em because he and George do it all the time

 

[ThrowBackMan]

Sorry about that not knowing he was talking about this post. I have Lyme disease and my memory sucks sometimes. Not trying to get sympathy, but there's a reason I've lost my mind sometimes.. LOL. Thanks to everyone that helped here. You folks are jewels!
T