Scale Help Arghhhhhh

kl2

I have been playing 10 years ,can play most songs ever but got lazy with regard to scales,i have learned the pentatonic,quite fast but very self critical,always feel it sounds forced and a bit fraudulent if you know what i mean, it prob ok but i am never happy at whatever stage i get to,i only started playing to learn (about a girl) in the first place, but in the last 6 months i sold my xbox,grew up and decided it is becoming a bit of an obsession,sorry to go on but i am self taught with no theory,just need some advice om how you pros memorize and stuff,thanks

MLC2006

when you say you learned the pentatonic, did you learn all 5 positions, or did you just learn the most common (#1) position? it is important that you learn ALL 5 positions which will cover the neck for any 1 key. once you got that down, that's really all you need for rock and blues.

then, if your song is in a minor key, you just pick out a solo from that pentatonic key and try to work in notes from all 5 positions (up and down the neck). if the song is in the major key, you go backwards 3 half steps in the chromatic scale. for example, if the songs in the key of E Major, 3 half steps back would put the solo in the key of C# minor. so the song would be key of E and the solo (for the pentatonic) would be in the key of C# minor. pretty easy stuff really.

when you got that down, learn some of your favorite songs and there solos. then, use what you've learned about the pentatonic to play the solo at different positions. then you can start picking out notes to make up your own solo.

for example, when I play the first verse and chorus of Yellow Ledbetter, I then play a solo that I completely made up. then I play the second verse and chorus followed by Mike's studio version of the solo.