You know the chords, the key, and you know what scales to use over them, but your solos still sound a little “vanilla” or wandering?

If so, there’s a good chance you’re not really following the chord changes the way you should.

Try this strategy:

1. Get out some staff paper (or TAB, whatever is easier for you). You can download some from my website.

2. Write above the staff what the chords are, in sequence.

3. Next, write down the notes in each chord on the staff, so you can easily find them. These are your “guide tones.”

4. If you have the ability to record yourself, record the chords progression you wrote down. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just play it over and over so you have a nice long backing track.

5. Now, play the backing track and when the chords change, land on one of the notes you wrote down for that chord. For instance, when a G chord comes along, you should land on a G, B or D. When a C comes along, play C, E or G, etc.

The basic idea is that you want to land on a chord tone whenever you come to a new chord. Using the strategy described above will help you over time become familiar with the chord tones so that your solos sounds like you know exactly what you’re doing.

You might surprised at how much better this simple system can make you sound. Try it!

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