Video Cliffs:

0:00 – Introduction
1:36 – Week 1: Finding the Key by Ear
6:58 – Week 2: Adding the Upper and Lower Extensions
9:54 – Week 3: Common Bends
13:02 – Week 4: Adding the “Blue Note”
15:46 – Week 5: Adding Diatonic Notes to the Upper Strings
18:59 – Week 6: Target Chord Tones by Ear
23:21 – Week 7: Finding Pentatonic Position #4
26:14 – Week 8: Mastering Pentatonic Position #4
29:55 – Final Words

Course Overview

This is an 8-week course that is designed to get you to the point where you can solo in any key, over any chord progression and use the entire fretboard to do so. This is essentially The Ultimate Fretboard Roadmap that every guitar player comes to learn about at one point or another in their guitar journey. This roadmap is used in TONS of popular solos – All Along the Watchtower, Comfortably Numb, Hotel California, Stairway to Heaven – That’s just naming a few of them. There are literally THOUSANDS of solos that almost exclusively follow this exact roadmap.

Week 1 – Finding the Key by Ear

Rather than thinking in terms of major keys and minor keys, it is much easier to simply think in terms of 12 possible key signatures. Each of the 12 possible key signatures can be viewed from the major perspective or the minor perspective.

The circle of 5ths displays the 12 possible major keys in the outer circle. The inner circle displays the same exact key, only from the “minor perspective”.

Essentially there are just 12 possible key signatures (aka. “relative major/minor pairs”).

In order to quickly determine which key signature a song or chord progression is in, you can simply use the pentatonic box test.

Considering the fact that everything on the fretboard repeats after the 12th fret, there are only 12 possible “pentatonic boxes” that you can play before starting over again in the higher octave. One of these 12 pentatonic boxes will work perfectly when played along with the song or chord progression that you are attempting to solo over. Once you find the box that works, you have found your key!

• Your index finger (white dot) will let you know the name of the key from the minor perspective
• Your pinky finger (red dot) will let you know the name of the key from the major perspective

When running the pentatonic box test in the lesson video, this was the one that worked perfectly:

• The index finger of this box was on the note ‘G’
• The pinky finger of this box was on the note ‘Bb’
• Therefore, this was the key of Bb major or G minor

The chord progression that was used in this test was:

• Chord Progression: Eb – Bb – F – Gm

Using the circle of 5ths to verify that the pentatonic box test was correct, we see that all of these chords do fall into the grouping of 6:

Objective of Week 1

Practice quickly finding the key of several different songs. You can simply jam along with the radio or use backing tracks from YouTube (don’t look at the name of the key…that’s up to you to figure out!). Just simply find the pentatonic box that works. Once you have done that, you have found your key!

Week 2 – Adding in the Upper and Lower Extensions

In week 2 you will be learning how to incorporate the upper and lower extensions into your soloing. The lower extension is a little “piece” of pentatonic position #5. The pentatonic box that you found in week 1 is pentatonic position #1, and the upper extension is a little “piece” of pentatonic position #2. Rather than trying to memorize 3 box patterns fully across all 6 strings, it is much more efficient to view things in this diagonal type of roadmap.

Here is pentatonic position #1 for the key of Bb major/G minor:

This same pentatonic box can also be found between the 15th and 18th frets as well.

Let’s now include the upper and lower extensions:

Objective of Week 2

Practice soloing over various different chord progressions, making sure to include the upper and lower extensions in addition to pentatonic position #1.

Week 3 – Common Bends

In week 3, you won’t need to worry about memorizing any new notes. The roadmap, or “soloing framework” will still remain the same. However, we will be bending to higher pitched notes. Technically you can bend any note to any other “in key note”, and it will sound fine. However in order to simplify things, it is easier to just practice a handful of common bends.

Objective of Week 3

Practice making up interesting licks and phrases, and throw in some of these common bends.

Week 4 – Add in the “Blue Note”

The “blue note” can be found in many different spots of the fretboard, within each individual pentatonic position. However for the purpose of sticking with a simple roadmap to follow, we will just focus on adding this note into 2 places.

Objective of Week 4

The blue note (which is indicated by the blue dot, in case that wasn’t obvious!) is an out-of-key note. Therefore you generally don’t want to linger on this note for too long as it will tend to clash with the chord that you are soloing over. Sometimes this clashing sound may be preferred, but usually it’s not. So when you use the blue note in your soloing, try to just use it as a quick “passing tone” or “walking note” that you use to walk from one in-key scale note to the next in-key scale note.

Week 5 – Add in the Remaining Diatonic Scale Notes on the Upper Strings

Again, the goal is to continue adhering to a simple roadmap. Therefore we are just going to be adding in 1 additional note on the 3 high-pitched strings.

These additional 3 notes are not part of the pentatonic scale, but they are still part of the full diatonic scale.

The diatonic scale contains 7 notes, and the pentatonic scale contains 5 of those 7 notes.

So far, we have only been focusing on the pentatonic scale notes (with the exception of the previous week, which included an out-of-key note). We are now just utilizing the full 7-note scale…but only on the high 3 strings.

Objective of Week 5

Practice working these additional 3 notes into your soloing. Notice how much more melodic your playing begins to sound just by this simple addition of 3 notes!

Week 6 – Target Chord Tones by Ear

If you consider the fact that the key-scale (whether viewed from the major perspective or minor perspective) is just 7 notes…

…and if you also consider that any major or minor chord that is part of the key consists of 3 of those 7 notes…

…then you have almost a 50/50 shot of landing on a chord tone if you are soloing within this framework.

If you are playing a scale note that sounds good over a specific chord, but it doesn’t sound ‘perfect’, try playing the next note in the scale (either higher or lower). Usually that 1-note shift to the adjacent scale note often results in the most beautiful note you ever heard. When that occurs, you have likely found a chord tone within your soloing framework.

I call this the “on/off method”. If you sustain on a note that sounds okay, then move up or down 1 note within the scale pattern that you are using. There is a very good chance that the new note will be a beautiful chord tone!

Objective of Week 6

Continue soloing within the same framework as you did in week 5, but really focus on listening for chord tones. Try sustaining on a single note, and then move to an adjacent scale note (do this over the same chord). Compare which of the 2 notes sounds better. More often than not, the better-sounding note will be a chord tone.

P.S. – Chord tones can also be hit with bends as well. A note isn’t quite perfect? Maybe a bend will do the trick. I think David Gilmour knows something about this!

Week 7 – Find Pentatonic Position #4

Up until now we have only been concerned with locating pentatonic position #1. This is a great reference position because it lets you clearly see the key that you are playing in by simply looking at the notes of the low E-string:

• Your index finger (white dot) will let you know the name of the key from the minor perspective
• Your pinky finger (red dot) will let you know the name of the key from the major perspective

Pentatonic position #4 works the exact same way, but the scale roots are now going to be located on the A-string:

Notice the white and red dots on the A-string.

By locating this pentatonic position #4, you can essentially fill in the remainder of the fretboard:

Objective of Week 7

As you continue to practice soloing over various different chord progressions (in different keys), practice locating pentatonic position #4. A good exercise is to start down low in pentatonic position #1 (along with the extensions). Then move to pentatonic position #4. Then move up to pentatonic position #1 again in the higher octave. Practice doing this for a week straight, and you will own the fretboard!

Week 8 – Master Pentatonic Position #4

In this final week, we are going to be doing all of the same stuff that we did in weeks 1 through 6. Only now we will be doing it to pentatonic position #4.

Start out soloing in this position by just playing the pentatonic notes:

Add in the upper and lower extensions (it’s a bit different than for pentatonic position #1, but it’s still very similar):

Add in diatonic notes on just the upper strings:

Add the “blue note” into just one spot:

Objective of Week 8

This may seem like a ton of stuff, but if you have successfully worked your way through the first 6 weeks, then you most likely have already developed your ear quite a bit. Instead of playing around pentatonic position #1, simply just play around pentatonic position #4 now. Get the feel for this new position and the “go to notes” that surround it.

Final Words

After you work your way through this course, start to look out for this roadmap in your favorite songs and solos. Look for the upper and lower extensions being added. Look for those common bends. Look for those common diagonal runs. You will see this stuff coming up A LOT.

Is this the be all, end all of soloing?

No way!

But getting this roadmap down is a great way to get yourself to the point where you can solo pretty proficiently over any chord progression, in any key.

Get that down, then start really honing in on more of the fretboard, different patterns, etc.

Have fun with it!