Here is a practice track for working on your E major soloing. It is two chords, a I-IV progression – E and A in the key of E major.
Practice Track: G major – Folk Rock
Here is a practice track in a folk rock style, based on the chords to “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, a perennial guitar favorite – mainly because the chords are very easy:
||:G | D |C | |G |D |Am |Am : ||
To solo over these chords the best place to start is in the key of G major, as all the chords contain only notes from that key. So get the G major scale under your fingers, and make use of the following track to hone your improvising skills!
C major Practice Track: C & G7
This is a simple practice track for beginning guitarists. The drums provide a basic rock beat behind a simple bass line and open position chords. The chords are C and G7:
||: C | |G7 | : ||
Use it to practice making up a melody (improvising!) using the notes of the C major scale. Listen carefully for which notes go better with each chord.
Have Fun!
C major practice track
Here is a simple practice track for practicing improvising in a C major scale. The chords are
|G |Am |Bm7b5 |C : ||
It is suitable for any player who can play the C major scale! When you are playing, see if you can listen to each note, and pick out notes which go with the chords.
C major practice track: V-vi-vii-I
Playing the guitar is about making the most of what skills and techniques you have, being musical with the things that you CAN do. Don’t worry about things you can’t do – just focus on what you can do, and be as musical as you can. The more you play, the range of things you can do increases – especially if you have a good regular practice routine.
As an example, here is a melody part for the same progression played entirely in first position, using only one octave from the G string up to G on the top E string:
C major practice track with lead (melody):
So be as musical as you can with the skills and technique you have. It is a good habit that will strengthen your playing as you continue to improve your technique and skill level. And don’t forget to have fun!
Practice Track: F major ii-V-I
This practice track is done in a light rock style, and is great for practicing soloing using the F major scale. The chords are
||:F |Gm |C7 |F :||
Other approaches to soloing (besides the F major scale) you can use are (i) F major (D minor) pentatonic scale (ii) F major pentatonic for the F chord, followed by G minor Pentatonic for the G minor and C7 chords, (iii) A minor pentatonic for the F chord followed by G minor pentatonic for the Gm and C7, (iv) F major, G minor and C7 Arpeggios with passing notes from the F major scale. Any combination of the preceding of course will also work!
All the above approaches are really just using the F major scale, but give different selections of notes which help create different sounds. Using the pentatonic scales is cool because it allows you to make use of a well known scale, and get maximum value from fingering and scale shapes that you might already know well.
So download the practice track below, and start having some fun!
Free Mp3 Download: F major II-V-I practice track.
Practice Track: C major folk rock
This is a practice track for beginning and intermediate players to play along with. It is in a basic folk rock style, but can be used by people interested in country or rock as well. You can use the track in several ways.
The chords are
||: C | |G | : ||
Firstly, try and strum along to the rhythm guitar, and secondly, practice playing your own solos over the rhythm track. The rhythm guitar is panned a little to the left, with a second guitar strumming a chord every two bars panned just to the right. There are two basic rhythms, with occasional variations. For the first 16 bars, the strum used is predominantly:
The strum then changes to the following for 16 bars:
The two strums then alternate each 16 bars. Note that palm muting is used to stop the strings from ringing out excessively!
The second way you can use this practice track is to practice your soloing. Use the C major scale as your starting point. This will give a basic folk rock sound. Introducing a Bb over the C chord will generate a more bluesy sound (the b7). The blues sound can be further enhanced by introducing an Eb (the b3) which can be bent partly or all the way to an E. You may also like to experiment with the C and G major pentatonic scales, over the C and G chords respectively, which will give a more country sound. Then try the C minor pentatonic scale, which will give a harder rock or blues sound.
Free MP3 Download: C&G7 practice track
Have fun!
Rob Plays at the Mount Nebo Winter Ball
Rob will be playing a folk rock set at the upcoming Mount Nebo Winter Ball. Starting at 8pm, the 45 minute set will feature Rob’s new band, with Llew Strutt on Bass, and Michael Sax on Drums. The set will feature all original tunes, with plenty of opportunities for improvisation in a rock trio setting. Originally billed as Rob Reeves and the Misfits, we will have to come up with another name, as there is already a band called the Misfits! The ball will be held on Saturday Night, 23rd July, at the Mount Nebo Hall in View St, Mount Nebo. It is a fund raiser for the local residents’ association, so come along and have a great night! See the face book page below for more details!