Playing the changes vs lead lines

Niallseroreilly

Been working on 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' by John Mayer this week. So i broke down the solo chords and performed arpeggio exercises with the chords. After the exercises i played around with my looper making my own solo etc with the arpeggios.

Then i worked out his solo basically using a pentatonic shape in mind.

I felt throughout the process that using the scale approach to soloing felt more natural and musical rather than landing on a chord tone when the chord hits.

Anyone any thoughts on this? Do you prefer one method always or a mix of both?

Roland

Horses for courses. It depends on the song. There are some songs where you'd use the minor scale over the major chord, which breaks both rules

Niallseroreilly

What would you do with that one @Roland ;

stratman3142

I had a quick listen. The chords suggest a C#m pentatonic, or (if you want to add extra notes) C# Aeolian mode.

A bluesy feel C#m minor pentatonic seems to go with the style of song, which is what he uses, except in the first phrase I believe he also bends up to a D# which adds a 9th to the basic minor pentatonic.

Targeting the chord tones too much can make things sound a bit contrived, but it's good to have a general awareness of the chords. For example, he lands on a G# (from the minor pentatonic) for the E chord, which is nicely lifts out the 3rd of that chord. I think that's more about going with his ears than over thinking it.

Creating interesting expressive phrases in the context of the style of the song is the most important thing, which is what he does.

Niallseroreilly

Brilliant @stratman3142 ;

Roland

Niallseroreilly said:

What would you do with that one @Roland ;

Simplicity is the key. I love the sweetness of guitar that plays throughout. Listening on an iPad I'm not sure whether it's a pedal steel or Strat neck pickup with the tone backed off. For a lead break I'd develop that, keeping a warm, clean sound rather than the overdriven Strat which Mayer introduces.

The song is in C#m, but a lot of the resolution is in E major. During the middle 8 (or was it the chorus) I'd make more of the slow trill on Eb and E. For a solo break I would use the notes E, F#, G# and B for the first 8 bars, sliding between them, and particularly using G# and B because they emphasise the E major. Then descend to the C#m pentatonic, picking more aggressively and adding a couple of bends, before returning to E major to round it off.