Chord based soloing and country soloing

Onpar

Hopefully the knowledgeable folk on here can help as I am slightly confused and need some clarification.

My understanding of soloing is that you work out the tonal centre (which key the chord progression is in).
Then choose the appropriate scale for the key i.e. G major or pentatonic scale.
Play the G major or pentatonic scale but focus on the chord tones of the underlying chords but keep to the G major scale
I think/hope this is correct

However, in country guitar it seems the notes of the solos can be from the scale of each associated chord. e.g. play G major scale over G major chord but then use the C major scale for the C major chord.
Is this correct? do you play the scale associated this each individual chord? or just use the scale associated with the key?

Hope this makes sense, it's not as easy to write this out!
 

Roland

A lot of country solos are based around chord tones. Have a look at some of Guthrie Trapp’s videos. For example:

https://youtu.be/Zi1dfkWvF5Q

Kasalic

Interested in this myself. My limited understanding is that if a song is diatonic then using the scale/pentatonic works fine, but when the song is not diatonic, playing the 'chord' intervals avoids hitting a wrong note.

For example if a song in C uses an A major chord you would want to use the C# and not the natural C?

tanihhiavlt

What follows isn't music theory - it's words used to describe sounds, the sounds sound simple and obvious the explanations use unavoidable jargon - the jargon brings out the worst in people, so apologies for not showing this stuff.

There's less information in chords, arpeggios and pentatonic scales than there is in a scale (and key signature). Ambiguity can be good for melodies, but if not, you can use any two neighbouring diatonic chords (or arpeggios) to describe a scale, ( e.g. Cmaj7 + Dm-7 )

When we say "A major" in the key of C - an A major triad AC#E contains less conflicting information than a Major7th chord (AC#EG#). The first contains what the brain will probably interpret as a b9, the second contains b9 #5 (scrambled brain) .. and a dominant 7th (AC#EG) contains more diatonic notes hinting at C# being the odd-one-out and deserving of our special interest to make the audience love it - the writer put it there for a reason after all.

Playing the changes - the chord tones requires knowing the arpeggio patterns (1 octave is enough if you know the fretboard) - for country you'll want to play with 9th and 13th chord sounds (so an E minor or A minor arpeggio over C) favour strings 1-4 to avoid Clem (the bassist) from thinking you're after his job - the downside of playing the changes is you won't create a strong melody.

If you break the chord progressions into a couple of parts that can be explained by different keys (not necessarily equal lengths) you can pick the mode that makes sense and lead into the transition and prepare the audience for the modulation, preparing people for the modulation requires not being ambiguous and negotiating the point where some notes clash or jar, being country you can bend up or down to them.

viz

Agree with the above. 

Also, trying to play what’s in your mind’s ear - what you would come out with if you were whistling along - is a good approach. Your mind’s ear will tend automatically to stick to “correct” notes that don’t jar. 

Danny1969

It also depends on what kind of country. Old country tends to be very diatonic but modern country uses a lot of outside notes which are out of key technically but used as passing tones. Modern country players like Brad Paisley have taken this approach from Van Halen and applied it to a country style. Pulling off to open strings even if the open string notes aren't in key is a very popular modern country trick. Like Van Halen's best work it doesn't make much sense when you play it slowly but when you play it fast it creates a great effect.  For an example check out Nervous Breakdown from Brad Paisley. 

One way to approach soloing in country or any style really is to think of any note as fair game to hit but not linger on ... So if you have a progression from Gmaj to Dmaj you can hot any notes on the way but if you stop on a note then it needs to make sense over the chord and for best effect the note would generally be the root, third or fifth of that chord. This isn't an absolute rule but observing this rule will instantly make your solo's far more melodic than a solo derived from playing a familiar shape with no thought to the actual notes. 

So acknowledge the key of the song as a starting point but try and get the solo from a combination of playing what you hear in your head and choosing notes that work over the chord changes and compliment them. 

Dominic

^ I think that is pretty much spot on
It's also about the feel and phrasing as much as the notes (or it can sound too bluesy )
Incorporate all the Country tricks for the win :
Double stops and Double stop scale runs
Open string Cascade licks ( as Danny says ......using outside tones but make sure to resolve )
Double stop Bends 
Also..........say Y'all and Yeehaa a lot as you play ; wear a check shirt and a Stetson and buy a pickup truck

tanihhiavlt

if he's really authentic, his pickup will have run over his stetson when it stole his woman from him.

Onpar

tanihhiavlt said:

if he's really authentic, his pickup will have run over his stetson when it stole his woman from him.

Humbucker or single coil? 

kelpbeds

Onpar said:

Hopefully the knowledgeable folk on here can help as I am slightly confused and need some clarification.

My understanding of soloing is that you work out the tonal centre (which key the chord progression is in).
Then choose the appropriate scale for the key i.e. G major or pentatonic scale.
Play the G major or pentatonic scale but focus on the chord tones of the underlying chords but keep to the G major scale
I think/hope this is correct

However, in country guitar it seems the notes of the solos can be from the scale of each associated chord. e.g. play G major scale over G major chord but then use the C major scale for the C major chord.
Is this correct? do you play the scale associated this each individual chord? or just use the scale associated with the key?

Hope this makes sense, it's not as easy to write this out!
 

I cover chord tone soloing in this video. Sure it will really help you!