Here's a note-by-note lesson about this cool solo I wrote back in 2004 for a project I was part of.

You will learn not only each note, but also each technique I use in this solo. I am sure there are new things for you to.

Every time we learn a solo, a riff, a lick, we should be learning not only how to copy and play, but go a little deeper in what exactly is the thought behind the solo, what scale, what shape, where is the root and chord tones, the chords behind it, etc. If we do that, then we can say we are actually learning something, not only mimicking somebody else.

My hope is that you can not only learn the solo, but that you're able to add the techniques and the elements to your own playing. Have fun!

Hey friend. How are you doing?

In my early 20's I was supper excited with my future. As a musician I thought I would go around the world touring and playing in full arenas... you know, the dream.

During that time I wrote a lot of song (and still do). In one of the songs I wrote I guitar solo that I really like to this day, and I want to teach it to you. So grab your guitar and learn this solo today.

Thomas D.

Patterns are great to connect phrases, licks, shapes, or just to fly through the shape at the highest speed possible.

Not only that, patterns will get you different ways to play through the scales, also they can be used as a very creative tool when you're coming up with new licks and phrases.

Here you'll learn four of my favourite patterns. Have fun!

 How to use the pentatonic shapes?

Are you stuck with only one of the pentatonic shapes?

Did you know that are actually five different shapes for this scale? In this video I will teach you all the five shapes and how I personally like to use each single one of them.

How to Use the Major Pentatonic? This is one of the questions I had early on, when I first started to learn how to solo. Maybe this is a question you’re having right now.

When I first started to solo I made a mistake that most rookies do: I applied the minor pentatonic over the root of any song, even if the song was in a major key! TRAGIC!!

It wasn't until a rehearsal for an event at my high school, when a friend of mine gave me this tip that saved me that night. The tip he gave influenced my playing to this day. Not only me, but all of my thousands of students. Now it's your turn!

How to solo over the chord changes? This is one of the questions I had early on when I first started to learn how to solo and I felt stuck. I could solo over major and minor, no problem, but I knew there was more than just that.

Solo over chord changes - I had to learn how to do that. I tried to learn jazz… fusion and whatever I found complex and sophisticated. The more chords the better. The more scales I memorized the better.

I went deeper into the study of harmony and music theory and I was able to understand it all… but I could not solo over chord changes yet… I had the head knowledge… but it turned out that I wasn't able to translate that head knowledge translate into what I deeply wanted to: play freely over the chord changes.

So I decided to go back to the basics: Blues. Is there anything more foundational to the electric guitar than BLUES? And this is what I am going to teach in this video: How to solo over chord changes on Blues.

How to solo over the major key? What is the most effective way to sound good very quickly? Do you need to memorize a whole new scale?

I don't know you, but when I first started to play guitar, I was told that to solo and improv you needed to learn all the scales of all the different keys, major and minor... If that's what you heard as well, I am here to tell you that it is much easier than that, so no stress.

In this video I will show you what is my favourite scale to solo over the major key and how to, with just a few adjustments, you can have some amazing results.

How to solo over the minor key? What is the most effective way to sound good very quickly?

In this video I will show you what is my favourite scale to solo over the minor and how to, with just a few adjustments, you can have some amazing results.

Take your time and go through this lesson and start playing in new and exciting ways.

How to play guitar fast? 

I cannot tell you how many times I heard this question in my life as a guitar teacher. The truth is that playing guitar fast is pretty awesome.

In this video you will learn a few fast licks you can learn and play the next time you’re with your friends. These are fast licks using different techniques to impress your friend and a few girls. So, have fun!

However, playing fast is not the main thing in guitar. When I was younger I used to think that a great guitarist is a fast guitarist. All I wanted was to play as fast as John Petrucci. It didn’t take long for me to learn that it would be impossible because he is way too fast… LOL so I had to change the way I thought about that… LOL.

Playing fast has its value, no doubt. It is a great way to bring intensity and the dynamic of rush in a solo and improvisation, but again, it’s just one aspect of guitar playing. Use it as a means to an end, and not an end alone.

Thomas Dekker...

How to solo on guitar in any given key? Can you solo in any given key? What about if it is a minor key? Or major? What about the genre?

It seems almost impossible to know all the scales, right? Major, minor, sharps and flats? It is a lot to memorize, isn’t it? 

How to do that? How can you know all the scales that we have in our guitar? This is what I love about guitar. Guitar is an instrument that is based in shapes rather than notes. That fact makes our lives as guitarist much more simple!

Well, in this lesson you will learn a very simple and practical way for you to be able to do exactly that: solo in any key, major, or minor, any genre! You will learn how to use one single shape that will work for everything: Any given key, major or minor!

Thomas Dekker