Why Beginners Always Struggle With Guitar Solos

Check out the Patreon for some guided lessons and more:

Going over a new method I'm using that I wish I would've seen earlier. Also rocking out the D'angelico Deluxe SS if you wanna check one out:

If you like what we're throwing down in this video, check out the MasterClass I made on how to solo on guitar with another musician. You won't regret it!

Check out the music:

🍀 Emeryld Ryders 1

😎 Sean Daniel

⭐ Andrea and Sean
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A little about me:
Sean Daniel is a man. A man of simple needs and desires. And the one desire, no, the one NEED, that stands above all is to spread the challenges, joy and intellectual stimulus of music to people of Earth and beyond.
#guitar #solo #handsomegentleman
Born on the mean streets of upper middle class suburban Chicago, Sean learned the ways of the world through the dizzying heights of success to the lonesome depths of failure and emerged with the promise of a better tomorrow reflecting in his eyes and fiery passion in his belly.
He plays and teaches guitar on his YouTube channel where he regularly releases original music and projects to the adulation of legions of fans, who often compare him to Chris Pratt and one time Ryan Reynolds. He’s currently in the market for a nice leather jacket.

[Jenisonc]

Dude!! I have a student with autism and he see shapes extremely well. The pentatonic scale had him stuck because it was all he could see. He was playing the shape. This is amazing. I know this will be a winner. Thank you!

[davidgriffith]

1. Play licks instead of scales. 2. The most important note of any lick is the last one, it defines the musical meaning of the lick. 3. Instead of noodling aimlessly, use theme and variations. Play a lick, then play it again but varied in some way. It gives folks listening a handle to understand your melody.

[aaronberg]

Bro you really help some of us old school players jump start. I'm in my 50's and did not grow up learning guitar with you tube videos and am like a kid in a candy store with all these really cool video lessons everywhere.

[zakaroonetwork]

“Close Your eyes, and play in the dark, feel the music flowing through you”. - Carlos Santana.

[berniarmstrong]

I watched this last Friday and a light came one! For the first time in my life I was at a jam session at the weekend and when asked to take the solo, I did so without fear. Just noodling around those two shapes (after transposing them into the key in which we were playing, of course) was enough to make me feel I was offering something musical to the gig. That was the first time I have improvised in public. So thanks a million, Sean.

[Ramansdos]

I'm a bassist, looking to unlock the neck to facilitate good jazz soloing. This video was more useful than any of the bass tuition vids I've watched. Nice job all round, dude.

[TomDavidMcCauley]

Oh man it was great when I figured this out one day in high school—it completely catapulted my playing and songwriting—and I’m so glad to see someone else catch onto it and explain it better than I could.

Another thing I discovered then: go drop D, anchor the one-finger power chord to whatever fret you want, then, keeping the index finger as the anchor, use your ring and pinky fingers to play the shape. You can then move that anchored shape around the fret like a power chord. Great, easy way to come up with infectious melodies.

[badger]

I've been stuck for years fiddling around with pentatonic, and major scales, but never being able to make it sound musical. Much appreciated!

[bettyswunghole]

I tried using my ears to solo, but I just couldn't hold the pick at all.😂

But seriously, nice vid as always Sean!

[kevinodriscoll]

Finally a guitar YouTube channel that makes sense to me. You have a very organic and intuitive approach to instruction! Well done!!

[musicallyunpluggedmanish]

Not many great musicians, unearth concepts make them easy to comprehend and teach in such a fun way. You are one of those super geniuses. Simply the best. Great learning from your videos Sean. Simply love them.

[oswaldgrimmelsworth]

Thank you for these videos! I think the most impressive part is the fact that there are no cuts, you're a great teacher.

[dylanmcdougall]

i’ve always been decent at soloing but never understood why, this makes it make so much more sense!! thank you so much

[drchikosi]

I was stuck in pentatonics, probably annoying my listeners but u’ve opened another one for me to shine a little better. Thanks Sean.

[maitreemaitri]

Today i tried playing solo n i m so happy to play . Thank u so much. I have seen many videos but this is the best ...n u r right whatever u have said. U have an amazing way n i must say practical implication of explanation of what theoretically a student may know!! . I have been struggling for playing solos as there is so much n so many shapes n this is just simple n easy n it gives so much independence to play solos. Lovely. Thx a lot Sir.

[RaquelFernandespt]

Wow, blow my mind. Not only did it help me visualize new scales, it helped me memorize note positions. I'm really grateful for this vid, thanks man

[Nicky-T]

Okay, now some of you may be wondering why this looks so easy and sounds so good, but when you play it against a backing track it sounds terrible. Here's why: the A Major scale is not really compatible with the A minor pentatonic (does the major and minor give it away?) Some of the notes are the same, but if you're playing a blues or rock song that works fine with pentatonic, the A major scale has notes that are a terrible clash. The C# sounds fine while playing over an A chord, but play it over a D or E chord, and you're in trouble. If you play the G# in the A Major scale over the A or D chords, ecch (sounds great over the E chord, though)! If you're playing non-blues-based music this approach may work fine.

First, for pentatonic players that are stuck in that rut - SING what you want to be playing first - short phrases, and then play them on the guitar. If it sounds boring singing it, it will sound boring playing it. Shorten you "phrases" and don't always go up and down the scale - skip over notes. You'll get better and better at this as you discipline yourself to this. And you will be able to come up with longer, more interesting phrases.

You can actually use the method he explains quite successfully if you just move the A Major scale down 2 frets and use the G Major scale instead. This will work WAY better because there are very few "clash" notes in the G Major scale. And you get the benefit of two extra notes that aren't in the pentatonic (pentatonic means 5 tones), plus benefit from some of the ideas he is attempting to express. Just remember that you come back to rest on the A and E notes, just the way he explains, NOT the G and D notes that you might expect in the G scale.

There are music theory reasons that this stuff works, but the important thing is that you get to hear what the notes sound like and how to use them. That's where the music theory came from to begin with, anyway. No one sat down and said, "oh, lets come up with a bunch of rules musicians will need to follow." What they did was listen to stuff and figure out what made it sound so good. Then they can have a shortcut to understand how to play certain things. Happy practicing! And don't be afraid to break some of the "rules" sometimes, and if it sounds good to you, well, there's probably another "rule" that you don't know yet that explains why LOL!

[gfunkmedia]

I always considered myself a lazy guitarist coz primarily I'm a singer who wanted to learn an instrument to accompany my voice. So I learnt how to read tab, but always just focused on chords as an easy, thoughtless accompaniment to my voice. 25 years later I am starting to learn easy solos, but have been caught up on the shape. This is a super easy "no look" way for me to break out of that. New subscriber. Cheers.

[TheOtherDudeGuitar]

I've been working with scales and backing tracks a lot recently. This definitely helps with exploring different ideas instead of just playing up and down the strings.

[gtrplyrgrl]

So many guitarists and teachers of guitar worship at the altar of the pentatonic scale/shape that, even though I learned the 3 notes per string scale/shape, I have not respected its melodic prowess over the pentatonic shape; therefore, I have not practiced it. Now, I will go full blast on this shape! Thank you for the validation, Sean!