I've often thought my attempts at soloing came off sounding really "scale-y" - as if I'm just aimlessly meandering around the major and minor scales rather than coming up with decent phrasing.

Up until now, if I've been soloing in the key of C for example, I've been sticking just to the notes in the actual scale itself (which would explain why my attempts at soloing sound so "scaley") then it dawned on me that I could solo using these notes anywhere on the fretboard, so long as they were in the same key.

My question is however, in order to do this, do I have to memorise where each and every note is on the fretboard?
[Edited 12/5/07 12:53pm]

MattyJam said:

yes they usually use all the notes from that scale anywhere on the fretboard but really they/you can use any notes you want to.

In order to stop sounding so "scaley"...

1. Sing your solo into a recorder then go back and figure out how to play it on the guitar. Change certain notes too in certain places and see how it sounds when you play a note that doesn't belong to the scale you are in.

2. Don't play so many notes. play more rhythmically with very simple melodic phrases.

I think the best thing to do is not think about scales at all.

1. memorizing the notes on the fretboard is a worthwhile project. Set a goal to have it done in a few months then work it. Every practice, pick 1-3 notes and find them everywhere on the fretboard. It is slow going at first, but becomes easier. (there are tricks as well, recurring patterns, use of octaves, etc that make this less painful that it has to be).

2. I agree 100% with Devin on singing your solos. Getting your inner ear and your fingers on the same page will do wonders for how melodic your lines sound. You'll go from sounding scale-y, as you put it, to creating some singable lines. Start by humming the pitch of your scale as you run it up and down. Once you get the tone in your ear, see if you can sing a pitch and then find it in the scale. This will lead to humming short phrases and then copying them from the scale.

3. Finally, nothing says "I know what I'm doing and I meant to do that" than hitting chord tones. If you're just randomly running the scale, you'll be playing the right notes, but you will not be saying anything. Learning your basic Major/Minor/Dominant arpeggios will help, but you should also study a bit of theory ... i.e. which scale tones make a major chord (Root third fifth), which tones make a minor 9th (root, flat third, fifth, flat seventh, ninth) etc. Knowing your arpeggios and a little backing theory will help you find those chord tones when you solo. This way, people can hear that you are working with the chords and not just running scales.

One important part of scales I think we all forget... you should really be able to go from one note in the scale to any another note in the same scale... ie you should be able to play "any interval"...

make a conscious effort to play wider intervals... ie 1->5... 2->7 etc... and also going immediately from one octave to another...

memorizing where all the notes are all over the neck (ie: immediately looking at a part of the neck and knowing what note is there, without having to think about it...), and knowing which key you're playing in, will help to go immediately from one part of the neck to another, instead of working your way up along the neck...

This is great advice. I'll give it a shot and let you know how I progress.

Thanks.