How to Solo Over Chord Changes: Chord Tone Soloing on Guitar

To solo over chord changes, aim your phrases at the chord tones — the root, third and fifth of whichever chord is playing — and land on one as each chord arrives. The third is the best target, because it's the note that says whether the chord is major or minor. You don't need new scales to do it, just the shapes you know with the chord tones marked.

What chord tones are

A chord tone is any note in the chord being played at that moment. For a triad, that's three notes: the root, the third and the fifth. Over an A major chord they're A, C♯ and E; over A minor, A, C and E. If triads are new to you, the guitar triads guide covers how they're built and where they sit on the neck.

Every other note in the scale is a passing note over that chord. Passing notes create movement and tension; chord tones resolve it. A solo that ends its phrases on chord tones sounds as if it's following the band. One that ends wherever the shape happens to run out sounds as if it's playing over the band. This guide is part of the pentatonic lessons, and builds on the pentatonic scale guide's section on using it over chords.

Why the pentatonic stops working when the chords change

Over a single chord, or a song that sits in one minor key, the minor pentatonic sounds right almost everywhere. That's why it's the first scale everyone learns. The problem starts when the chords move and start using notes the box doesn't have.

Take a I–IV–V in A major: A, D and E. The thirds of those chords are C♯, F♯ and G♯. A minor pentatonic (A, C, D, E, G) contains none of them, and it has a C and a G that clash with two of them. That clash is the blues sound when it's deliberate, but over a bright pop or rock progression it just sounds wrong. Even A major pentatonic, which has C♯ and F♯, doesn't have G♯, the third of the E chord.

The minor-key version has the same issue. In A minor, the common progression Am, G, F uses B (the third of G) and F (the root of F), and neither is in the A minor pentatonic. The box isn't wrong; it just doesn't contain every chord's defining note. The fix is to know where each chord's notes are and aim for them.

Finding chord tones inside shapes you know

You already have the chord tones under your fingers; they're just not marked. Two maps help.

Inside the pentatonic positions

Every minor pentatonic position contains the root, flat third and fifth of the key's minor chord, and the root, third and fifth of its relative major. In position 1 of A minor, the As, Cs and Es are the A minor chord; the Cs, Es and Gs are C major. Start by playing only those notes inside the box you know.

Inside the CAGED shapes

Each chord has five CAGED shapes up the neck, and each shape is a ready-made map of its chord tones. Playing a shape one note at a time — a CAGED arpeggio — tells you exactly where the root, third and fifth are in that area of the neck. When the chord changes, the next chord's nearest shape shows you its tones a fret or two away.

Land on the third

All three chord tones work as landing notes, but they do different jobs. The root is safe and final. The fifth is stable but neutral: it's the same in major and minor chords. The third is the one that names the chord. Land on it as the chord changes and the listener hears the change in your line, not just in the backing.

Thirds also sit close together from chord to chord, which makes them easy to connect. Moving from one chord's third to the next chord's third often takes a fret or two, so a line built from thirds outlines the whole progression with very little hand movement.

Worked example: A, D and E (I–IV–V in A)

Stay between the 4th and 8th frets, around the area of the A minor pentatonic box. Here are each chord's tones in that area, with the third in green.

Over A, aim for C♯: the 6th fret of the G string or the 4th fret of the A string. Over D, aim for F♯: the 7th fret of the B string or the 4th fret of the D string. Over E, aim for G♯: the 4th fret of the high e, the 6th fret of the D string or the 4th fret of the low E string.

Try it with one note per chord first. Hold C♯ on the G string through the A chord, move to F♯ on the B string for D, and drop to G♯ on the high e for E. Then add a couple of scale notes before each target, so the target becomes the end of a short phrase rather than a single note.

Worked example: Am, G and F (i–♭VII–♭VI in A minor)

This descending progression is one of the most common in rock and pop. Here are the three chords' tones between the 1st and 8th frets.

The thirds give you a lovely line on the G string alone: C at the 5th fret over Am, B at the 4th fret over G, and A at the 2nd fret over F. It walks down the neck with the chords. Play it on its own first, then start each phrase in the A minor pentatonic box and end it on that chord's note on the G string.

Notice that B and F — the notes the pentatonic box was missing — are now part of the plan. They come from the natural minor scale, which is the pentatonic plus exactly those two notes. Over this progression, the natural minor fits every chord.

A practice routine

Fifteen minutes, with a looped backing track at a slow tempo.

1. Three minutes — chord tones only. Play just the root, third and fifth of each chord as it comes round, in one area of the neck. No other notes.
2. Three minutes — thirds only. Play one note per chord: its third. Find a version where each third is within two frets of the last.
3. Four minutes — approach the target. Play two or three scale notes before each third, arriving on it exactly as the chord changes.
4. Five minutes — free soloing. Improvise normally, but make sure the last note of every phrase is a chord tone of the chord underneath.

Do this for a week on A, D and E, then a week on Am, G and F. After that, try it over a song you know. For the same idea from the chord side, see using triads in solos.