Another rock solo from the Jamzone. Here we return to the A natural minor scale for the main solo riffs.

A natural minor scale notes: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A

To practice the A natural minor scale up the fretboard, do this CAGED ActionTab.

The first part of the solo cycles through the first 3 notes of the A natural minor scale: A - B - C. Use palm muted downstrokes for this.

But notice as well that every time the background chord is about to change, an extra A note is palm muted.

In other words, play through A - B - C 4 times but every 5th time play A - B - C - A.

This extra A note doesn't just help us know that a new background chord is happening, it also evens out the timing. We're repeatedly playing 3 notes over a 4 / 4 beat, so this extra A note brings us back to 4 / 4.

Because we start out with an A5 background chord, and are repeatedly playing the 1st 2nd and 3rd notes of the A natural minor scale - we get a very strong A minor flavour right from the start of the solo. Remember that the 1st (root) and 3rd (major or minor) notes of a scale are the strongest determinants of any scale used for a melody. Also, by constantly repeating this riff at the start we are further establishing the melody as being rooted in A minor.

Just before the backing chords cycle back to the beginning again, the riff changes to use an E note. Notice that this E note is open picked and not palm muted! In order to play it at speed, you need to fret across 2 strings with your 3rd finger (as shown in the ActionTab) so that you can quickly reach the E note without missing a beat.

This sequence of notes (A - B - C - E) is now repeated, and always with the first 3 notes palm muted, and the 4th note open picked.

Then we move up, but stay within the A natural minor scale, to play B - C - D - G after the same fashion. Because we are now playing 4 notes per bar, it fits the 4/4 beat perfectly, so we don't add any extra notes like we did with the intro riff.

Next we come to the first free melody line (we say it's 'free', just because it moves away from the strict structure of the previous riffs, and is a freer style of playing). Here we change the melody lines to work with the background chords...

So, as the background chord moves to C5, we play a melody using these notes from the C major scale: F - E - C - G.

Then as the background chord shifts to D5, we use notes from the D major scale: A ^B^ A - F# - D.

Then we end on the A note as the background chord shifts to A5. This happily returns us back to the A minor scale.

Then we bend B^C before playing D# as the background chord moves to B5. D# is the major 3rd of the B major scale, so works well here.

Finish the melody with a slide, for maximum rock effect (remember breathing from the previous solo!), then return to the A - B - C - E and B - C - D - G palm muted riffs.

The rest of the solo follows the same principles: Combining palm muting with melodic riffs, and using open notes for effect. Also, using the background chords to construct 'free' melody parts that take us away from the main key (A minor in this case).

Working at solos like this will help your timing and string control. The timing needs to be tight and precise to chop out the little repeating riffs! You'll also need good string control to switch between this tight, rhythmic style of playing and the looser 'free' melodies inbetween - where you need to use vibrato, slides and bends.

Once you can play along with the normal speed audio, you'll definitely be ready to return to the Backing Track and start working out your own little rhythmic riffs and melodies using all the tricks you've seen here!