Chord Scale Chord: The Simplest Way to Stop Noodling

If you've been playing guitar for years and your solos still sound noodley and wandering, and you feel like you should be better by now, this one's for you.

If this is the first time we're meeting, my name is Alec Lehrman. I've played on Grammy nominated recordings and I've taught thousands of students the principle you're about to learn. It's the simplest way I know to stop noodling, and I use it with all my students. It's called chord scale chord.

What you need to know first

We're operating in B minor, the same territory as BB King's The Thrill Is Gone. You need a few chords: B minor, E minor, G, and F sharp. And you need one minor pentatonic shape, what I call the pentatonic superhighway.

The principle: bookend your playing with chords

Here's the whole idea, and it's kind of crazy how simple it is. Instead of running your scales up and down and up and down, you bookend every phrase with the chord.

Play the chord. Play a simple phrase out of the sliding pentatonic superhighway. End the phrase on the chord.

That's it. Chord, scale, chord. When the next chord comes, do the exact same thing over that chord. B minor, then E minor, then back to B minor.

When the G and the F sharp come around, those chords change fast, so the full chord scale chord move might feel overwhelming. Just play the chord and outline a couple of its notes. I like highlighting the third and the root. When you have more time on a chord, do the full move.

Hearing it over the 12 bar form

Over the Thrill Is Gone form it lays out like this. The first four bars are B minor, so that's chord, riff, chord. Bars five and six are E minor, same move. Back to B minor for two bars. Then the G and F sharp go by with their chord tones outlined, back home to B minor, and a turnaround on the five.

Every phrase starts somewhere and lands somewhere. Nothing wanders.

Why this fixes your solos and your practice

This principle stops your solos from being run on sentences. It also stops your practice sessions from being aimless scale laps with no structure.

It gives you enough time to stop, pause, and slow down, so you're playing with intention instead of letting your fingers do all the playing. I guarantee you'll feel more confident the next time you go to solo, just from this one principle. It's something I wish I knew about 20 years ago.

Once chord scale chord feels natural, build your phrases with the ABC method, and go deeper on the form itself with minor blues soloing.

Watch the original video: You'll Never Noodle Again After Using This Secret System

Want to go deeper?

Grab the free Blues Bootcamp. It walks through these concepts with tabs, downloadable PDFs, backing tracks, and a jam with me section.

And if you're done watching endless videos and want the proven system start to finish, check out The Blues Guitar System, my full course.