Following the Chords

Your solos are in the right key. They’re just not in the right chord.

If you know your scales but every solo still floats over the song instead of locking into it, this is the piece nobody taught you: how to target the chords underneath, so your licks finally follow the song instead of just sharing its key.

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Hear two of the five solos.

You hear the three-chord rhythm part and a taste of the five solos you’ll build over it, in my own hands.

The struggle

It happens to almost everyone who learns to solo from scales.

When you learn to solo, the path is pretty clear. Get a scale or two under your fingers, put on a jam track, and play. And that works… for a while. It is how most of us started, and it is genuinely good advice.

But there is a wall a lot of players hit somewhere down the road. The notes are all in key. The timing is fine. And the solo still sits on top of the song instead of moving with it. Same scale, same handful of licks, no matter what the chords underneath are doing.

  • Every solo comes out sounding like the one before it. Same box, same go-to licks, song after song… and after a while your own ear starts to notice.
  • The notes are all right, and the line still floats. It never quite grabs onto the song the way the solos on the records do, and it is hard to put a finger on why.
  • More scales did not close the gap. Another pattern, another lick, a little more speed… and the solos still drifted over the top instead of digging in.
  • Playing along is the easy part. Leading is the part that makes the palms sweat. Copying a lick is one thing. Making it fit a song that keeps moving underneath you is a different feeling entirely.

The shift

It’s not that you’re playing the wrong notes. You’re just not playing the right ones.

Here is the part that rarely gets explained. Inside every chord in a song there are three notes that do not just fit… they shine. Land on one of those while that chord is ringing, and your line stops rambling, and starts sounding like it was custom crafted for the song. Musicians have a name for those three notes. They are called triads, and they are hiding all over the neck.

And no, this will not turn you into a robot counting intervals in the middle of a solo. I do not play that way, and I would never ask you to. You just learn where the strong notes live. After a while they stop being theory and start bubbling up into your playing on their own, right when you want them.

The good news is you don’t have to become a theory whiz to get there. You need a few simple principles, and you need to see them at work, on a real progression, in real solos.

That is the whole idea behind Following the Chords. We take a progression you have played a thousand times… plain old D, C and G… and use it as the proving ground. First we turn that simple rhythm into something with real groove and movement. Then we build five short solos over it, one at a time, and for every lick I will show you how it locks onto the chord underneath and how to move it when the chord changes.

We keep the progression dead simple on purpose. When you always know exactly where you are in the song, your hands are free to learn the one thing that actually matters here… landing on the chord. Get that on three easy chords, and it is a short step to the next progression, and the one after that.

What’s inside

A few of the things you’ll pick up along the way.

  • The very first chord you ever learned, set loose to roam the whole neck. Plain old open D, the day-one chord. Almost nobody finds out it quietly slides anywhere you want it to go… or what that does to a solo once it can.
  • The little inversion move that gives a plain chord some real swagger. You have heard it from Hendrix, Stevie Ray, John Mayer and half the players you love, whether you ever noticed it or not. It drops into almost any song you already play.
  • The one note you can reach for anywhere in the whole progression… and it lands every single time. Blues players treat it like a trump card. Once you know which note it is, you will lean on it for the rest of your playing life.
  • The one rule that gives you permission to stop overthinking your solos. Get one thing in place at the start of each chord, and from there almost anything you play is fair game. It is the closest thing to a “you cannot really mess this up” button I have found.
  • A gloriously sloppy run I stole straight from Joe Bonamassa. Everything you were ever told about clean, careful fingering goes out the window. It should feel wrong under your hand. It comes out sounding like fire.
  • Why double-stops can be the two tastiest notes in the whole solo… or the ugliest clash you have ever played. The line between the two is a lot thinner than it looks, and easy to stay on the right side of once you see it.
  • The relationship between two chords that makes the whole fretboard suddenly fit together. One student told me this was the thing that finally did it for him. The scales, the shapes, the boxes stop being a pile of patterns and turn into one map.
  • The real-world move almost no solo course bothers to teach: sliding out of the rhythm and into your solo without a stumble. In a three-piece band there is nobody to cover that half second for you. This is where you build it.

It’s all built on one groovy rhythm and five short solos, taught a phrase at a time, so every idea has a song to live in, not just a worksheet.

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How it’s taught

The Copycat Solo Sessions.

Most courses like this one play you the lick, then move straight on to the next. I wanted something that actually gets these solos into your hands, so I built in a method I am calling the Copycat Solo Sessions.

I play a piece of the solo. The jam track loops right there. Then it is your turn to play it back. I go again, you go again. Call and response, all in one take, with the tab on screen if you need it and no buttons to push.

It works because your ear is the best teacher you’ve got. Trade a phrase back and forth a few times and it stops being dots on a page… it starts being something you can feel, and then something you own.

Reviews

What players say once the chords start to click.

I’ve purchased most of your courses and have found them invaluable. I’ve advanced my guitar playing ability from Learner through to Intermediate. Although I don’t play in a band, I jam regularly with friends and they have noticed the improvement particularly with my soloing. Thanks so much to you for your highly instructional courses and jam tracks.

Chris Katene

I am studying Dynamic Rhythm Guitar, Tasty Riffs and Solos and Following the Chords. All excellent courses. My key learning has been the major and relative minor relationship. Suddenly the modes, the caged system, the scales all fit together logically. Wow! I’m in wonderful new territory with my playing. Thanks for the excellent teaching!

Rick Lee

Your lessons have helped me learn a lot about the guitar, and how it works. I do not consider myself your average guitar player. I am retired and am 75 years old… I have my 10,000 hrs. in and still love learning about the instrument. I have enjoyed all your courses.

Michael Shattuck

Different players, same turn… the moment a solo stops rambling and starts sounding like it belongs in the song.

Before you buy

This one’s not for beginners.

I’ll be straight with you. This is not a first-week course, and it is not a learn-to-solo-from-zero course. To pull the most out of it, you will want a few things already in place.

  • A little theory. You don’t need to be a whiz, but there is a lot of practically-applied theory in here, and it leans on knowing how chords are built. If theory is brand new, Guitar Theory Unlocked is the better place to start.
  • Your pentatonic shapes. We lean on two patterns mostly, and dip in and out of the rest. If they aren’t under your fingers yet, build that foundation first.
  • Some soloing miles. You should already be comfortable noodling around with scales and riffs. Full tab is included for everything, so you are never flying blind.

If you’re an intermediate player with a bit of soloing under your belt, looking for a way to make it actually follow the song, this one was built for you.

Level up, or your money back.

Go through the whole course. Build the rhythm, learn the five solos, sit with the jam track. If your licks are not following the chords better than they ever have, if your solos are landing on the song instead of floating over it, just email me. I’ll refund every penny, with no weasel clauses and no hoops. You keep the tab book and the jam track either way.

Jonathan

Get the course

From playing the scale to following the song.

Everything you need to make your solos follow the song instead of floating over it.

  • Target the chord tones under a progression, so your licks follow the song instead of just sharing its key
  • Turn a plain three-chord progression into a rhythm part with real groove and movement
  • Play five complete solos over that progression, each one built phrase by phrase
  • Find the three notes hiding in every chord, all over the neck, even in keys you have not played in
  • Move smoothly between playing rhythm and taking the solo, the way you have to in a real band
  • Turn the scale you already know into a vocabulary that actually says something

What's included 11 lessons, close to two hours in all · a groovy three-chord rhythm part plus five complete solos, taught phrase by phrase with the Copycat Solo Sessions · a course supplement book (PDF) with the theory, riffs and patterns spelled out · Guitar Pro 7 files for the solos · the backing track · lifetime access · email support · 60-day money-back guarantee

Stop playing over the song. Start playing with it. $50 Yes, teach me to follow the chords

✓ Backed by the 60-day, level-up-or-your-money-back guarantee.

All prices in USD. One-time payment, instant access, lifetime access.

Fifty bucks, five solos, and a better way to play every one that comes after.

The point was never to memorize five solos. It is to learn how a solo locks onto the chords underneath it… where the notes land, why they land there, how the whole thing follows the song. Learn that once, on a progression this simple, and you have a way of hearing that you will use on every solo you play afterward. The 60-day guarantee puts the whole risk on me.

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