Lesson 15: Soloing with the G shape

In lesson 10, we looked at the G shape on the fretboard, which can be used to play any major chord.

In this lesson, you are going to build on this knowledge and learn how:

• the A shape is connected to the G shape(s)

• to solo with the G shape if your root note is on the 6th string

• to solo with the G shape if your root note is on the 3rd string

• to find the other interval notes within the major scale

You should remember from our previous lesson on the G shape, that for practical application purposes, we split the G shape into two more manageable smaller shapes. Here’s a reminder:

Version one

We take the root note of our A shape (which is played with our middle finger) and we replace it with our index finger. Our ring finger, then plays the fifth string on the fourth fret. The 3rd interval note on the second string shown in the diagram below is optional:

Version two

The second way to play a G shape chord is to keep our index finger on the A shape notes, and add our little finger to the first string, three frets across. That’ shape's used in the blues quite a lot:

Each of these smaller shapes is connected to the A shape through the root note of the A shape where our index finger is.

Each of these shapes has a full octave of notes available for you to solo with.

Soloing with the G shape (version 1) 

The first G shape pattern starts on the 6th string - the low E string.

Start with your ring finger on the root note on the 6th string (red dot). All the notes you need to access to solo with the G shape are to the left of your ring finger, or in the same fret.

If all the notes you need are to the left of your ring finger you might be wondering why you don’t use your little finger. Well, if you’re familiar with the G chord, using the G shape, you’ll know that you can play it, with or without the little finger on the B string. That’s why you start this shape with the ring finger on the root note, because it leaves our little finger available if you need it.

Our 2nd interval note is now three frets up, on the fifth string (white dot on the fifth string).

Our third interval note, we know we play on the string below our root and to the left one fret (dark purple dot on the fifth string).

Our fourth interval note we know is found directly below our root (grey dot on the fourth string).

Our perfect fifth, we can find two strings down, and three frets across - below our second interval note (black dot on the fourth string). 

Our 6th interval we find directly below our third  (light blue dot on the fourth string).

Our seventh interval note is found in the fret before our octave note, on the third string  (light purple dot on the third string).

So, if you want to solo over a chord that has its tonal centre on this sixth string, you can put the root note under your ring finger, and use this pattern.

Soloing with the G shape (version 2) 

For the second part of the G shape, we’ll start with our ring finger on the root note on the 3rd string. 

You’ll notice that this time, all the notes we need are to the right, or in the same fret as the root note (red dot on the third string), so we’re going to use our index finger.

Let’s walk through our scale for this second G shape pattern, from root note to root note:

Our 2nd interval note is now two frets up, still on the 3rd string (white dot).

Our third interval note, we know we usually play on the string below our root and to the left one fret. But this time, it happens to land on the B string and because the B string is tuned to the interval of a third, we have to move it one fret (or a semitone) down towards the soundhole. So our third interval note is directly below our root note in this shape (dark purple dot on the second string).

Our perfect fourth interval note is directly next to our major third on the B string (grey dot on the second string).

Our perfect fifth, we can find two frets down from the perfect fourth, also on the B string (black dot on the second string). 

Our 6th interval we find directly below our root major third, on the first string (light blue dot). 

Our seventh interval note is found two frets higher, also on the first string (light purple dot). 

Finally, this second G shape ends with the octave note, a semitone along from the seventh interval note (red dot).

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