From Scales to Solos by Graham Tippett

So, you’ve learned your scale patterns all over the neck either through the CAGED System, the 3NPS shapes, or some other method, but your solos still don’t sound like music? I know the feeling, and I’ve had plenty of students that hit this wall too. Rather than go down the ‘breaking out of patterns’ route or learning a bunch of licks, I took them into zonal improvisation and saw some fantastic results! I’d like you to try this method too, so I’ve compiled it into one volume you can practice from to finally turn those scales into solos.

The objective of this book then is to provide a structured reference to make the transition from playing scales to playing, improvising and creating musical lines when soloing. It’s aimed at the intermediate to advanced guitarist looking to be able to improvise confidently and freely on the instrument in a wide variety of styles. It is also aimed at guitarists that want to move beyond rote pentatonic/blues soloing and incorporate other scales and modes into their playing, as well as building up a vocabulary to solo fluently over chord changes.

You’ll note that this is not a book of licks, or a scale theory book, but rather a tool to help you create your own licks and runs while gaining melodic control of 15 of the most useful scales in music; and, if you want to gain a deeper understanding of what scales you can play over what chords, this book will certainly provide more than enough answers to keep you busy in the woodshed.