UD #27 SOLOING ON HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

Posted on October 6, 2013 by guido

UD#27 SOLOING ON HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
from Ukulele in the Dark
w/ Guido Heistek

 This week’s newsletter, the last in a series of lessons on soloing, will be on the minor pentatonic scale and how we can use that scale to solo on tunes in a minor key like:

BB King, The Thrill is Gone in C minor.
St. James Infirmary by Louis Armstrong in D minor.

Runaway, Del Shannon. A minor and A major!

House of the Rising Sun by the Animals in A minor.

We’ll focus on House of the Rising Sun and you can take what you learn and use it to play solos on the other songs.

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN!

If you can’t remember how to play the Minor Pentatonic Scale please review:

How to play a Minor Pentatonic Scale.

How to move a Minor Pentatonic Scale up the neck.

JAM TRACKS:

I’ve made some samples of me soloing along with House of the Rising Sun done very much the same manner as in last week’s newsletter.

Let’s first practice the C minor pentatonic scale like this:

“C” Minor Pentatonic

 

I’ve recorded the chords to House of the Rising Sun in C minor and we can use the scale above to play along. Give it a listen so you can get in the groove: 

 

Now here’s the recording of me playing the minor pentatonic along with the recording: I start by playing the scale going up and going down. Then, I spend some time improvising with the scale. Then I go back to playing the scale going up and going down. Listen to it a few times. Then see if you can play along.

 

When you feel ready try soloing along with just the chords:

 

The animals version of House of the Rising Sun is in the key of A minor so we need to move our scale up the neck the same way that we moved our major pentatonic scale last week. To create an A minor pentatonic scale we simply move the shape of the scale up so that the scale is starting on the ninth fret of the C string instead of the open C note. Like this:

“A” Minor Pentatonic Scale:

I’ve recorded the chords to House of the rising Sun in the key of A minor. First I play the scale going up and going down, then I improvise with the scale and then I go back to playing the scale. Listen first and see if you can play along: -GO HERE-

 

When you’re done with that please enjoy playing along with just the chords on their own. You can do whatever you want. You can go up and down the scale the whole time. You can improvise with the scale notes the whole time or mix it up. Just have fun.

 

When you’re done with that you can go and jam along with the Animals on YouTube. Sounds like a good time to me:

NOTE: They have a little different approach to the rhythm of the song. See if you can feel your way through and improvise with the A minor pentatonic scale.

 

Also you can explore soloing long with some other songs on YouTube. It’s a great way to jam when you you don’t have anyone to jam with.

 

For the Thrill is Gone you can play the minor pentatonic scale in open position like we did at the start of this lesson.

 

For St. James Infirmary you can start the scale off the second fret of the C string to create a D Minor Pentatonic.

 

Runaway by Del Shannon is a particularly fun one to do because you can use the A minor pentatonic for part of the song and A major pentatonic for another part of the song. See if you can figure out which part of the song is major and which part of the song is minor.Have fun with it. Both these scales would have the root on the ninth fret of the C string.

OKAY! Lots of stuff in this week’s newsletter. Hope you could take something from it. I wish you all the best in your playing. See you next week. Next week we’ll look at strumming like a drummer.

One last thing here are the chords for House of the Rising Sun in C minor and A minor. You can play the chords for a buddy as he/she takes a solo. Have fun:

House of the Rising Sun in C minor:

(My version: three beats on each chord

Animals version: 6 beats on each chord)

Cm Eb F Ab

Cm Eb G7 G7

Cm Eb F Ab

Cm G7 Cm G7

House of the Rising Sun in A minor:

(My version: three beats on each chord

Animals version: 6 beats on each chord)

Am C D F

Am C E7 E7

Am C D F

Am E7 Am E7

All for now,

Guido

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• ← UD#26 Never Jam Alone – Episode 3 (Major Pentatonic)
• UD#28 Strum Like a Drummer: Backbeat →