5 Legendary Guitar Solos Every Beginner Can Learn (Using Just 5 Notes)
Matt performing at Hole in The Wall in Austin, TX with his band Hanover.
Hello there! If we haven’t met, my name is Matt Musso and I’m one of the instructors based in Austin, TX for Loop Music Academy. I’ve been fascinated by the electric guitar and classic rock music since I was 5 years old.
When I started getting into bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Pink Floyd, I idolized these legendary guitar players and their iconic parts that made each song jump out of my headphones. Hearing these solos, it seemed like rocket science to my juvenile ears. Just HOW did they know which notes to play to create such a unique composition?
When I started taking lessons, my guitar teacher was quick to show me some basic guitar scales. Now as an elementary schooler, I wasn’t excited at that seemingly boring and arduous task, but I soon was surprised that one scale in particular unlocked the key to navigating all of these seemingly impossible guitar solos: the minor pentatonic scale.
Consisting of just five notes (root, flat 3rd, 4th, 5th, flat 7th), this scale allowed me to sound just like Angus Young, Keith Richards or Jimmy Page when soloing over basic blues chord progressions. It also was super easy to learn my favorite guitar solos once I understood the scale and its respective shapes and fingerings on the fretboard. So with that, here are…
5 of My Favorite Classic Rock Guitar Solos
that Use the Minor Pentatonic Scale:
1. Let There Be Rock - AC/DC (Angus Young)
The minor pentatonic scale is the bread and butter for Angus Young’s approach to lead guitar. With a Gibson SG in tow, he crafted some of rock’s most famous riffs, sometimes incorporating the scale directly into the main figure (as heard on “Back in Black”). “Let There Be Rock” isn’t as famous as “Thunderstruck” or “Hell’s Bells” but it’s an example from the earlier AC/DC material that shows Young’s proclivities towards the minor pentatonic scale in various positions across the fretboard. He takes multiple solos in this song, all using this same scale in the key of A. What I love is how he keeps the approach fresh with each solo he takes, using the same five notes but incorporating string bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and repetitive phrasing to lift the solo more each time it comes back around. Bonus points for doing all this while doing his famous “duck walk” dance across the stage!
2. Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones (Keith Richards)
The Rolling Stones had many incredible guitar players throughout their 60 year history - notably Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood - but Keith Richards is best known for being the swashbuckling, guitar-slinging force of nature that wrote some of the most iconic rock riffs using his patented 5-strong Open G tuning (examples include “Honky Tonk Women” and “Start Me Up”). Despite being the rock and roll riff machine that he is, he’s the one who actually plays the stinging solo on this classic Stones tune. I was always mystified by this one since hearing it as a little kid, admiring the white hot overdriven guitar tone and the variety of quick runs followed by a single sustained bent note, and so on. A classic example of how it’s not about the notes you play, it’s about the notes you DON’T play and not being afraid to leave some space in between.
3. Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2) - Pink Floyd (David Gilmour)
There are so many great Gilmour solos to choose from that use the minor pentatonic, but I kept coming back to this one as the best example of utilizing this simple scale to create a killer solo that stands as one of his best. Gilmour in particular incorporates his trademark two step-bend (NOT an easy thing to do, and if done incorrectly can often result in snapped strings) to add his own flavor while using the same basic scale structure. To keep things interesting, he starts out around the 10th fret in the key of D minor using some pull-offs and string bends, then as the solo reaches its climax he finds the same scale notes located on the 17th and 20th frets of the high E string, even going so far as to bend the 20th fret to the 22nd (the last fret available on an average guitar neck) to really utilize every note possible within the scale. Gilmour then works his way back down to end the solo on a low D note on the 5th fret, once again showing how he uses every octave available to create a unique listening experience using only 5 notes.
4. Black Magic Woman - Santana (Carlos Santana)
This composition and solo also takes place in the key of D minor, and Carlos Santana actually plays many similar notes to the “Another Brick in the Wall” solo we just discussed, but what I want to highlight here is how Santana uses the pentatonic scale to create MELODY within a composition. While this song has lyrics and a vocal melody, I’d argue the guitar melody is just as important here, particularly in the intro section of the song. Santana relies on simple two or four-note phrases while leaving plenty of space in between for the notes to sustain, establishing an airy, smooth mood for the song. Shortly after this intro he also takes multiple solos based around the D minor pentatonic scale, but his ability to to create simple, memorable melodies using the scale is what sets him apart from his contemporaries who were more focused on lengthier, more involved solos.
5. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page)
Often described as the greatest guitar solo of all time, so much so that it was famously banned from being played in local guitar shops, Stairway is the ultimate example of how the pentatonic scale is utilized to create an iconic rock guitar solo. Playing in the key of A minor, Page doesn’t initially overcomplicate it, essentially playing the scale note-for-note descending from the high E to A string two different times, then working his way up higher and higher until he reaches a comfortable spot around 14th fret in which he plays the same pentatonic-based lick over and over again (once you find a good lick, feel free to repeat it a few times!) Up until this point he’s played straight through, and now crafts an awesome call-and-response effect with his other guitar part, adding a unique texture to an already blazing solo. The icing on the cake is his very last lick, a fiery repetitive pull-off phrase on the 17th fret that seals this composition as the greatest rock solo to ever be recorded.
Each of these legendary solos influenced countless players who came after, many who copied the licks used in each of these solos. This was all done within the confines of the 5 notes that make up the pentatonic scale. I hope this demystifies some of the questions surrounding rock guitar solos.
For the best results, my advice is to get familiar with the five notes in a given key, then figure out where all of their respective octaves are on the fretboard. Soon you’ll see how the scale shapes fit each of these notes. Practice running the scale in each shape, and when you’re comfortable enough, begin adding in more advanced soloing techniques like string bends, hammer-ons, and pull-offs.
With those steps, you’ll unlock the magic that allows you to sound just like Jimi Hendrix as you add your own unique flavors and textures to your solos!
Want help learning these solos?
Book a guitar lesson with Matt (Austin, TX or online) - click below to get started.