One of the biggest questions I get from students is this: how do I change scales with the chords? It’s a great question, and the answer starts with understanding the chord progression you’re playing over.
If you ever want to be a great guitar player, you have to understand the blues. It runs through everything except classical. And following chord changes with your scale choices is where the real playing starts.
Learn the Progression First
Before you can follow the chords with scales, you have to know the chords. This lesson uses a 12-bar progression in E — with a twist inspired by Dave Edmonds and The Rock Pile. The first eight bars are standard: four bars of E (the one chord), two bars of A (the four), back to two bars of E. But the last four bars go somewhere unexpected.
Instead of the usual V-IV-I turnaround, this one drops to F# (the two chord), then A, then B, then resolves to E. That F# in the last four bars gives it a different flavor — more dramatic, a bit of an early rock and roll thing.
| Bar 1 | Bar 2 | Bar 3 | Bar 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E (I) | E (I) | E (I) | E (I) |
| A (IV) | A (IV) | E (I) | E (I) |
| F# (II) | A (IV) | B (V) | E (I) |
Match the Scale to the Chord
The idea is simple: when the chord changes, your scale changes with it. Over the E chord, play from your E pentatonic scale — either open position or at the 12th fret. When it moves to A, switch to A pentatonic at the 5th fret (or 17th fret if you can reach it). For F#, grab the F# pentatonic at the 2nd fret. And for B, you’ve got B pentatonic at the 7th fret.
You don’t play the full scale up and down over each chord. You play riffs — short phrases pulled from each scale that fit the time you’ve got before the next change.
Don’t Jump Around — Choose a Region
Here’s where a lot of players get tripped up: they try to leap all over the neck for each chord change. Pick a region and stay in it. If you’re soloing up at the 12th fret over E, find your A and F# scales that are close by — 14th fret for F#, you’ve got options nearby for A and B too. Moving one or two frets between changes sounds way better than jumping eight frets every time the chord moves.
Start With Riffs, Not Scales
The real key is this: don’t think in scales. Think in riffs. Take one little double-stop or bend that sits in the E pentatonic, then find a similar phrase in the A pentatonic. Move that same idea around with the chord changes. It’s a form of modal playing, even if you don’t call it that.
You can even answer your rhythm. Play four bars of rhythm, then throw in a riff. Play the rhythm for the A change, riff over the last two bars of E. Mix rhythm and lead playing, and the chord following becomes natural.
This approach builds on the scales covered in the Slow Blues Solo Challenge. And if you want to understand how major and minor scales interact over different chords, the combining scales lesson goes deeper into that.
For a pentatonic riff that puts this thinking into practice, the A minor pentatonic lick lesson uses the same 5th fret box with string stretches and hammer-ons. And to hear how chord-following ideas sound on acoustic, the SRV-inspired licks show the same principle with a different feel.
More lessons in the Blues Soloing section.