One of the most difficult things to learn when it comes to guitar is making scales sound like solos and finding phrases without a trained guitar teacher to explain that to you can be tricky.Part of the reason my guitar playing is terrible at times is due to my impatience when it comes to watching online video lessons as I am more on a reader than a watcher. If you are totally new to the term guitar tricks has a detailed article on the basics of phrasing if you would like to learn about it’s usage and come back to this post later

But thankfully there are some people who teach guitar over YouTube are not just trying to flog you an online video course or sell you more expensive guitars and these people can actually teach you about guitar. One of these Youtubers is Scott Paul Johnson on YouTube who can teach you about phrasing as easy ABC. In Scot Paul’s words the technique of Explore Morph and Reset is a great way of creating new phrases.

If you are interested in Scott’s methods of Teaching Guitar and think his online content will be beneficial to your Guitar Playing check out his Website which features Scotts Jam Tracks and links to getting private guitar lessons from Scott Paul Johnson and more Helpful and free guitar instructions on his Youtube Channel. Below is a transcript of the Video lesson if you wish to need to go over a section of the Video in More Detail. Any you can find part 2 of the lesson through the Youtube Channel of Scott linked above in the second paragraph.

Video Lesson on Finding Guitar Phrases Video Transcription in Article Format

If you watched my video about the pentatonic scale, you probably have a good sense of how to move the scale around and put it in different keys. If you don’t know how to do that, I’ll put that video somewhere around here, but maybe you’ve been trying to put a jam track on and you’ve just been going, how did it? That’S, not a solo, that’s just a scale. How do you make it feel like a solo? Well, let’s start from the beginning, we’re gonna talk about phrases. First, if you don’t totally get it just hang on or let me know in the comments and I’ll try to make a more specific video about each of these things.

Creating Catchy Guitar Phrases

Here we go so. The first thing I wanna talk about is just making phrases. What is a phrase? It’S just a set of notes if you’re always starting at the beginning of the scale and you’re always moving this direction. It’S gon na sound the same a lot of the time pick any pot any pot pick any spot in the scale and start from there and move in a different direction and maybe go three or four notes like this. That’S a little groups of notes. Now, let’s make a little more interesting, I like to think of having one weird quirk in there, a rhythmic thing where you’re waiting to go.

You know you could have just something to break up the rhythm, so you’re not just going, and you can experiment with here’s. A set of one-two-three-four notes if I wait after the first note that feels like a little phrase, all of a sudden, if I wait after the second note, it’s nice. If I wait, you feel how that kind of Sartre starts to feel a little bit like music. So, just one little different rhythm thing will make a big difference. The way I like to think about arranging phrases is having a phrases, B, phrases and C phrases, but you’re a phrase is just the phrase you start with. So this could be my a phrase.

Labeling Guitar Phrases is as easy as ABC

And what I mean by that is, it has little little phrases that feel related and then phrases that kind of break up that relatedness. So it doesn’t sound repetitive. So here’s what I’m talking about if I set up a classic kind of a b, a c type of thing, the in terms of phrase is not notes, I’m not playing, maybe a C that would be notes. I’M just labeling these phrases. My “A” phrase, my “B” phrase and my “C” phrase.

So a is the one you start with B is the one that’s similar and then C is the one that’s different. So if I do something like a BAC, it’ll sound like this [ Music, ] right, it just feels melodic. It feels nice. What I want to do today is mainly talk about some different ways: to get B phrases a C phrase, not necessarily easy, but a C phrase is easier to think about, because you just have to try to be different than what you did before. We’Ll come to that more a little bit later, but what I want to talk about here is a set of things you can do to create B phrases. So the example I was using here was. I was changing a note and in this case I was changing.

That’S nice, a B phrase is gonna, be like your a phrase but a little different, and what I like about A and B phrases is your a phrase. Sets you up for your B. It feels like you can almost predict. What’S gonna happen, here’s what I mean if I play an a phrase and then I start my B phrase the same way, but then I end on a different note.

It’s Simular but not the Same

Something in our brains is like. Oh, I thought that was gonna be the same, but it was just similar. It’S like in a book. We have character development, you want, you want to feel like that’s something that character would do so. Here’S a phrase if you’ve never played a solo before and you’ve only been practicing scales. This is still not gonna feel, like you’re, totally playing a solo, but it is gonna feel melodic, and I think every solo that you like has some melodic content to it.

Using the Last Note from the B Phrase in a Solo

The last note a phrase B phrase: I could create another B phrase and go it’s all just about creating some similar. It could also start on a different note. I could go that’s not as nice, but it’s still different in this case. I just started on this note and then, since that note was next, I ended up just playing it twice, so it still feels cohesive. So I could change a note in the middle and go like that, so that is called changing a note. You could also add a note. So if I’m going that’s nice, you could also subtract it out. So I like subtracting subtractive. I like subtracting a note because it catches you off-guard you’re kind of expecting that next note to happen. It doesn’t and it’s it’s kind of nice.

Let me try with a different phrase: [ Music, ] mm-hmm, my C phrase. There was just something different and a little note about C phrases. Is they work really? Well? If you tend to go in the opposite direction, as you were going before so here, I’m going going down the scale here and my C phrase goes up: I’m not gon na sing it for you. The next thing you can think about with making B phrases. Is you can also flip the phrase so itchy allergy season flipping a phrase? So if I’m going, I’m gon na try playing it in the opposite direction, but I’m gon na keep that same depth. Data data kind of rhythm, so I’ve got that feels really nice.


If I go that’s kind of cohesive and the whole point of a and B phrases is that you’re creating little cohesive bits pause for a second. What’S also nice about a and B phrases. Is you don’t have to come up with something new you just have to take whatever you just did do a little different? It’S I love it. It’S great. So the next thing I want to talk about. There’S a fancy word for it, and that is diatonic transposition, but the basic word for it is relocating you’re, taking the phrase planet somewhere else.

So if I’m going so, if I’m going [ Music, ] notice, I’m staying in the pentatonic shape, but I’m just kind of keeping the same rhythm and the same distance between strings. If I do a phrase where I skip a string, then I could do the same kind of string skip from here to here. So I’ve got now. You notice a lot of this stuff feels kind of riffy.

That’S because this is the stuff people use to make melodies, you start with a phrase, and then you do something related. It just feels nice I’ll put up like kind of a list of a BAC, a ABC ABB, AC, roughly sets of four. You never want to repeat things three times you can get away with, but I would I would stray away from three times and stick with plant seven two times before people kind of go. Oh I’m bored, but at least you can play something two times right.

That’S nice: let’s talk a little more about C phrases. So if I’m going a C phrase like that, one was just kind of like a mm-hmm like a period just like yep a lot of times. C phrases are kind of like a little throwaway like you want them to be different. If I’m going like this, I’m just going somewhere else and doing something different notice, I did the same thing twice there. Basically, it’s kind of almost like two little mini C’s. It’S it’s really just about doing something different, it’s not exactly soloing, but it’s practicing the pieces involved in sewing.

Applying ABC phrasing to a Jam Track

So if I throw on a jam track I’ll give you a link to it, The jam track is in the key of C or a minor you’re, using this pentatonic shape at the fifth fret. So the idea is, if you start a phrase anywhere how about here. That’S my a phrase now so I got ta go [ Music, ], a BAC, a BAC.

What if I go, [ Music, ] ABAC, you could also try a ABC or you know, any of the other things on the list. If you want a much looser way to practice, you can do what I like to call explore: morph reset and so you’re exploring you’re, just finding an a phrase find one you like and then morph it as much as you think you can get away with. Maybe go through the whole list of you know flipping it around.

Then you can reset it by playing a C phrase. That’S different and that C phrase will probably set you off to explore and it’s very sloppy and very loose. I should also mention that whole list of morphs you can do you can kind of combine them. You can shorten and change notes. If you want you can diatonic transpose and change notes.

You can also diatonic transpose and flip the phrase around the whole point of this. If that’s, if it feels too messy, all you’re trying to do is get ideas for how to create another phrase and instead of just having to think of something cool all over again, you just kind of play around with what you already have, and it turns into

This big thing – and it’s really nice I’ll – give you a little sample of explore more reset right now. So here we go when I explore [ Music ], I got bored so I reset it. There [ Music, ], [ Applause, ], [, Music, ], [ Applause, ], [, Music, ]. Oh that’s, nice! I just reset that with some weird stuff, anyways think you get the idea: [ Music, ],

End of Transcript

If you found this video helpful then please share it to social networking sites and visit Scotts website and Youtube Channel. Where you can view more videos like the second part of the best video for help finding guitar phrases and read testimonials if you are interested in getting private lessons from Scott.