Kim and I went to see Dante Spumante tonight while Keith spent some time with his grandmother. It was fun to see Dante playing cover tunes, along with their handful of originals, but I must admit that it was a little bit disappointing to know that I wasn’t the guitarist. I can understand why, though. Most of what they play is pop in major keys, and the two times I’ve played with them, I’ve taken most of my solos using a minor pentatonic scale. For some songs, that works great. For others, it creates tension that shouldn’t be there.

The guitarist who was playing with them was good, and he played the right scales during his solos. If I want to be able to fit in with bands in the future, I need to learn how to solo over changes and use different scales, like the major pentatonic, mixolydian, and phrygian scales. Looks like it’s time to dig out the old Guitar Player magazines and go through the columns.

It’s a little embarrassing admitting that I’m not versatile enough to solo over lots of different types of music. I used to solo over jazz progressions quite a bit, but I never really got it. I think this is my lack of music theory turning around to bite me in the ass. I should probably just stick to writing; at least I know a little about the theory behind that.