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Intermediate · step 8 · Putting it into practice · Not started · Electric guitar only

One loop, one tone, one solo

You have an amp, pedals, a looper and five pentatonic positions. Put them together: a clean loop for the rhythm part, a tone for each role, and a solo on top. Goal: record a four-bar progression and improvise over it for two minutes.

This lesson is for electric guitar: it doesn’t count in your acoustic course, but you can still read it.

Time
15 minutes a day, for a few days
Before you start
The looper: jam with yourself
You’ll be able to
Improvise over your own loop

The plan

  1. The progression: four bars, Am, G, F, G, in A minor.
  2. The rhythm tone: clean or slightly crunchy, plus a chorus if you have one.
  3. The loop: recorded cleanly, closed right on the first beat.
  4. The solo tone: more gain, a delay or a reverb.
  5. The solo: two minutes, across three positions of the A minor pentatonic.

1. The progression

The pop strumAm · G · F · G

Learn the pop strum step by step →

Play it first with open chords, then with barre chords around the 5th fret (A minor in the E shape, G in the E shape at the 3rd fret, F at the 1st fret): a tighter sound that leaves room for the solo.

2. The rhythm tone

A rhythm part with too much distortion drowns the solo. Pick a clean or slightly crunchy tone, on the neck pickup or both pickups. If you have a chorus or a phaser, now’s the time: it widens the loop. Keep the volume a little below what you’ll use for the solo.

3. The loop

Remember the trap of your first loop: hit the footswitch exactly on the first beat, at the start and at the end. Listen to it go round three times before playing: if it limps, start over. A wobbly loop ruins everything that follows.

To go further, add a layer: held notes on the high strings, or muted funk strums, very low in volume.

4. The solo tone

Switch to a more distorted tone (or kick on your overdrive pedal), add a short delay or a reverb. Bring the volume up a little. Your solo should sit in front of the loop without crushing it. The order of the chain is the one from the Effects pedals lesson: distortion first, delay and reverb at the end.

5. The solo

The step 4 plan: position 1, then 2, then 3, with calls, responses, bends, and a pinch harmonic for the peak. End on a held A with vibrato, then stop the loop on the first beat.

EGACDEGAACDEGACDEDEGACDEGAGACDEGACDCDEGACDEEGACDEGA
EGACDEACDEGADEGACDGACDEGCDEGAEGACDE

High E at the top, just like in tab.Neck seen from the front, headstock at the top: low E on the left, just like a chord diagram.

Listen back

Record everything, loop and solo. When you listen back: does the solo sit in front? Does the loop stay in time? Do the tone changes happen without a gap?

You’ve got it when…

Step 8 review

Shape your electric tone

Check each point once it’s true for you. Everything checked? You’ve got this step: move on to the next.