Adding chromatic notes
into your guitar solos
by Shawn Bradshaw

An easy way to add a little interest to your guitar solos is to play the chromatic notes that "fill in the cracks" between the notes of the scale. Since you mostly use your 1st and 3rd fingers when you are playing the extended minor pentatonic scale, the notes that you are going to add are going to be played with you 2nd finger. The actual fingering that you use when improvising can vary depending on where you came from and where you are going. Use this chromatic note as a passing tone between the other notes in the scale. This means that you do not want to hold this note for very long, if you do it will just sound like a wrong note. This added note will create tension that is resolved when you reach the next note in the scale. Try the examples below, and do your own experimentation.

A extended minor pentatonic
with added chromatic notes

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Play the same notes as above, but use hammer-ons and pull-offs instead of picking every note.

Licks using the extended minor pentatonic, with added chromatic notes