Target notes — playing chord changes, not just keys

The problem with “one scale fits all”

Most beginners learn that, say, the A minor pentatonic works over an entire blues in A. That’s true — you can play it over A7, D7, and E7 (the three chords of an A blues) and nothing will clash hard.

But your solo will sound generic — it sounds like a scale being played, not like music being made. Great solos follow the chord changes. When the chord moves, the solo’s emphasised notes move too.

Target notes = chord tones

The “target” notes for any chord are its chord tones: the 1, 3, 5, (and 7) of that chord.

Over A7 (A C♯ E G), the target notes are A, C♯, E, G. Over D7 (D F♯ A C), the target notes are D, F♯, A, C. Over E7 (E G♯ B D), the target notes are E, G♯, B, D.

Notice — C♯ is in A7 but not in A minor pentatonic! Most blues players intentionally mix the ♭3 (C) and the natural 3 (C♯) over a I7 chord. This is why blues is bluesy.

The “land on the chord tone” rule

A simple guideline that transforms your soloing:

On beat 1 of each chord change, land on a chord tone of the new chord.

You can play whatever you want for the rest of the bar — but if beat 1 of a chord change lands on a strong chord tone, the entire solo will sound like it’s following the music.

A worked example — 12-bar blues in A

For the first 4 bars, the chord is A7. Target A, C♯, E, or G on beat 1. For bars 5–6 (D7), shift your target to D, F♯, A, or C on beat 1. For bar 7–8 (back to A7), target A, C♯, E, G. For bar 9 (E7), target E, G♯, B, D. For bar 10 (D7), target D, F♯, A, C. For bar 11 (A7) and bar 12 (turnaround), back to A7 targets.

Sketch this on paper. Mark the target notes on each chord. Now play a solo where each chord’s first downbeat lands on one of the chord’s targets.

This is night-and-day better than pentatonic-only soloing — and it’s still completely diatonic to a few common scales.

How target notes connect to scales

A 1-octave Mixolydian scale over a dominant 7 chord contains all the chord tones. So:

• Over A7 → use A Mixolydian, targeting A, C♯, E, G.
• Over D7 → use D Mixolydian, targeting D, F♯, A, C.
• Over E7 → use E Mixolydian, targeting E, G♯, B, D.

The change of scale on each chord — even by just one or two notes — is what makes a solo follow the changes. This is what bebop musicians do all night long.

Try this

Pick the cleanest, slowest 12-bar blues backing track you can find in A. Solo, but only on the first beat of each chord — play one note, and make sure it’s a chord tone of the current chord. Don’t worry about anything else.

It will sound minimal. But it will sound correct — like a real solo built from real targets. Once that’s solid, fill in the gaps with pentatonic phrases between the targets.