Learn to solo like… Angus Young (AC/DC)

PART 1 / 4 : Minor and major pentatonic scales

One of the key components in the music of AC/DC are the instantly recognizable, crazy guitar solos. Angus Young has got a few tricks he will constantly use to achieve this classic hard rock sound.

In part 1, we will look at the kind of scales Angus uses to improvise and write solos.

The most common scale used in rock (and in many more styles of music) is the minor pentatonic scale, which you probably already know. In many songs, Angus would often switch between the minor pentatonic and the major pentatonic, often at regular intervals (half a bar in major, half a bar in minor for example)

Let’s have a look at this lick using the G major and minor scales:

How to Solo like Angus Young

Learn to solo like… Angus Young (AC/DC)

Now, let’s highlight the notes from the major pentatonic in pink and the notes from the minor pentatonic in blue:

To create licks following this kind of logic, we can take 2 pentatonic scales, one major and one minor, in the same area of the neck, and improvising using notes from either the major or the minor pentatonic. Here are the 2 positions the example above uses:

How to Solo like Angus Young

How To Play Lead Guitar Like Angus Young

Learn to solo like… Angus Young (AC/DC)

G major Pentatonic