Understanding alternative chord shapes and inversions can have massive benefits for your lead playing – take a break from scales and give your solos a boost by incorporating these shapes

Mark Knopfler is a dab hand at incorporating chord shapes in his lead playing.

While scales are without doubt an essential part of understanding how music and melodies work, they can sometimes leave us with unanswered questions about harmony and melody. 

For example, trying to come up with a mean and moody guitar solo using the major scale would be a challenge! Many of us search for new ideas while our fingers habitually reach for patterns that, while useful, don’t help us expand our boundaries.