This technique allows you to both inspire and improve your ear-to-fret board accuracy. Taking it in turns to improvise over a short number of bars allows you to try and copy each other’s phrases with as much accuracy as possible. Start off playing simple phrases that are melodic and easy to remember. Once player 1 has finished, player 2 tries to imitate, note for note, what they have just heard. As you progress you’ll find that you develop the ability to associate sounds, melodies and phrasing with specific areas of the fret board. This is essential for jamming to higher levels of accuracy.

Choosing the appropriate scale
In order to be able to improvise over Paranoid we need to work out which scales we can use. To do this you need to know the key of the song. Paranoid is played in the key of E minor and here this exercise uses the E minor pentatonic scale.

First look at position 1 of the minor pentatonic scale:

Try playing the scale over the chord progression slowly. Once you are comfortable with where all the notes are, try working your way around the scale using random patterns of notes. As you experiment you’ll find certain combinations of notes that either sound good, or are similar to other lead solos. These patterns are phrases.