The outside sound that sounds so good in some guitarist’s solos is the diminished scale (Ex. 1). This scale is not major or minor. It contains a minor third and a flat fifth, just like the blues scale so it sounds bluesy. It is a symmetrical scale, meaning the notes are a repeating pattern of half and whole steps. This is great news to a guitarist. This means that a symmetrical, repeating pattern can be played all over the neck. Not only is this scale easy, but it sounds cool. Here’s a way of placing the notes of the scale so that it can be played all over the neck (Ex. 2):

Once you have the pattern, use the scale played in position to connect the entire fretboard.

If you’re looking for a challenge, try the diminished finger tapping lick in the video here. Here are some great ways to learn to play guitar.

Here’s a great tutorial on diminished tapping with two hands: