Learn A Simple Three-String Shape To Add Power, Groove, And Flow To Your Solos

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Want a soloing shortcut that actually sounds bigger, bolder, and more musical? We break down a simple three-string shape in A—5-7-8 across the third, second, and first strings—and turn it into patterns that inject rock grit into blues vocabulary. You’ll hear how one added color tone and the classic “blue note” open the door to fresh phrasing without leaving home base on the fifth fret.

We start by mapping the shape and then move past straight up-and-down runs into ideas that create momentum: groups of four for push, six-note loops for flow, and a slick string-skip that instantly widens your sound. Along the way, we talk technique freedom—alternate picking for bite or legato for smooth speed—and how to keep everything even so your tone stays clear at any tempo. You’ll also learn a tension-forward motif that begins on the blues note, a great way to grab attention before resolving to a strong tone.

The real secret is knowing when and how to exit a pattern. We share practical “escape routes” that let you land on chord tones, slide to a new position, or pivot into a familiar pentatonic lick, so your lines resolve like musical sentences instead of running on. Expect actionable takeaways you can practice today: symmetry that simplifies navigation, repetition that builds energy, and phrasing choices that sound professional on stage and in the studio.

Grab your guitar and try the 5-7-8 grid with us. If this lesson helps your phrasing and confidence, follow the show, share it with a guitarist who needs fresh ideas, and leave a quick review to tell us what pattern you’re working on next.

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Episode Transcript

Steve (00:35):
Alright, this is Steve Stine from Guitar Zoom Academy,
and I want to show you somethingkind of cool that you can use.
It's a shape that you can useon the guitar when you're
soloing and you want somethingto sound a little more rock and
roll, even spicing up your bluesor whatever it might be.
And so what I want to show youis how simple the shape is, and
then some different ways thatyou can manipulate this to make
some fun patterns for yourself.

(00:55):
So what we're gonna do is we'regonna be in the key of A.
So I'm just gonna head over tothe fifth fret, and we could
look at this as pentatonic, butwe're gonna expand this.
So what we've got here is if weplay the pentatonic scale, what
we're gonna do is we're gonnago on to the third string, and
instead of playing five, seven,we're gonna play five, seven,
eight.

(01:16):
And a lot of people would lookat this as being the blues note
or the blue note, which isgreat.
It's a passing note or a bluenote that we can use.
Um but what I want you to bemore concerned with is the fact
of the shape that we're making.
So we've got five, seven,eight.
And then on the next string,we're also going to play five,
seven, eight.
Where normally we'd play five,eight, or we're adding in this
seven.
Now we could look at thatseventh fret there as like the

(01:39):
major sixth coming from maybethe Dorian mode or something
like that.
And again, if you don't knowwhat that is, it's perfectly
fine.
What I want you to notice iswe're just making this
symmetrical shape of five,seven, eight, five, seven,
eight.
And on the next string we havefive, of course, seven, and then
eight.
So the new note is going to bethis seven again.
And that could be coming fromuh Dorian, it could be coming

(02:01):
from natural minor.
There's a whole host of reasonswe could or uh definitions we
could give that.
But what I want you to thinkabout is the five, seven, eight
shape, you know, even justplaying it like that, you can
hear that it's got some coolsounds to it using that blues
note in there.

(02:21):
And what we could do is wecould simply explore these
different notes in differentways instead of just playing it
straight up and down, whichthere's nothing wrong with.
But we could start makingdifferent shapes out of it.

(02:41):
Maybe I start going or theother direction.

(03:01):
So what I'm doing there is I'mjust ascending or descending in
groups of four.
Okay?
So that's something that wecould do.
Another thing that we could dois use a series of.
Now I want you to understandthis.
No matter what it is we talkabout today, you could use
hammer ons, pull-offs, pick,whatever it is you want to do,

(03:22):
whenever it is you want to do itto make it comfortable for
yourself when it comes toexecuting ideas.
Now, from a general sense ofjust jamming, right?
Not coming up with patterns oranything like that, obviously
you can get in there and there'slots of different things that

(03:45):
you can do just playing withthese notes.
But what I want to show youtoday are different kinds of
patterns or repetitive ideasthat you could work on and you
could expand from there.
So the first one we did wasthose groups of four there.
The next thing we're going todo, I'm gonna start down here on
the fifth uh fret of the thirdstring, and I'm gonna play five,
seven, eight, and then go tofive of the next string.

(04:06):
And again, please remember youcan hammer on, pull off, pick
these, you can do whatever youwant once you get it up to the
speed that you want them at.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
So I'm just gonna play up to that five, and then
come back down.

Steve (04:21):
And when I get to the bottom again, I'm not gonna
re-pick the five on the thirdstring.
I'm just gonna continue goingup again so I get this.
So I'm playing five, seven,eight, five on the second
string, and then I'm justreturning.
So I have five, seven, eight,five on the next string, back to

(04:44):
the eight, back to the seven,and then I start all over.
Five, seven, eight, five.
Now if you listen, I have one,two, three, four, five, six
notes.
So it's like playing uh a groupof six or two triplets.
Now the next thing I could dois exactly the same thing, but

(05:06):
this time instead of going tothe fifth fret of the second
string, I'm going to skip thatstring and go to the fifth fret
of the first string.
Okay, so now I'm getting astring skip.
And again, don't feel compelledto have to pick them.
If you'd rather do hammer onsand pull-ups, you just want to

(05:31):
keep them as even as you can interms of your technique.
Try and you know, keep themeven so you don't get you know
erratic rhythms and things likethat.
Again, unless that's whatyou're looking for.
But try and play it straightfirst, and then if you want some
different kinds of rhythms, youcan certainly do that from
there.
So now I could combine thosetwo together and get something

(05:51):
like this.
You could add some palmmeeting.
You know, there's all kinds offun stuff that you can do with

(06:12):
these kinds of patterns.
The first thing is just getused to being able to play them
kind of straight in a sequence.
You know, the next thing isjust get used to screwing around
with them a little bit in yournormal jam.
All that kind of stuff.

(06:33):
And then the next thing isstart making some patterns that
you like.
Groups of three or groups offour or whatever it might be.
But there's lots of really neatthings you could do.
Let me show you this one.
So what I'm gonna do here isI'm gonna play on the second
string.
Uh let's actually start on thethird string, eighth fret.
So what I'm gonna do is playeight, and then I'm gonna go to

(06:54):
five, seven, eight of the secondstring, and then I'm gonna go
to five of the first string.
So I'm starting on this awkwardblues note here of the eighth
fret of the third string,playing five, eighth, uh, five,
seven, eight of the secondstring, and then going to five
of the first string.
Now, what's kind of cool abouta pattern like that is once

(07:25):
you're playing the pattern, youjust have to know at some point
you're gonna have to come out ofthat pattern.
So you might come out of it onthe bottom side like this, you
know, and resolve it or whateveryou want to do, or you can go
out on the top side and come upthere and do it, and do whatever

(07:49):
it is you want on the top sideof that.
But the point is, is as youbuild patterns and you build
this repetitive concept, alwaysbe aware that when you're doing
that repetition, you're going tohave to find what I like to
call the skate routes, which iswhen you get done or you feel
like you want to leave, you'vegot to find a way of getting out
of that and going intosomething else.
Maybe it's another lick, maybeit's just your jamming or

(08:11):
whatever it is that you mightwant to do.
Um you know, in the academy, wetalk a lot about the difference
between the the generalplaying, jamming improvisation
ability, okay, which is for meis like the meat and potatoes of
your playing, okay, and thenthe kind of elevated licks,
patterns, and sequences way ofplaying.

(08:31):
And so as a guitar player,you're often, you know, shifting
in between these worlds of justkind of jamming and moving
around and playing some stuffand connecting to the chords or
playing some groove or whatever,and then you throw in a pattern
or a lick or a phrase orwhatever it might be, and then
you come back out again and youmove back and forth between
those worlds.
Well, we can see that in actioninside this shape is that we

(08:52):
could do both of those things.
So when I'm playing a patternor a sequence or a repetitive
idea, if you will, at some pointI've got to find a way out.
I can't just play that forever.
So that's where you startgoing, okay, well, how am I
gonna get out?
You find, you know, a tag onthe back side, whether it's you

(09:14):
know, moving, you know, into thelower pitches or moving into
the higher pitches or shiftinginto another position, or again,
there's a myriad of things thatyou could do, but I just want
you to be aware of that.
So that might be a really funthing for you to explore and
just see what kinds of thingsthat you can come up with inside
that three-string symmetricalshape to use in your rock and
your blues and different kindsof things like that when you

(09:36):
want to create some more power,some more energy with
repetition.
Just be aware to always figureout a way that works best for
you.
You don't have to learn 50patterns or 50 licks in there,
just learn a couple things thatmake sense to you that you're
able to execute either throughhammer-ons, pull-offs, legato
playing, or through picking,whatever it is that you'd like

(09:57):
to do.
You don't have to be, you know,uh uh locked into everything
that I do has to be picked, oreverything I have to do has to
do this.
Again, if that's the way youfeel and that's that works for
you, I think that's wonderful.
But if it doesn't, exploreother things.
See if there's more of a legatoway that works for you.
Um, you know, people willalways ask me, well, if I do

(10:17):
this, you know, can I do thisafterwards, or do I have to do
the same thing?
There's no so much about guitarplaying is very gray.
It's not black and white.
It it's it's finding a way thatexecutes that that you're able
to execute what you want to do.
And it sounds smooth, it soundscomfortable, it sounds, you
know, I use the wordprofessional, and for me,

(10:38):
professional, I could care lessif that has anything to do with
making money or how many showsyou play a year.
Professional is how somethingsounds.
When somebody hears you play,they just go, oh yeah, that
sounds great.
That's exactly what what realplaying should sound like.
That to me is what professionalis.
And so when you're doingsomething, you know, whatever it
is.
You know, whatever it is thatyou like, find a way of being

(11:05):
able to execute it throughpicking, through legato,
whatever it might be that bestsuits you.
So anyway, take care, uh, havea great day.
Stay positive, keep practicing.
And if you're interested inchecking out more about the
Guitar Zoom Academy, workingwith me, my other seven
instructors that I've got inhere, um, you know, getting you
to the goals that you've maybewanted to achieve for a long

(11:26):
time, but you've just beenstruggling with, all you have to
do is have a conversation withone of us and we can talk to you
about what it is, how it works,and see if it fits you.
So take care and I'll talk toyou soon.