Acoustic Looper Jam 2 in C# - No barre chords needed!

In this lesson we look at a simple jam in the key of C# minor and how we can solo using the C# minor pentatonic scale.

Theory points

C# minor is the relative minor to E major, which means that both have the same chords (and the same number of sharps and flats aka the same key signature.

Strumming pattern

A full tutorial for this strumming pattern is here. More help in the interactive tab feature at the bottom of this page!

Lead part using C# minor pentatonic scale

My recommended starting point for this jam is to use the C# minor pentatonic scale. Stick to shape 1 if that's all your know, but I've also written some useful extensions using the other positions too.

Blue = Shape 1 Red = Shape 2 Green = Shape 4

Learn the 5 shapes of the minor and major pentatonic scales in my newly released course Lead Guitar 3

Full example - Interactive tab

C# major song examples

The original recordings of all the songs written below are in the key of C#. However, all of them when played on guitar would use either a capo, detuning, or a combination of the two. C# is just a total faff of a key to play in for guitarists!

• The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
• Ed Sheeran - I See Fire
• The Killers - Mr Brightside
• The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
• U2 - Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
• Nirvana - All Apologies
• Bryan Adams - Everything I Do

However, that doesn't mean these aren't worth knowing. In fact, knowing better options when playing in the harder keys on guitar is a huge part of the purpose of this course. So dig in and learn some songs in C#, be it with a capo and detuning, or with standard chords if you're up for a challenge!