Soloing and Improvisation

Imagine being able to analyze a progression to the following detail in less the minute armed with nothing but the Chord Wheel and your good looks:

Let's say that after using the Chord Wheel to analyze the progression you discover the Intro is in the Key of D except for the final measure which backcycles through the Key of G and very briefly to the Key of C before resting at the beginning of the Verse at the Key of F. What the hey?!?! That's a lot of Key center movement. But now you can follow this movement by playing licks based on the D Major Scale (along with your personal favorite variations) during most of the Intro as always, but now you know just where to throw in melodic lines based on G and C Major scales because you know exactly where the Intro modulates (i.e. changes key center). Now you're really playing the song!

You further discover the Verse stays firmly in the Key of F but just before the Chorus the Key of G is hinted at which leads strongly the Chorus which does indeed begin in the Key of G. However you then discover the Chorus' second half is firmly in the Key of D, echoing the Intro. Once again, now that you're armed with the Chord Wheel you can actually play through the changes; a musicians' term meaning to actually follow the chord changes in a song instead of playing freely over everything regardless of key changes.

Sound confusing and complex? It's not and more importantly it's not all that uncommon. And we're not just talking jazz here, you'd be surprised what inventive songwriters working in the Pop vein come up with. If you think you can play modern rock music with the impression all songs rest in a single Key center, think again. But armed with the Chord Wheel your improvisations will sing along with the harmony of the underlying progression.