Ready to learn the classic Eagles solo from "Take It Easy" on the guitar?

In this lesson, we'll learn how to play the Take It Easy solo by the Eagles on the electric guitar. This is a superb solo to learn for so many reasons! Aside from being a beautiful piece of music, it's wonderfully constructed, perfect for learning to improvise using chord tones. Beyond learning to play this solo, we'll also explore why the licks work, how they work, and how to incorporate them into your improvising.

🎸 Take It Easy Rhythm Chords & Strumming! Check out my Grade 3 Take It Easy lesson for the chords, rhythm, and song structure. :)

I suspect the original solo is played on a b-bender guitar, which makes a difference to the tone. At some points in the song, the finger bend doesn't sound right, but we'll look at several fingering options to make up for it. :) You might find some unusual, but we'll look at familiar options too. Ultimately, it's up to you what fingering you choose. :)

ℹ️ I've divided the Take It Easy solo into ten licks, roughly corresponding to the chord changes. Get a verified tab for this solo with JustinGuitarTabs!

Take It Easy is a cracking song! So grab your guitar and get straight into the first Lick. :)

Take It Easy By The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 1

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 1

The first Lick is based on a G chord. Some might say playing the sixth makes this a G Pentatonic riff, but I feel this note is more of an embellishment. Ultimately, the notes are based on the E Shape G Major Chord!

💡 Explore! This lick is based around a G chord, so you should use these little lines whenever soloing over G. Explore it – make a little loop with a G chord and see what you can do. :) Never just learn the lick as it appears in the song; you only get half the value that way.

Take It Easy By The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 2

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 2

The chords under this riff are G, D, and C; you can see how this Lick fits over them. :)

🚨 Chord Tones: The AC double stop is played over the D Chord. Sometimes I'm not sure if the C Note appears in the lead part, but it sounds cool. It gives the D Chord a Dominant 7th sound, and it's a chord tone in the C Chord.

Take It Easy By The Eagles: Guitar Solo Licks 3 and 4

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Licks 3&4

🧐 The Finer Points! The slides on this licks are likely bends played with a b-bender, but I can't find any videos of Joe Walsh using it. :(

Take It Easy By The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 5

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 5

This Lick is based around a C Major Barre Chord.

🚨 Chord Tones: This licks uses the same idea as Licks 1 and 2. It's based around the same shape as the G from Licks 1 and 2 but moved up five frets. Notice the double stop is also the same as before but moved up five frets. :)

Take It Easy by The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 6

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 6

Now the chords change to an Em. I think there are two consecutive slides between the double stops, but it's hard to tell. It could be a single-note hammer-on, and the b-bender could be involved. I'm not 100% sure, and this is the magic of transcribing. :)

🎸 Two-Fingered Bends: You'll find several double-stop bends in this solo, and I suggest you bend the lower note with two fingers to get extra support. I choose to play this one with fingers 1 and 2 because I feel that finger 4 is more stable that way. You can also try fingers 2 and 3. :)

Take It Easy by The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 7

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 7

🚨 Can you see that these notes outline the E-Shaped C Barre Chord? It's really useful to see them this way rather than as notes in a scale. This solo beautifully outlines the chord shapes, and being aware of this helps you solo when the chords are coming fast.

Take It Easy By The Eagles: Guitar Solo Licks 8 & 9

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Licks 8&9

Now the chords change to Am. We start Lick 8 with a fast hammer-on!

Then it's a classic Major Pentatonic Lick. The rhythm count is horrible here – I recommend you listen to this one yourself. :)

Take It Easy by The Eagles: Guitar Solo – Lick 10

JustinGuitar · Take It Easy - Solo Lick 10

A b-bender would be so awesome to play this final lick!

💡 Relative Minors & Soloing: In this lick, he outlines the A Shape G Chord over an Em harmony, giving an Em7 sound. This works because Em is the relative minor of G, a common trick in Country music. Check out my Practical Music Theory Course for more on relative minors. :)

Playing Tips

One of the biggest mistakes is learning solos we love but without chopping them into licks and exploring each individually. I've learned lots of great solos over the years, but their licks never come out when I improvise! They aren't part of my repertoire because I haven't taken the time to explore the licks.

So I suggest you examine the relationship between the licks and the accompanying chords, deliberately improvising with them! Mix it with your current repertoire, like other licks and scales. This is the best way to learn and work new licks into your soloing!

🚨 Licks won't become part of your lead-guitar toolkit if you only practice them independently. :)

If you want to get started with this right now, jam along with my backing track at the end of the video for this lesson!

Have tons of fun with the solo from Take It Easy! It's a fantastic piece of lead guitar, and beyond having fun with it, you should use it as a basis for developing your soloing repertoire. Laters! :)

👉 Up for more? Check out all my Eagles song tutorials!