Playing The Full Minor Pentatonic Scale: Part II

In the last post, we discerned the home position of the A minor pentatonic scale. In this post, we’ll play the other four positions. If you will recall, the home position of the scale is as follows:

Low E string: 5th fret, 8th Fret
A String: 5, 7
D String: 5, 7
G String: 5, 7
B String: 5, 8
High E: 5, 8

Now, for another position. Notice that all of the positions contain only five notes, from different octaves. Hence, pentatonic.

Low E: 3, 5
A: 3, 5
D: 2, 5
G: 2, 5
B: 3, 5
High E: 3, 5

Next position:

Low E: 8, 10
A: 7, 10
D: 7, 10
G: 7, 9
B: 8, 10
High E: 8, 10

Next:

Low E: 10, 12
A: 10, 12
D: 10, 12
G: 9, 12
B: 10, 13
High E: 10, 12

And finally:

Low E: 12, 15
A: 12, 15
D: 12, 14
G: 12, 14
B: 13, 15
High E: 12, 15

Keep practicing!

Playing The Full Minor Pentatonic Scale: Part I

Easily one of the most popular (and therefore, most important!) things to learn on the guitar is the pentatonic scale. Mastering it is essential for playing many types of music, such as rock and blues. Also, once you have mastered the pentatonic scale, it becomes that much easier to learn new scales, such as the diatonic scale.

Now, if you haven’t already read the intro post about the pentatonic scale, I suggest you do so. After that, feel free to read this post. In the other post, we used the A minor pentatonic scale, but for this post, we’ll work with the E minor. (Why? Because it’s important to learn to transpose the scales to different keys from the outset, and it’s also relatively easy to play the E minor, since the home position is on the open strings and on the 12th fret.) So let’s get started:

Low E string: Open, 3rd fret

A string: Open, 2nd fret

D string: Open, 2nd fret

G string: Open, 2nd fret

B string: Open, 3rd fret

High E: Open, 3rd fret

Play this pattern. Now move it up and play the same pattern an octave higher, starting on the twelfth fret instead of the open E string. Notice anything? It’s the exact same pattern as the A minor pentatonic scale! Imagine that! As a matter of fact, this pattern can be applied to any key, as long as that first note you play (in this case, open or 12th fret on the E string) is the note in which key you are playing. So, for the E minor pentatonic, we can start on either the open E string or the 12th fret, one octave higher. Also, with the A minor pentatonic, we start with the fifth fret, or the “A” note. (Hint: If you haven’t learned where the different notes are yet, read the post.)

Okay, so we have the same position as last time. What about the other ones? Actually, once you learn where the notes are, it just becomes a matter of time before you can find the other notes. That’s because the pentatonic scale is only composed of 5 different notes spanning different octaves. So for that E minor scale we played, those notes were E, G, A, B, D. Go on, try it out. You will find all five of those notes within the scale. Now, if you go around the rest of the fretboard and find all five of those notes up and down the frets, you will find the other five positions of the pentatonic scale. After you do that, you can transpose any of those positions to play the minor pentatonic in any key!

In part 2, we’ll do that. Otherwise, you can be bold (which is what I recommend) and try to find them all on your own.

Playing The Guitar Solo: 3 Tips

The art of the guitar solo is one that is difficult to master. Ask any seasoned guitarist worth his or her salt and they’ll tell you they didn’t just pick up a guitar for the first time and belt out Hendrix licks. It takes time and a lot of effort to learn to play solos that showcase your true talents, whether you’re aiming for a B.B. King-level blues extravaganza, or a Metallica-worthy metalfest. Here are 3 tips to help you get started:

1. Start with the pentatonic scale: The pentatonic scale is a great way to get started with guitar soloing. It’s easy to learn, and can be applied to any style of music. The great thing about it is that it’s only really necessary to know the home position; with that, you can transpose it to any key you want and can just focus on letting the notes come to you as they may. That sounds strange, but the great thing about the pentatonic scale is that it’s only five notes (penta = five), but from several octaves, so every note sounds good if it’s in the right key to begin with! The scale can be utilised in such a way to range from low, heavy riffs to high-pitched, squealing licks. If you haven’t yet learned the pentatonic scale, click here.

Hint: To play bluesy or metal-oriented riffs, play the minor pentatonic. For a more twangy, country feel, use the major scale.

2. Feel the rhythm: It’s impossible to play a guitar solo if you can’t get the rhythm of a song down. This may be because the song has a strange, off-beat rhythm, or it could simply be that it’s just too fast. Whatever the case, I recommend starting with a fairly straightforward beat with a moderate tempo for your first solo, such as those found in rock and blues. That’s why these musical styles are so popular for guitarists in the first place!

If you’re still having trouble getting the exact rhythm, try tapping your foot to the beat for at least a few measures before you begin your solo. That way, it will be easier to come in on the right count and stay with the rhythm.

3. Know when to end it:While long, Led Zeppelin-style solos may be cool, they can get on the nerves of your bandmates or the people you’re jamming with. A good solo (in most musical styles) should be like a good book: with a beginning, middle, and end. Nobody likes a run-on sentence, and the same can be said for guitar solos. It’s infinitely better to make something amazing in just a few measures than to keep a mediocre solo going forever.

Intermediate: Why You MUST Master The Pentatonic Scale

This is an absolute necessity if you have any desire to play rock, blues, or most other types of music. Even if you’re a classical guitarist, practicing the pentatonic scale is a great way to learn proper technique and improvisational skills. Just like most things on the guitar, it’s tough at first, but once your finger muscles have been conditioned to playing the scale, it becomes a breeze. The great thing about this scale that makes it so perfect for improvisation and jamming is this: once you master the (relatively) simple patterns, playing this scale becomes all a matter of feeling. Another terrific benefit of it is that it is so easy to transpose to any different key.

What’s the best way to go about learning it? Well, for those just beginning to learn pentatonics, I recommend starting with the minor scale. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the home position of the A minor pentatonic scale is one of the easiest things to learn and master. If you can just learn the home position on the fifth fret of the A minor scale, you can solo to about half (if not more) of popular music through transposing it to various keys.

What if your song isn’t in the key of A? Simple: Play the same pattern as the A minor scale, but instead of playing it starting on the fifth fret of the E string (the A note,) start it on whichever note you’re supposed to be playing in. Example: To play in B minor, simply slide the home position of A minor up two frets, to the seventh fret. This note on the E string is… B! Now you can play the exact same position as you did on the A minor pentatonic, but in B minor! This works with every other key: E (open or 12th fret,) C (8th fret,) D (10th fret,) F# (2nd fret,) etc.

In some cases, though, it will be necessary to play in a major key. To do this, you simply start at whichever fret will cause the second note you play on the E string (which will be 3 frets higher than the first) to be the note of the major key. Sounds confusing, but it’s really not. Example: To play C major, we need the the note we play with our pinky on the E string to be a C. This note is on the 8th fret of the E string. If we start by putting our pinky there, our index finger will land on the 5th fret. This is exactly the same as the A minor position! Therefore, A minor and C major correspond with one another on the pentatonic scale. This is always true: every minor key has a corresponding major key. For another example, when we play an E minor pentatonic, our pinky lands on the note G on the E string (3rd or 15th fret.)

So how do you play the pentatonic scale? To do this, you must practice on your guitar, up and down until you no longer have to look at these instructions (you can find diagrams in guitar books too.) Here we go for the A minor and C major pentatonic (remember, they’re the same thing):

On the low E string: 5th fret and 8th fret

A String: 5th fret, 7th fret

D string: 5th, 7th

G string: 5th, 7th

B string: 5th, 8th

High E string: 5th, 8th

There you go! Now you can play an A minor/C major pentatonic scale! Again, to transpose it to different keys, simply use the instructions above. Note: This is only one of five main positions for the pentatonic scale, so start with this one, then learn the rest.