Lesson: 5
Title: The Pentatonic Scale
Level: Beginner - Intermediate
Style: Theory
Instructor: Bill Quinn
Hello, I'm Bill. I've thought a lot about the '1st lesson' but the
only thing that really makes sense is to just jump right in. For those
of
you who know the pentatonic scale - this will surely be a nice review,
for
the rest of you, get ready for the 1st step in playing lead.
The guitar makes learning scales easy! To most players, a scale is
just a memorized fingering pattern. Sure, the pattern contains notes,
and
the notes have names, but its still just a pattern. I will use the
term
'pattern' to refer to a set of places (frets) on the guitar neck where
you
will find the notes in a scale.
Here is a pentatonic pattern:
E ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|-----|--O--|-----|
B ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|-----|--O--|-----|
G ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|--O--|-----|-----|
D ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|--O--|-----|-----|
A ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|--O--|-----|-----|
E ||-----|-----|--O--|-----|-----|--O--|-----|
The picture shows a 'top view' of a right handed neck. The horizontal
lines are strings and the vertical lines are frets. The letters to the
left
side of the 'neck' are the string names (and tunings).
The O's are the places to play. We will soon see that this pattern is
one of many ways to play a pentatonic scale. Remember we are really
talking
about patterns *NOT* scales.
Another look at the pattern:
E ||-----|-----|--1--|-----|-----|--2--|-----|
B ||-----|-----|--4--|-----|-----|--5--|-----|
G ||-----|-----|--2--|-----|--3--|-----|-----|
D ||-----|-----|--5--|-----|--1--|-----|-----|
A ||-----|-----|--3--|-----|--4--|-----|-----|
E ||-----|-----|--1--|-----|-----|--2--|-----|
The numbers represent each unique note in the pattern. If we start
on the bottom string and play from left to right, we will be playing the
notes
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2). There are only 5 unique notes!
No duh?
Thats why it's called a PENTA(meaning 5) TONIC(meaning note or tone)
pattern.
Now what? Well, as most experienced players will tell you, this is
the pattern to learn. Although there are *MANY* ways to memorize the
notes
in a pentatonic scale, this is the most common way to do it.
I will leave you with the following exercises in TAB to help you get
familiar with the given pentatonic pattern. Next week, we will take a
look
at ocatves and more pentatonic fingerings. In a couple of weeks we
will give
the pattern a good work-out by having a technique/lick lesson.
exercise: (playing the pentatonic scale at the 5th fret)
---------------------------------5--8--------------------------------8--
5---
---------------------------5--8--------------------------------8--5-----
----
---------------------5--7--------------------------------7--5-----------
----
---------------5--7--------------------------------7--5-----------------
----
---------5--7--------------------------------7--5-----------------------
----
---5--8--------------------------------8--5-----------------------------
----
exercise: (play '3 notes down' then 'back up')
---8--5-----5-----------------------------------------------------------
----
---------8-----8--5--8--5-----5-----------------------------------------
----
---------------------------7-----7--5--7--5-----5-----------------------
----
---------------------------------------------7----7--5--7--5------------
----
--------------------------------------------------------------7---------
----
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
exercise: (skipping strings)
-------------------------5----------------------------------------------
----
---5--------------8-----------------------------------------------------
----
----------5-----------------7-------------------------------------------
----
------7--------------7--------------------------------------------------
----
--------------7---------------------------------------------------------
----
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Practice each of these to a metronome at a tempo that is easy - then
work
the tempo up until you can't play the exercise. Make note of your
highest
tempo at each pratice session and always try to improve!
See ya next week!
