The major pentatonic scales are an important building block for playing melodies and improvising solos on the guitar. These patterns are important for all styles of music, and especially helpful when you’re learning to play jazz guitar. These scales can be a helpful go-to source for material when you are improvising on a major blues progression, or with other progressions that stick mostly to a major key. To get the most out of this lesson, you’ll want to know the notes along each of the guitar strings. If you’re not comfortable with that yet, click here to get started. If you’re in a hurry to get these scales under your fingers and playable, don’t worry! I’ll include a fretboard map here to show you what you need to know. The pentatonic scales are helpful for a couple of reasons:
I recommend you practice these scale patterns at a variety of locations along the neck - partially to play in different keys, but also to get used to the different fret spacing as you move up and down the guitar neck. One good way to do this is to move up and down the neck one fret at a time. Just play your scale, and move up a fret when you're done. Keep going until you've done this 12 times. Another way is to practice around the cycle of 4ths: C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D GFinally - practicing these scales in sequence is a great way to get started - but if you want to use these in your jazz guitar playing, you should start improvising with the scale pattern as soon as possible. You can play whatever you want, as long as it fits the scale pattern - you’re still practicing, just practicing creatively. Five Pentatonic Scale PatternsOverall there are 5 finger patterns you need to know for your major pentatonic scales. Note that any one of these patterns will give you the ability to play your major pentatonic scale in all 12 keys. Learning more of the patterns gives you access to play in the same key at different parts of the guitar neck. This has 2 benefits:
Start with one pattern, and work you way through the rest as you have time. I recommend that you get comfortable with the 6th string form before you move on. Quality is better than quantity. It’s better for you to be really good at one or two scale patterns than to be just ok at every scale pattern. Major Pentatonic ConstructionWhile mechanically it’s helpful to look at the suggested finger patterns, knowing what intervals make up your scale is going to be important for your musical development. Intervals refer to the distance a note is above the Root (1) of the scale. Major pentatonic scales have 5 different notes before they start over at a new octave - the root (1), major second (2), major 3rd (3), perfect fifth (5) and the major sixth (6). 6th String FormThe 6th string scale form starts with your middle finger on the 6th string. Your starting note on the 6th string determines the name of the scale you are playing. The example below is a G major pentatonic scale. If you moved up a fret, you would be playing an Ab major pentatonic scale. By sliding your hand up and down the neck, you can play this scale pattern in different keys - depending on what you need. Suggested Finger PatternPractice ExampleOnce you’re comfortable with playing the finger pattern, you can give yourself an additional challenge by keeping track of the intervals shown in the diagram below. Just say the number out loud as you play the note - later on you can track them in your head. This helps your ears, brain, and fingers to learn to work together as you play and improvise. Intervals5th String FormThe 5th string form starts with your middle finger on the 5th string. Your starting note on the 5th string determines the name of the scale you are playing. The example below is a C major pentatonic scale. If you moved up a fret, you would be playing a Db major pentatonic scale. By sliding your hand up and down the neck, you can play this scale pattern in different keys - depending on what you need. Pay attention to the practice example below. Start at the root, play as high as the scale pattern allows, play back down as low as the scale pattern allows, and play your way back up to the root. Suggested Finger PatternPractice ExampleOnce you’re comfortable with playing the finger pattern, you can give yourself an additional challenge by keeping track of the intervals shown in the diagram below. Intervals4th String FormThe 4th string form starts with your middle finger on the 4th string. Your starting note on the 4th string determines the name of the scale you are playing. The example below is an F major pentatonic scale. If you moved up a fret, you would be playing a Gb major pentatonic scale. By sliding your hand up and down the neck, you can play this scale pattern in different keys - depending on what you need. Pay attention to the practice example below - Just like with the 5th string form, you want to start at the root, play all the way up, all the way down, and back up to the root. This helps show you all of the notes in the key that you can reach in this position. Suggested Finger PatternPractice ExampleOnce you’re comfortable with playing the finger pattern, you can give yourself an additional challenge by keeping track of the intervals shown in the diagram below. Intervals3rd String FormThe 3rd string form starts with your index finger on the 3rd string. This is the only major pentatonic scale here I recommend starting with the index finger. Your starting note on the 3rd string determines the name of the scale you are playing. The example below is a Bb major pentatonic scale. If you moved up a fret, you would be playing a B major pentatonic scale. By sliding your hand up and down the neck, you can play this scale pattern in different keys - depending on what you need. Pay attention to the practice example below: Suggested Finger PatternPractice ExampleOnce you’re comfortable with playing the finger pattern, you can give yourself an additional challenge by keeping track of the intervals shown in the diagram below. Intervals2nd String FormThe 2nd string form starts with your middle finger on the 2nd string. Your starting note on the 2nd string determines the name of the scale you are playing. The example below is a D major pentatonic scale. If you moved up a fret, you would be playing an Eb major pentatonic scale. By sliding your hand up and down the neck, you can play this scale pattern in different keys - depending on what you need. Pay attention to the practice example below: Suggested Finger PatternPractice ExampleOnce you’re comfortable with playing the finger pattern, you can give yourself an additional challenge by keeping track of the intervals shown in the diagram below. IntervalsPut These Scales To WorkThe best way for you to really get these scales under your fingers is to use them as much as possible. Try them our by improvising over blues progressions, or other simple chord progressions in a major key. Keep practicing, and let me know how it goes!
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