Pentatonic Scales

Chords are fun, but most songs have either a voice or an instrument playing a melody. This can be in the form of a vocal melody, but it can also be in the form of an instrumental melody played on a guitar. We might conjure an image of a lead guitarist playing fast and flashy, but it also might take the form of a hook or riff that you can't get out of your mind.

Many of these parts use either the major or the minor pentatonic scale. These are streamlined versions of the normal major and minor scales. They can be used as the building blocks for a guitar solo, but they can also be used to craft a melody that can be played along with a set of chords (or chord progression).


A Little Bit of Theory (but not much)


In the same way that you played an A major chord in two ways (as a bar chord and an open chord), you will also play an A major pentatonic scale in two ways. Actually, you will play the A major pentatonic scale in five ways (you can play a chord in 5 ways too, but we'll save that for another lesson). These ways are called "positions", and once you know them for one key, you'll know them for all the 12 keys in music. You only have to start the position from the note that corresponds to the correct key.

Here are what the 5 positions look like for a G major pentatonic scale.

The black dot shows the location of the root note (the note associated with the key of the scale), and the number under the first circle tells us what fret to begin with. In position 1, the root note is on the 6th string at the 3rd fret. This note is G, which also is the key of this scale.

For many, it helps to see a representation of how these 5 positions look across the guitar's fretboard.

 





As you can see, each position follows another position in a loop. Notice how position 1 begins at the third fret, but also repeats at the 15th fret. Position 5 can be played at the 12th fret, but also at the guitar nut. If you play each string open along with the notes at the 2nd and 3rd frets, you have the position 5 shape.

Here are the minor pentatonic positions for the key of G.

 











These shapes should be familiar, they are the same shapes use for G major pentatonic. Only with the minor version of the pentatonic scale, position 1 looks like position 5 of its major counterpart. The pattern continues, with position 2 looking like position 1, 3 like 2, etc.

Don't worry about this too much at this point. It is described by the theoretical concept of relative keys, but you can just be aware of it for the time being.

Here is what the G minor pentatonic positions look like across the guitar neck.

Again, its the same shapes from the major version of G pentatonic, only the positioning of the shapes have changed.

Challenge Exercise


Play through position 1 of G major and minor pentatonic. Start with your 1st finger at the G note for minor, then your 2nd finger at the G note for the major version. Let each finger, numbers 1 through 4, play one fret each. For many, playing with the pinky (4th finger) is difficult. If you have trouble, try playing those notes with your ring finger (3rd finger). You can also start with your first finger on the G not for the major pentatonic, shifting it down to the 2nd fret when needed. Experiment and find something that is comfortable. It will take practice.

Try recording a chord progression, then playing the scale that corresponds to the key of the progression (ie, G major progression gets G major pentatonic scale. Try to come up with your own melody.

As long as your progression is in a major key, you can play either a major or minor pentatonic scale. However, if the key is minor, you must play a minor scale.