The Pentatonic Scale
Hello, thank you for visiting the Beginner Guitar Lessons Blog! If you ask me how to play lead guitar my answer is you have to learn the guitar scales. Why? Because solos and guitar riffs are built based on the guitar scales. One of the easiest guitar scales you can learn is the pentatonic scale.
Consisting of only 5 notes instead of 7 notes, the pentatonic scale removes some notes that may sound wrong in both major and minor scales giving you the freedom to explore the guitar fretboard without fear. Learning the pentatonic scale is a must for beginners who want to play lead guitar. Yes, I repeat it again: it’s a must! While it is true that there are major and minor scales you will find that both of them share the same shape in the pentatonic scale and differ only in the root notes.
Major Pentatonic Scale
Let’s have a look at the C major scale in the Ionian Mode:
From the famous do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do scale above we drop the fourth and seventh notes which are F and B. Now you have only five notes instead of seven notes.
Let’s have a look at this major pentatonic scale for C:
The root note from the chart above is C. You have to memorize the pattern and practice it. Note that your index finger is assigned to the second fret while your mid finger and pinkie are assigned to the notes on the third and fifth frets. Play each note consecutively from the sixth string to the first string and backwards. We call this pattern as the first box of the C major pentatonic.
After you are familiar with the pattern you can start playing those notes with your own style. Be creative, there are only 5 notes available and you can’t be picking the wrong notes so use your imagination to create a melody. You can ask your friend to play a simple guitar chord progression such as C – Am – F – G – C or C – Am – Dm – G – C. This pentatonic scale will sound good in any chords belong to the family of the C major.
Minor Pentatonic Scale
All major chords have relative minor chords. If you are not sure about the major chords you can always visit the basic guitar chords section. From the previous lesson we understood that Am is the relative minor chord of C major so let us look at the major pentatonic chart again:
Am and C share the same pentatonic box (es). The only different thing is the root notes: C major pentatonic started with C and A minor pentatonic started with A. From this point we can say that the pentatonic box is not really meant for minor or major chords only. How you play it – in this case choosing the root note - will determine whether it is the major pentatonic or minor pentatonic scales.
Are you getting confused now? Don’t be please. We will discuss about the other pentatonic boxes in the future post. Remember, today we just learn the first box only. As you are exploring the guitar fretboard further you will meet other patterns of the pentatonic scale. See ya!
-TJ- Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin
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