-
RockGuitarMadeEasyPERFECTYOURPENTATONICS
ONTHECD
TRACKS7-9 ~7. Introduction
8. Full track
9. Backing track
(f)200I Widdle Music
GT RATINGEASY
IIIIIIIWiJl improveyour:. Understandingofthe fretboard.
Scaleknowledge. Musictheory
"A reallygoodplayerwillknow
patternsthatcanbetraeedalloverthe
neck"
YOUR GTTUTOR8JAMIE HUMPHRIES
Seep16formore infoon aI.1theGTtutors
Thisissue,we starta serieson
rocksoloingtechniques,whetheryou'rea beginneror
atheory-hungryimproviser...
PERFECT YOURPENTATONICS
Welcome to this, our fust instalmentof what
GT is calling Rock Guitar Made Easy. Thiscolumn is designed to
take you through thetechniques and theory necessaryto play
modem rock guitar - we're looking at the 'knowiedgebehind the
notes' and I hope to answer many questionsthat so many guitarists
overlook, or are never told.
We're kicking things off with the pentatonic scale.Waita minute
- don't go skipping to the next lesson!Yes, a lotof you will have
leamt this scale,but just how weil doyou know it? I come across
this all the time with myACM classes.Many studentssay they know
the
pentatonic scale- when I 0 =Root Note
(A)they'veprobablyonlyleamtoneshape.A reallygoodplayerwill
knowallof thefiveshapesfromtoptobottom,plusheor
shewillhaveleamtthescalein
pattemsthatcanbetraced I (3) (5) (7)all overtheneck.Thiswill
unlocktheneckandgiveyounurnerousoptionswhenirnprovisingasolo.Checkoutyourfavouriteguitarist-
I bettheydon'tstayin
onepositionforawholesolo.Anddifferentshapesaffectthewayyouplay,asweilasyoursound.
THE SCALE FORMULAThepentatonicis
afive-notescalethatoriginatesfromthemajorscaleofthesamename.Theformulais
asfollows:1,1,3,4,5,h7,1.Youwill understandthisformulaif
youseethetheA majorscalein relationshiptoA
minorpentatonicscale...
A MA OR SCALE:A .BI 2
C# D3 4
E F# G#A5 6 7 I
A MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE:
A .c DI h3 4
EGA5 h7 I
This formula is consistent throughoutall minor pentatonic
scales:sirnplylook at the major scale of the same
name, remove the 2nd and the 6th,flatten the 3rd and the 7th...
heypresto, the pentatonic in any key.
THE 'CAGED' SYSTEMTakea lookatFIGURE I. ThisshowstheA
minorpentatonicscaleacrosstheentireneck(upto22frets).This
is,ideally,howyoushouldknowthepentatonicscale- insideoutandin
a1112keys.
Beforewecandothis,I'd
recornrnendthatyouleamthescalebasedaroundchordshapesfoundin
the'CAGED'system.CAGEDis asystemof
playingscalesthatuseschordshapesofC,A, G, E, andD.I
alwaysfindscaleseasierto rememberif I
visualisethemaroundabasicchordshape. mi
THE A MINOR PENTATONJC FIGURE I
18 Guitar1chniquesDECEMBER 2001
(9) 12 15 17 19 21 24
- - - - - - -::: a: ;::: -- :: .::: ;:::,.....,- - '-" - - - .V
I- I-i-- - - ,.... - -.r. - - ';;;t. r.. 1--- - :: -- ':;;/.
.:::
:= - - :: .::: - - ::- - - - - -
-
Pattern I
5-
Am/Em Shape
5-
AEACEA1 5 I ~35 I
EXAMPLE I showspattem1ofthepentatonieseale.Thispattemis
basedaroundtheE
minorehordshapeandits rootnotescanbefoundontheE
stringsandtheDstring.Makesureyoupraetisefromroot
noteto rootnotewhenlearningtheseshapes.This
eanbeheardontheCDthroughoutaUofthefiveshapes.
Pattern 2EXAMPLE 2
8-
Pattern 3
10-
Am/Dm Shapex x
A E A CI 5 1 ~3
Am/Cm Shapex x
ACE AI ~35 1
EXAMPLE 2 is pattem2of theseale,andis basedaroundtheD
minorehordshape.TherootnotesofthissealeshapecanbefoundontheD andB
strings.Oneeagain,whenpraetisingtheshapestartfromthelowestrootnoteandplaythroughtherestof
thescale,resolvingonthehighestroot.Reversethiswheneomingbackdowntheseale,asontheGTCD.
EXAMPLE 3 is pattem3 oftheseale.Thissealeis basedaround
theC minorchordshapeanditsrootnotesarelocatedontheAandB
strings.Oneeagain,practiseit throughfromrootnotetorootnote.
Pattern 4EXAMPLE 4
12-
Am/Am Shapex
12-1V
AEACEI 5 I ~35
EXAMPLE 4 show pattem 4 of this seale.Thispattem is based around
the A minor shapewith the
root notes on the A and G string. Remember.topraetise it as
heard on the GTCD - root to root.
Pattern 5
EXAMPLE 5
17-
Am/Gm Shapex
A ECEAI 5 ~35 I
EXAMPLE 5 is ourfinalshape,andis
basedaroundtheGminorehordshape.TherootnotesarefoundontheE
stringsandontheG
string.OnceagainchecktheGTCDtohearthescaleplayedfromroottoroot.Onceyouhavetheseshapesdown,youshouldstarttoleamthemin
otherkeys.Nowthatthescalesareleamed,weneedtostartlookingatthemin
smallershapes,sothatwecansuccessfullymovethemaroundtheneek.We'Ustartonpairsofstrings,theE
andB,beforemovingfromoneshapetothenext...
'TONIC TONICSRECOMMENDEDLlSTENING
The exerciseshereare
obviouslynot concernedwith learningspecificlicks.just
improvingyourfretboardknowiedge.Butto hearplayerswho playthe
pentatonicscaleat al!positionson the neck.listento David
Gilmour (mainpicture)Eric Johnson (aboveleft),Paul Gilbert
(Ieft),ZakkWylde (overleat),Gary Moore and JeffBeek ('YouHad It
Coming'album,pictured)to namebut a few.Al! of
theseplayersliketomovearoundthe neck.
DECEMBER2001GuitarThchniquas19
-
EXAMPLE 6
5-
EXAMPLE 7
5-
EXAMPLE 6 is a
rectangular pattem on the Eand B strings. Starting onthe D note
on the string thisshape is easyto rememberas the final note on the
E
string is the root.
EXAMPLE 7 is an
extended rectangularpattern on the E and Bstrings. When starting
onthe E note on the B
string, the root note is
the third note played,and is found on the fifth
fret of the Estring.
..EXAMPLE 8 .
10- o.
EXAMPLE 9
10-
EXAMPLE 8 is anotherrectangularshapeontheEandB
strings.WhenstartingontheG
noteontheBstring,thesecondnoteistheroot.
EXAMPLE 9 is a
slightly different shape,and is called a forward
trapezoid. Here, the first
note on the B string isthe root note.
EXAMPLE 10 .
EXAMPLE 10is the final
12-1 1 1 1--1..-' shapeplayedontheE andB~ stringsandis
thereverseof
thelastexample.Thisshapeis..
calledareversetrapezoidanddoesnothavea rootnote.Examples6 to
10canbe
playedonall stringstunedinfourths:E-A, A-D,D-G,andB-E.
OntheGTCDI played
throughexamples6to lOon theD andG strings-
togiveyouanideaofhowtheexampleswil!soundwhenmovedontootherstringsbesuretomovethesetotheotherremainingpairstunedin
fourths.Youshouldpractiseallovertheneck,startingfromeachrootnote.The
GandB stringsaretunedin anintervalofa
third.Whenlearningonthesestrings,try
toseethemasdistortedversionsofthepreviousfiveexamples,withthenotesontheB
stringbeingraisedbyonefret.
20 Guitar'lchniquesDECEMBER2001
EXAMPLE 11
2-
EXAMPLE 12
5. ..4 .
EXAMPLE 11starts with
the root on the G-string andis a distorted version of
Example 9.
EXAMPLE 12has noroot and is a variation on
Example 10,the reversetrapezoid.
EXAMPLE 13
10.
EXAMPLE 14
10-
EXAMPLE 13is a variationof Example6andis seenasa
shiftedrectangularshape.
EXAMPLE 14is adistorted version of
Example 7, the
extended rectangularshape.
EXAMPLE 15
EXAMPLE 15 is the final
example and is a shiftedvariation of the rectangularshape found
in Example 8.
So, there it is, an alternativeway of lookingat
pentatonics.Whether youare a novice or
more of a 'feel'player, knowing allthese shapeswil! definitely
helpyou - leam these shapes onpairs of strings,and you'll beable to
accessany shape in
any position.
14.
. Nextmonth-stringbendsandbuildingsoloingvocabulary. [BI
- _I
GTCD GEAR
For the GTCD sessionIusedan EmieBali/MusicManLuke
modelpluggedintoaMarshallJMP I with acleansetting.
