Pentatonic Scales: The Easy Way!!

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the pool here's another video on the minor pentatonic scale now why is it that we would have to talk about the scale still no no we all know it we all use it everybody knows it why are we still talking about it here's my take on it the minor pentatonic scale the pentatonic scale in general is a five note structure it's a very very flexible structure because all of the chords most of the chords that we use are built from seven note scales like the major scale the modes harmonic minor melodic minor blah blah blah those scales since they're seven notes they harmonize and they create chords the pentatonic scale not so much it just doesn't have enough notes however when you use it as a melodic structure since it's missing those notes that get sort of squirrelly depending on what chord is being built your chances of hitting a wrong note with the pentatonic scale are lower than they are when you use a seven note scale so it's very very useful as a very very useful structure guitar players have been using it for decades and they got really good at it right my favorite guitar players use the pentatonic scale much more elegantly than i do so there's always something to learn right i always have an example of somebody who's better than me which means i still have work to do and hence that's why we have yet another video on the minor pentatonic scale [Music] welcome back to the channel my name's chris today you will learn the minor pentatonic scale [Music] but i already know the minor pentatonic scale like i said since it's a lifelong study along that journey there are bound to be epiphanies new information a light bulb moment a aha moment i'm going to share one of those with you today before we get started if you like this channel you like the way i teach you're excited about the information the experience that i bring or you just like to support the channel take a look at patreon and see what i've got to offer there you can also get access to my teaching platform called the studio and it's there that you can register for live classes that i'm teaching so if you're interested in getting a little deeper with me or you just like to show your support head on over to patreon and see if you like what you see and if you do decide to support the channel i thank you in advance okay this lesson comes from a student of mine named mark mark and i were working on the pentatonic scale like we're all doing right and he was having some difficulty getting through um the difference and trying to like navigate the difference between a position and a pattern and a scale and a shape like what and all of that nomenclature he was having a hard time getting through that right those five different positions and the patterns that they create and the shapes of those patterns and how those shapes are different so we arrived at a very very simple way of stripping all that stuff away and looking at the scale with only one single constraint and that is which finger do you start the scale on do you start it on your index finger or do you start it on your ring finger usually those are the two fingers that you start the scale on right so using this simple constraint you bypass all of the positions and all of the patterns and all of the shapes and the patterns and you just think about that one thing i'm going to play the scale and i'm going to start it on my index finger or i'm going to start it on my ring finger let's zoom in and i'll show you what i'm talking about okay the whole idea here is taking the cognitive load out of mapping the pentatonic scale across the entire fretboard the benefit here is that you get to use the scale more melodically sort of more intentionally when you focus on it in this way so we're going to be using the a minor pentatonic scale [Music] this is the a minor pentatonic scale starting on the e string fifth fret you probably already know that shape hopefully we all do it's ingrained in our in our souls right it's burned into our psyches um let me demonstrate the problem we're trying to solve first you probably already know this but this scale [Music] the notes from the scale occur all over the fretboard and as they invert and move up the fretboard they change shapes and change patterns so this is the note this is the scale starting and ending on the root [Music] when you start on the second note of the scale you probably already know this the pattern looks like this [Music] when you start on the third note in the scale it looks different again [Music] when you start on the fourth note of the scale it's different again and starting on the fifth note of the scale it's yet again totally different [Music] right so when you're mapping the scale and you're trying to get sort of familiar with it and be able to use it all over the fret board you've got to remember like which node am i starting on is this is this where the minor third is or is this a whole step where does it shift where do i hands need to shift and move there's a lot there and that information like retaining all that information is a barrier between you and playing the scale effectively because all you really want to do is use that information to make some music with right and these patterns and these shapes get in the way this is the problem that mark and i were having so what we're going to do now is take that same scale and we're only going to use one constraint you're either going to be starting on your index finger or you're going to be starting on your ring finger and that's it we're going to map the entire scale using those two constraints which finger am i starting on right it's actually a single constraint but there are two elements to it two different solutions okay so here's how that works both of those solutions starting on your index and starting on your ring finger are present here in our in our home base shape [Music] the pentatonic scale is a five note structure starting on my index watch this one two three four five and the scale's over [Music] i just happen to end here on my ring finger if i play it from here using five notes one two three four five so there are two solutions starting on the index and starting on the ring now we're simply going to take those two shapes starting on our index starting on a ring and we're going to map the scale in both ways on each string e string a string d string and g string okay that's it here we go let's get started a on the e string we already know where that is fifth fret index finger we've done this a billion times [Music] start that same scale in that same position from this note using your ring finger this is something you might not have done [Music] there it is both versions from that same note on the e string [Music] right now a on the a string we're going to take it all the way up to the octave here starting on our index finger same basic shape that we started with [Music] in fact it's identical [Music] starting on that same note with our ring finger now it looks like this [Music] right boom a string is done d string finding an a on the d string here's one on the seventh fret [Music] index finger shape looks like this watch the b string [Music] start the same scale from the same note using our ring finger [Music] you should see that as the top half of our home base shape [Music] all right boom done g string there's an a on the g string right there watch the b string [Music] starting with our ring finger i'm going to take that up an octave because it's a little easier to see here's the a note i would actually recommend instead of starting with the ring finger on this one [Music] to avoid this weirdness this is the only pattern or location i would suggest starting it with your middle finger [Music] because then you can get this cool little thing [Music] that's ring finger in this case middle index right we can't really do this on the b string because we run out of strings right away and we certainly can't do it on the e string headed this way because we have no more strings unique thing about that is that you find the limits of the guitar and let me just say this it's always better for you to find the limits of the instrument than the instrument to be limited by your capability it's a much better place to be okay that's it starting and ending on your index finger starting and ending on your ring finger map the pentatonic scale to the e a d and g strings right this keeps you in touch with the scale [Music] the sound of the scale all the time and mapping it in this way is a natural sort of holistic mapping where you get to play the scale over the entire neck but you never have to worry about which shape is it what position am i in what is the why how is this going to look different how are the shapes going to change because you're only using two basic mappings the mapping with your index finger and the mapping with your ring finger well as you can see just using that simple constraint that single constraint starting on the index finger starting on the ring finger i stay connected to the scale at all times i'm always playing the scale i'm not worrying about whether or not the pattern or the shape of the pattern of the is this a minor third or is this a a whole step and where does it shift right all of that focus is on something else besides the scale you might need those patterns and those shapes to to get real technical prowess right to get your synchronization together and that's what that's for but if you want to get effective at playing the scale lyrically like actually making some music with it this is a much more powerful way to do it okay tabs are on patreon head on over there if you want to get the tabs and if you do support the channel again thank you in advance i hope you found this helpful i hope it piques your interest and it provides you a new way to look at the pentatonic scale which we're all going to be studying for the rest of our lives i hope you've had a good time and i'll see you next time okay that's the intro curious guitarist

Channel: Chris Sherland Guitar

Views: 313,370

Keywords: music theory on guitar, chris sherland guitar, chris sherland, music theory guitar lesson, pentatonic scales for guitar, pentatonic scale, pentatonic scales guitar, easy pentatonic scale, how to play pentatonic scales on guitar, how to play pentatonic scales on guitar fast, guitar solo pentatonic scale, easy pentatonic licks

Id: kvmUQ-mb0OY

Length: 12min 32sec (752 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 15 2022