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.