One of the coolest things about playing guitar is combining different elements to create diverse, rich sounds. One such element I love to bring into my teaching is the blending of major and minor pentatonic scales. And no, they aren't opposing soccer teams; they're the basis for creating captivating guitar licks that can bring your music to the next level.
So, how does it work, you ask? Well, the idea is to visualize and play the major and minor notes of the pentatonic scale from the same position on your guitar. Add in some traditional blues bends to jazz things up a bit, and you've got yourself a nifty technique that not only improves your skillset but also makes your sound more layered and interesting.
For example, in one lick I like to teach my students, I start by playing major pentatonic notes by hammering-on from the fifth to the seventh frets of the second string. The concept of "hammering-on" is basically when you pluck a string then use a finger to tap down on the string, creating another note without plucking again.
After hammering-on, I shift gears to minor pentatonic by picking the fifth and eighth frets of the first string. Here's a quick tip: with this sort of play, the picking style isn't necessarily locked in. For me, I like to perform an alternate picking (alternating between downstroke and upstroke), but it honestly wouldn't make any difference if you downpick them all, especially if you're aiming for a slower rhythm.
There's no rulebook stating you have to perform these techniques a certain way. What's important is to keep in mind - as you gradually accumulate an arsenal of different licks over the course of your guitar learning journey - that you might have to shuffle some of these concepts around to accommodate new ones.
Never stop experimenting. If you find a different way that feels more natural, go ahead and try it. The golden rule is to think realistically. The movements you make and the strings you chose to play all act as transitions. You're essentially navigating your way between points A and B, and everything in between these points is subject to change.
To give another example, I move from five to seven as a hammer-on, then I press five to eight and pluck those. From there, I move my hands back to the seventh fret of the second string. And trust me on this, it already sounds pretty cool.
Next, I move back to the fifth fret of the first string and cap it off with a minor bend (a staple in blues scales). Now, can you remember how to do a minor bend? You're bending that second string up a whole step, technically making it a pitch "A". And if your base key is in "A", ending on that bend makes a harmonically satisfying finish.
To excel at these techniques, one key point is to be constantly visualizing the notes on your fretboard. Imagine the minor and major pentatonic notes side by side, see them simultaneously in your mind's eye. This enables you to pick and choose different paths, different notes to weave into your play.
Achieving this level of familiarity and fluidity with your fretboard, major and minor pentatonics included, opens up countless ways to incorporate these notes into your music. This ability to seamlessly switch between major and minor, while staying in the same position, will give you a range of tricks up your sleeve to keep your audience captivated time after time.
And remember: don't get too caught up with getting everything perfect right away. Take your time, practice, and explore your own unique music style. Learning to play the guitar is a journey, not a destination, an exciting voyage with pleasant detours on the road to mastering your art. So, go ahead and try it out; let's blend major and minor pentatonics and create some fantastic music together! The guitar is a versatile instrument, capable of a myriad of sounds and techniques, and one technique that I often talk about in my lessons is using traditional blues bends. These bends, coupled with other transition techniques, can enhance your playing and take you from a beginner to a bona fide guitarist. But it's one thing to talk about it, and another to put it into action - so let's dive in.
Before we start with the bends, let's backtrack a bit. In one of my go-to licks, I begin by merging major and minor pentatonic notes. Why? Because instead of falling into the rut of playing these individually, when you combine them, it jazzes everything up and gives your licks an extra pop that keeps ears pricked.
Imagine playing the fifth to seventh frets of the second string using a hammer-on technique (where you tap a string hard enough to make sound without having to pluck again), then going ahead to pick the fifth and eighth frets of the first string. Here you're transitioning from major to minor pentatonic, and the resulting sound is anything but minor!
For this lick, I like to utilize alternate picking, going back and forth between downstrokes and upstrokes, though depending on your rhythm and speed, you might find down picking every note suits your style better. The versatility of guitar playing is such that you can shuffle and switch techniques - it's all a part of learning.
Now, let's get down to the blues bends. After alternately picking the fifth to eighth fret, I return to the seventh fret of the second string. Following this, we take a side trip back to the fifth fret of the first string. And here's where the magic happens - we end with a minor bend.
In case you're not familiar, a minor bend involves plucking a string and then pushing it upwards, changing the pitch. This particular bend goes up a whole step, effectively making it an A note, the same as the open fifth string. Wrapping up your lick with this bend, especially if you're in the key of A, gives a pleasing, melodic finish.
Practising this method helps you visually plot your course on the fretboard - with time, you will be able to see the major and minor pentatonic scales co-existing. This allows you to pick and choose and experiment, uncovering countless combinations and ways to express yourself through your music.
As I often tell my students, don't worry if it's not perfect from the get-go. The goal here is to understand the concept, see exactly what you're doing when you play major pentatonic, and then minor pentatonic. Once you can see these two things happening simultaneously, you've hit the sweet spot. From here, the world is your oyster, or rather, the fretboard is your playground.
Remember, the trick to becoming a great guitarist isn't just about memorizing techniques or finger positions. It's also about recognizing that every string, every fret, every finger position is a stepping stone to your next note, and the journey in between is all part of the transition. It's about making the guitar an extension of yourself, your personality, and your music. So put these tips into practice, and watch as the world of major and minor pentatonic scales, blues bends and transition techniques opens up before you. Visualizing both major and minor pentatonic scales on your fretboard might sound complex at first, but with gradual practice and understanding, I guarantee you will begin to see and appreciate the advantage this skill brings to your guitar playing.
From the get-go, I would play a lick that visualizes both scales. I would start by playing the major pentatonic with a hammer-on from the fifth to the seventh frets of the second string. I would then move to the minor pentatonic sound, picking the fifth and eighth frets of the first string.
The method of picking, whether alternate or all downpicking, would be up entirely to the rhythm and speed that you want to confer. For instance, I tend to go for an alternate pick that gives me a kind of triplet feel. But slower tempos might warrant a total downpick. It all depends on what your intention behind the rhythm is.
Now, let me take a moment to talk about visualizing the guitar fretboard. When I look down at my guitar, I don’t just see strings and frets. I see minor and major pentatonic scales running parallel to each other. This keen sense of visualization enables me to effortlessly navigate from major to minor and back, without shifting my hand position, thereby bringing a unique flavor to my licks.
I apply the same principle when I return to the seventh fret of the second string, then to the first string's fifth fret, and finally to the minor bend. The second string you're bending up there, that's becoming an "a" note - technically the same as your open fifth string. Playing this while in the key of A creates a harmonious ending that's quite pleasing to the ears.
So, the main goal here is to train your brain and your eyes to see both the major and minor pentatonic scales in front of you whenever you look at your guitar. Can you imagine the number and variety of licks you can create with such a skill? The possibilities would be dizzyingly endless!
But as with most great things, getting comfortable with seeing major and minor pentatonic scales simultaneously on your fretboard will take time and consistent practice. If you ever need a place to start or a source of inspiration, try using my licks and techniques.
The move from the five to seven as a hammer-on, then to five to eight by picking can offer you a good practice routine. It’s fun, it’s fulfilling, and it sounds pretty cool too. The most important thing is to practice these licks often and experiment as much as you can.
Remember, it's not just about playing a lick, it's about visually understanding how it's using major and minor pentatonic together simultaneously. Think of it as a game of Tetris, where understanding how the shapes (notes) fit together end to end, each working to complement the other without typical patterns, is key to mastering your music.
So start visualizing these magic pentatonic scales as I mentioned above, practice my licks, or even better, create your own. Use your imagination, make your fingers dance all over the fretboard, and who knows, you might just end up enchanting yourself and your audience with some of the most soulful music you've ever made!
Curious to boost your guitar-playing prowess? Head over here to explore testimonials from guitar enthusiasts who have transformed their abilities with tutorials from GuitarZoom.com.
If you're interested in expanding your chord knowledge, check out these resources for some extra practice. And don't miss our guide on different scales which will serve as a great companion to the pentatonic strategies discussed earlier!
So, how does it work, you ask? Well, the idea is to visualize and play the major and minor notes of the pentatonic scale from the same position on your guitar. Add in some traditional blues bends to jazz things up a bit, and you've got yourself a nifty technique that not only improves your skillset but also makes your sound more layered and interesting.
For example, in one lick I like to teach my students, I start by playing major pentatonic notes by hammering-on from the fifth to the seventh frets of the second string. The concept of "hammering-on" is basically when you pluck a string then use a finger to tap down on the string, creating another note without plucking again.
After hammering-on, I shift gears to minor pentatonic by picking the fifth and eighth frets of the first string. Here's a quick tip: with this sort of play, the picking style isn't necessarily locked in. For me, I like to perform an alternate picking (alternating between downstroke and upstroke), but it honestly wouldn't make any difference if you downpick them all, especially if you're aiming for a slower rhythm.
There's no rulebook stating you have to perform these techniques a certain way. What's important is to keep in mind - as you gradually accumulate an arsenal of different licks over the course of your guitar learning journey - that you might have to shuffle some of these concepts around to accommodate new ones.
Never stop experimenting. If you find a different way that feels more natural, go ahead and try it. The golden rule is to think realistically. The movements you make and the strings you chose to play all act as transitions. You're essentially navigating your way between points A and B, and everything in between these points is subject to change.
To give another example, I move from five to seven as a hammer-on, then I press five to eight and pluck those. From there, I move my hands back to the seventh fret of the second string. And trust me on this, it already sounds pretty cool.
Next, I move back to the fifth fret of the first string and cap it off with a minor bend (a staple in blues scales). Now, can you remember how to do a minor bend? You're bending that second string up a whole step, technically making it a pitch "A". And if your base key is in "A", ending on that bend makes a harmonically satisfying finish.
To excel at these techniques, one key point is to be constantly visualizing the notes on your fretboard. Imagine the minor and major pentatonic notes side by side, see them simultaneously in your mind's eye. This enables you to pick and choose different paths, different notes to weave into your play.
Achieving this level of familiarity and fluidity with your fretboard, major and minor pentatonics included, opens up countless ways to incorporate these notes into your music. This ability to seamlessly switch between major and minor, while staying in the same position, will give you a range of tricks up your sleeve to keep your audience captivated time after time.
And remember: don't get too caught up with getting everything perfect right away. Take your time, practice, and explore your own unique music style. Learning to play the guitar is a journey, not a destination, an exciting voyage with pleasant detours on the road to mastering your art. So, go ahead and try it out; let's blend major and minor pentatonics and create some fantastic music together! The guitar is a versatile instrument, capable of a myriad of sounds and techniques, and one technique that I often talk about in my lessons is using traditional blues bends. These bends, coupled with other transition techniques, can enhance your playing and take you from a beginner to a bona fide guitarist. But it's one thing to talk about it, and another to put it into action - so let's dive in.
Before we start with the bends, let's backtrack a bit. In one of my go-to licks, I begin by merging major and minor pentatonic notes. Why? Because instead of falling into the rut of playing these individually, when you combine them, it jazzes everything up and gives your licks an extra pop that keeps ears pricked.
Imagine playing the fifth to seventh frets of the second string using a hammer-on technique (where you tap a string hard enough to make sound without having to pluck again), then going ahead to pick the fifth and eighth frets of the first string. Here you're transitioning from major to minor pentatonic, and the resulting sound is anything but minor!
For this lick, I like to utilize alternate picking, going back and forth between downstrokes and upstrokes, though depending on your rhythm and speed, you might find down picking every note suits your style better. The versatility of guitar playing is such that you can shuffle and switch techniques - it's all a part of learning.
Now, let's get down to the blues bends. After alternately picking the fifth to eighth fret, I return to the seventh fret of the second string. Following this, we take a side trip back to the fifth fret of the first string. And here's where the magic happens - we end with a minor bend.
In case you're not familiar, a minor bend involves plucking a string and then pushing it upwards, changing the pitch. This particular bend goes up a whole step, effectively making it an A note, the same as the open fifth string. Wrapping up your lick with this bend, especially if you're in the key of A, gives a pleasing, melodic finish.
Practising this method helps you visually plot your course on the fretboard - with time, you will be able to see the major and minor pentatonic scales co-existing. This allows you to pick and choose and experiment, uncovering countless combinations and ways to express yourself through your music.
As I often tell my students, don't worry if it's not perfect from the get-go. The goal here is to understand the concept, see exactly what you're doing when you play major pentatonic, and then minor pentatonic. Once you can see these two things happening simultaneously, you've hit the sweet spot. From here, the world is your oyster, or rather, the fretboard is your playground.
Remember, the trick to becoming a great guitarist isn't just about memorizing techniques or finger positions. It's also about recognizing that every string, every fret, every finger position is a stepping stone to your next note, and the journey in between is all part of the transition. It's about making the guitar an extension of yourself, your personality, and your music. So put these tips into practice, and watch as the world of major and minor pentatonic scales, blues bends and transition techniques opens up before you. Visualizing both major and minor pentatonic scales on your fretboard might sound complex at first, but with gradual practice and understanding, I guarantee you will begin to see and appreciate the advantage this skill brings to your guitar playing.
From the get-go, I would play a lick that visualizes both scales. I would start by playing the major pentatonic with a hammer-on from the fifth to the seventh frets of the second string. I would then move to the minor pentatonic sound, picking the fifth and eighth frets of the first string.
The method of picking, whether alternate or all downpicking, would be up entirely to the rhythm and speed that you want to confer. For instance, I tend to go for an alternate pick that gives me a kind of triplet feel. But slower tempos might warrant a total downpick. It all depends on what your intention behind the rhythm is.
Now, let me take a moment to talk about visualizing the guitar fretboard. When I look down at my guitar, I don’t just see strings and frets. I see minor and major pentatonic scales running parallel to each other. This keen sense of visualization enables me to effortlessly navigate from major to minor and back, without shifting my hand position, thereby bringing a unique flavor to my licks.
I apply the same principle when I return to the seventh fret of the second string, then to the first string's fifth fret, and finally to the minor bend. The second string you're bending up there, that's becoming an "a" note - technically the same as your open fifth string. Playing this while in the key of A creates a harmonious ending that's quite pleasing to the ears.
So, the main goal here is to train your brain and your eyes to see both the major and minor pentatonic scales in front of you whenever you look at your guitar. Can you imagine the number and variety of licks you can create with such a skill? The possibilities would be dizzyingly endless!
But as with most great things, getting comfortable with seeing major and minor pentatonic scales simultaneously on your fretboard will take time and consistent practice. If you ever need a place to start or a source of inspiration, try using my licks and techniques.
The move from the five to seven as a hammer-on, then to five to eight by picking can offer you a good practice routine. It’s fun, it’s fulfilling, and it sounds pretty cool too. The most important thing is to practice these licks often and experiment as much as you can.
Remember, it's not just about playing a lick, it's about visually understanding how it's using major and minor pentatonic together simultaneously. Think of it as a game of Tetris, where understanding how the shapes (notes) fit together end to end, each working to complement the other without typical patterns, is key to mastering your music.
So start visualizing these magic pentatonic scales as I mentioned above, practice my licks, or even better, create your own. Use your imagination, make your fingers dance all over the fretboard, and who knows, you might just end up enchanting yourself and your audience with some of the most soulful music you've ever made!
Curious to boost your guitar-playing prowess? Head over here to explore testimonials from guitar enthusiasts who have transformed their abilities with tutorials from GuitarZoom.com.
If you're interested in expanding your chord knowledge, check out these resources for some extra practice. And don't miss our guide on different scales which will serve as a great companion to the pentatonic strategies discussed earlier!
