These two positions connect via the following notes/intervals: Like the first position, the fifth position also contains three root notes, which are found on the 6th, 3rd, and 1st strings. The red dots indicate a root note and the black dots indicate a note in the scale. Are you ready? Forget my comments, I misunderstod. beginner , scale extensions , a minor pentatonic scale , minor pentatonic scale , minor scale. The fingering noted in the diagram requires two position shifts, but it can be reduced to one if you prefer to use the middle finger in place of the index finger on strings 4, 5, and 6. The best way to practice any guitar scale is to memorize the individual positions along the fretboard. The only thing interesting I do is, reaching back a ‘5th from the ‘Tonic Root, playing up to, and beyond, to a 4th above, as ‘ Noodle thingy’ to a ‘Backing-Track’ . Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here. The second A minor pentatonic position connects to the first position via the following notes/intervals: As you can see, the second position contains two root notes, found on the 7th fret of the 4th string and the 10th fret of the 2nd string, forming a common octave shape. Receive The Book of Scales when you sign-up for lesson updates! The bottom fretboard diagram outlines the suggested fingering for playing position 1 of the scale. I have a whole lesson on extending the pentatonic scale, but for this lesson I’m just going to focus on one extension pattern spanning three pentatonic positions. Use these notes as the starting points for playing across the scale. The E minor Pentatonic scale is simply just 5 of the 7 notes from the E minor scale (aka. Thanks Brian. The A minor pentatonic scale is one of the most widely used guitar scales of all, particularly in the blues genre. The first example comes from Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. Your email address will not be published. This extension is easily one of the most commonly used scale extensions in music. The part of the solo we’re going to look at uses the fourth position of the A minor pentatonic scale and is played over the Am chord. Start and finish on the root notes. the “diatonic scale in the key of E minor”) E minor pentatonic: E – G – A – B – D. Spanned across the entire fretboard you have: The yellow dots are the pentatonic scale notes. You can listen to the lick here: Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven guitar solo. For the A minor pentatonic scale, this gives us the notes A, C, D, E, and G. Note that the intervals that make up the Am pentatonic scale are universal to all minor pentatonic scales. It’s also vital in order to know and understand where the other intervals in the scale are located relative to the root. This helps with targeting chord tones and being able to play over chord progressions, particularly when using a single scale. Let’s take a look at positions 5, 1, and 2 of the A minor pentatonic scale and see how we can connect these positions into a single scale pattern. E Minor; G Major; E Major (For a bluesy feel) A blues in the key of E; This works well because the E minor pentatonic scale includes notes that are also in these keys. You can play the E minor pentatonic scale over the following musical keys and it will sounds great. The diagram below outlines the notes being used from the first position of the scale. Since pentatonic scales contain 5 notes, we need to remove two from the minor scale in order to get the minor pentatonic. There are several sections regarding scale combining in the course, and you can therefore apply this type of exercise to the video backing tracks in order to be able to instantly “switch” between one scale and the next without needing to consciously think about it. Position #1. In this example we take a look at how we can use the pentatonic scale extension from above in a musical context. I will see you next time. You may nave noticed this lick contains one note that’s not part of the minor pentatonic scale. Let’s take a look at a few examples of using the A minor pentatonic over diatonic chord progressions. In other words, with the root on the 6th string, I can always count over two string and up two frets to find another root note. 4:27 – Musical Demo In other words, when you move from the fifth position up to the first, position, you can finish out the scale in the first position instead of transitioning to the second position. Barney. The E Minor Pentatonic Scale in open position In this tutorial we're going to study one of the most fun scales: the E minor pentatonic . The fingering in this diagram is one option and uses just the index, ring, and pinky fingers. Check it out! This is just a simple example of how you might go about ingraining the connectivity between the pentatonic and full diatonic scales into your mind. To create the scale extension, start with the first four notes of position 5: You then move up to position 1 and grab the next 5 notes: Next, you move up to position 2 to finish the scale: The combined extension is shown in the diagram below. The only thing that changes is the root note from which the scale is built. This way you can practice in one position at a time. Since pentatonic scales contain 5 notes, we need to remove two from the minor scale in order to get the minor pentatonic. The tab for the lick is below. Because it’s a minor scale, it follows the following pattern of whole & half-steps: If we apply this formula to the chromatic intervals on the guitar, you can see how the minor scale is built. I’ve been playing in bands and studying the fretboard since I was 11. The guitar neck diagram shows you the big picture for the E Minor Pentatonic Scale. On the 8th fret of string 5, the ♭6 (F note) is played, which is part of the parent A minor scale. The third position of the A minor pentatonic scale connects to the second with the following notes/intervals: The third position again contains two root notes, found on the 2nd and 5th strings. Hi Brian another Great Lesson that i found in your Awesome Vault of Knowledge.Another light Bulb Switched on.When you were inprovising. Position #4. Can you use an other chord instead of the C with the Em and still play the same two scales you just did? So instead of playing the scale vertically across the fretboard, you play it horizontally up and down the fretboard. Pentatonic Scale Fluency available from Amazon. Note that the fingerings shown in the diagrams below are recommended based on how these scales shapes are typically used in music. Your email address will not be published. When you do this, you get 5 different positions of the A minor pentatonic scale, several of which repeat in different locations on the fretboard. Let’s look at the open position and the 5 moveable positions for E minor pentatonic: Open Position 2nd Position (lowest fret is 2) 4th Position (lowest fret is 4) 7th Position (lowest fret is 7) 9th Position (lowest fret is 9) 12th Position (lowest fret is 12) Quick Links: Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales on the Guitar If you were to look at the notes of the E minor scale (or G major….same thing), you would have the notes: Spanned across the entire fretboard, you would have a scalar framework for which to improvise in that looks like this: In the above diagram, the white dots indicate the scale root which is the note ‘E’. Visualizing the Diatonic Scale Using 5 Positions, Visualizing the Diatonic Scale Using 7 Positions, 5 Video Backing Tracks using the same rhythm progression as in the demo from this lesson. When can you use the E minor pentatonic scale? Each video has 1 pentatonic position circled, for a total of 5 videos. Full Access Member “Video Backing Tracks” for this lesson: The Pentatonic Scale is Part of the Full Diatonic Scale. The song is written in the key of A minor and follows the typical 1 – 4 – 5 blues chord progression. So now that you know the notes, intervals, and scale positions of the A minor pentatonic, let’s start applying it in a musical context. The diagram below shows the notes and intervals that make up the A minor scale. See Everything that Zombie Guitar has to Offer! As this lesson is a bit lengthy, here is a table of contents for what will be covered: Before we hop into the A minor pentatonic, let’s first take a look at its parent scale, the Am scale, to see how the scale is formed. E Minor Pentatonic Scale Diagrams E Minor Pentatonic Fretboard Diagram. Using the scale musically helps you to further understand the scale and prevents you from getting stuck in a rut playing straight up and down the scale patterns. I will never play for others / and I can only be, who I can be. 5 positions of the A minor pentatonic scale, A minor pentatonic connected across the fretboard, Applying the A minor pentatonic musically, Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven guitar solo, Extended Pentatonic Scale: Break Out of the Pentatonic Box. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. I ( think ) in ‘Modes, and know my root, and degree locations. In this lesson we took a deeper look at the A minor pentatonic scale. It’s a pretty basic lick, but it gives you an idea of how the scale extension can be used in context.