GUITAR INSTRUCTION Free Online Guitar Lessons and Information

Home
THE GUITAR - To Play Or Not To Play?
True Musicianship
"Practice, Man. Practice."
Music By The Numbers
Scotty's Music Sliderule
All Hail The Chromatic Scale
Scotty's Scale Charts
Scotty's Chord Charts
Scotty's Guitar Lessons Blog
The Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod
Links
About Us
Contact Us

SPELLED 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6 - 8

SPELLED 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6 - 8
The Major Pentatonic Scale is arguably one of the most important scales in Western music.  It certainly has a huge reputation ... but it's importance can be overstated.  Pentatonic scales have 5 notes per octave (6 if you include the octave note) and even players who claim to use them are often including more than just those 5 notes ... so is that really a Pentatonic Scale?  Why would you want to restrict yourself to just 5 of the 12 notes?  A Major Pentatonic Scale goes 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6 - 8.  It often funtions as a Major Diatonic Scale with the 4th and 7th notes left out ... but it can also function in place of the Lydian and Mixolydian modes.  It is quite common in Blues and Blues Rock as well as Country and Folk music.  As usual, there are 12 fingerings for it in our normal chromatic "box" orientation.  Do you need to know all 12?  Not unless you want to be the next Modern Jazz "phenom".  Try to learn as many as you can ... 4 to 6 is a good figure to shoot for.  Start with the easiest ones first ... the ones that have the fewest FINGER SHIFTS (boxes 3, 5, 8 and 10 have no shifts).  To totally understand your fretboard and how to do finger shifts, visit www.guitar-instruction-free-lessons-online.com/chromatic-scale .  Remember, the RED DOT is your ROOT NOTE and these boxes can be moved anywhere on the fretboard to play in all 12 keys.  If you're unsure how to use these charts, visit www.guitar-instruction-free-lessons-online.com/guitar-scales .  To learn more about the THEORY implications of this and other scales, check out our DVD home study course at www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com .








Home  ·  About Us  ·  Contact Us  ·  Privacy Policy  ·  Links
Copyright © Guitar Instruction Online Free Lessons Hyannis, MA
auguitar@capecod.net