Different approach to the Pentatonic Scale
Welcome back to my blog!
Today I’d like to talk about the pentatonic scale! Certainly, to play the Blues this is a crucial scale. But mind you, it is essential also for other genres, and even for more advanced applications, for example, to play on altered chords maintaining a sound more “open” and “bluesy” than the modal scales. I will speak later about that.
So be careful not to underestimate it !! 🙂
Because of its simplicity, but also for wide intervals (T, minor 3, perfect 4, perfect 5, minor 7) the pentatonic scale is an essential tool to expand your musical possibilities!
Unfortunately, after studying the 5 pentatonic modes, after a few weeks, you may feel stuck in the various boxes!
So let’s think about this scale in a different way!
First tip: instead of thinking only in a vertical manner, trying to find the tonic in different positions on the keyboard and try to start this scale of those points thinking horizontally!
For example, let’s find different A note across the keyboard. For example, II fret 3° string, VII fret 4° string, X fret 2° string, XII fret 5° string. From this point, we’re going to start our scale horizontally. It will only play portions of various pentatonic scales, but connecting them will get two important benefits:
- Increased length of phrases.
- A more conscious view of the keyboard.
Mind the second point: learning the keyboard is an important goal to be always connected with your instrument and especially for never feeling disoriented in more complicated harmony parts or quick chord changes.
After trying this approach, let’s begin to improvise and combining the various forms.
You’ll see that it will benefit your playing! 😉
Second tip: try to use only the first two strings when you are improvising. This thing will let you think necessarily horizontally, to go along the melodic lines and free yourself from playing only on the various boxes! This idea can also be applied to the other scales for sure!
In the coming weeks, I’ll talk about a more advanced approach on the minor pentatonic.
Stay Tuned! 😉
Davide Pannozzo
Ps: You might like my new course on demand “Scale Concepts for Modern Blues Guitar“! Check this out!
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Davide Pannozzo
Davide Pannozzo has been described by critics as one of the most interesting artist’s of contemporary Blues guitar. His style is very much his own with splashes of Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.
“There are very few artists these days that can inspire and are filled with inspiration and great ideas, Davide Pannozzo is one of them. When you first hear his music you know there is something special going on…”
Will Lee (Late Show with David Letterman, The Brecker Brothers, 24th Street Band, …)