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Combining Pentatonics to Play Mixolydian

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Today I introduce to you George Ramsay, Co-founder and Guitar Teacher at Bold Music Lessons. George sheds light on combining pentatonics to play mixolydian.

A great example of how get the most out of your pentatonic scales. Learn and reap the benefits!

HERE’S GEORGE

You can’t really talk about soloing on the guitar without understanding pentatonic scales. Normal, or “full” major or minor scales have seven different notes, while pentatonic scales have only 5 notes (hence “pent”).

Klaus has written extensively on this as well as the CAGED system, so I’ll let you read through some of his postings for more info on playing these scales.

Today we will look at creating the Mixolydian scale by combining some major pentatonic with its parallel minor pentatonic.

Mixolydian is used extensively when improvising over the 12 bar blues, other I-IV-V chord progressions, and more generally chord progressions featuring dominant seventh chords.

What the heck is Mixolydian?

Mixolydian is a mode, and modes are really just types of scales, much like major and minor (in fact, major is called the Ionian mode and minor is called Aeolian). Perhaps the simplest way to understand modes is to look at a major scale. Let’s look at C major, where our notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

Playing a major scale (in this case C major) but not starting or ending on C, creates our different modes. For example, the second mode, called Dorian (in this case D Dorian) would look like this: D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Similarly, the fifth mode, called Mixolydian, would have G-A-B-C-D-E-F as its notes. Notice that each of these modes consist of the same seven notes! We are just starting and ending in different places. These are modes.Continue Reading

Ruthless Minor Pentatonic Scales Over 3 Octaves

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The standard minor pentatonic scale is normally played over 2 octaves and stays within one position.

If you have been playing and improvising with the minor pentatonic scale for some time it’s likely that you want to break out of that one position and expand your reach on the fretboard.

You can use the minor pentatonic scale over 3 octaves for this purpose. It wil give you much more freedom and flexibility.

When you play “the pentatonic scale over 3 octaves” it means you actually play 3 pentatonic scales, one after another. Each pentatonic scale consisting of 5 notes per octave.

In the first example (the E minor pentatonic) you start on the E note, which is your root note (open low E-string). You play the first 5 notes of the scale and then arrive on the 6th note to land on the octave (7th fret A-string), which of course is also an E note. Then you play the next pentatonic scale starting from that 6th note, play the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale and arrive on the 11th note (9th fret G-string) to land on your second octave. Continue on the 11th note, play 5 notes up the scale and arrive on the 16th note for your 3rd octave.

So you can play each example as one long hell of a scale across the entire neck or treat them as 3 separate scales.

The numbers next to the notes on the staff above the tablature indicate the finger placement of your left hand (assuming you play right-handed). 1 = index finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = pinky.

The first example, the “E minor pentatonic over 3 octaves” is commonly used to take the standard pentatonic scale to the next step. It’s also the most comfortable and easiest one to play. The other two (A minor and G minor) are a little bit more challenging but definitely worth the effort. Practice pays off!

Tip: Each scale can be played in different keys by moving the entire scale up or down the fretboard. If you want to move “the E minor pentatonic” up a half step to the key of F you need to move up the entire scale 1 fret higher. So the first 4 notes on the 6th string: “0 3 5 7” now become “1 4 6 8”. Moving every note of that scale up a half step (1 fret) and you’re playing F minor pentatonic. If you move up the scale a whole step (2 frets) you’re playing F# minor pentatonic and so on.

Assignments:
– Play each 3 octave scale ascending and descending.
– Memorize how to play each 3 octave scale.
– Play the scales with a metronome. Start slow and gradually build up speed.
– Play the scales in different keys.
– Play the 3 smaller pentatonic scales that make up the big “3 octave scale” separately, from root to octave, ascending and descending.

Have a blast!Continue Reading

8 Reasons Why Learning The Blues is So Important

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My oldest brother introduced me to the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was hooked instantly. I soon took up the guitar and started taking lessons.

Although I was happy in the beginning playing and singing songs by Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, The Beatles and Springsteen, what I really wanted was to learn those beautiful bluesy solos that came from Stevie’s fingers and strings. It took another couple of years before I found the right teacher to teach me those skills. The blues has always been a major influence on my playing ever since.

Whatever you’re playing, whether it’s country, folk, alternative, rock, pop music or jazz it’s always great to combine these and other styles with blues elements or to lean on your blues vocabulary and skills whenever you need it.

There’s also something about the pentatonic / blues scale that no other scale has in store. It’s that raw, crying, heart aching, but also earthy, soulful, honest sound that really comes alive through playing the blues.

Now if that hasn’t convinced you to pick up your guitar and dive into the world of blues, you might want to know what reasons are so important that you do so.

Check it out:Continue Reading

5 Pentatonic Sweep Picking Patterns in the key of A

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Sweep picking is a picking technique that was invented and developed by jazz guitarists Chuck Wayne and Tal Farlow.

Later the technique was further developed by fusion guitarist Frank Gambale.

The quality of sweep picking is that it produces a fast and fluid sound (once you get the hang of it). This is because you only need few strokes as apposed to alternate picking.

While it is generally used for arpeggios, it can also be applied to scales, 3 notes per string licks and… well just anything really.

In this topic we’ll be covering 5 pentatonic patterns in the key of A. If you already know how to play the 5 pentatonic shapes using alternate picking and you want to try sweep picking for a change to make it sound more fluid, give it a more Gambale feel to it or just to see where it will take you, this one’s for you.

You don’t have to choose one picking technique for your style of playing. A lot of guitar players combine both. They use alternate picking mainly and apply sweep picking occasionally for particular licks or arpeggios.

Sweeping
For the alternate picking approach you go “down, up, down, up, down, up” with the picking hand. In the scale patterns below you also use alternate picking except when changing strings you’ll be picking in the direction of where you’re heading. Use a downstroke if you’re changing to a higher (pitch) string and use an upstroke if you’re changing to a lower (pitch) string.

You can see the down and upstroke symbols in the scale patterns right between the standard and tablature notation. The downstroke symbol looks like a hurdle for track and field, the upstroke symbol looks like a “V”.

I have to admit the pentatonic patterns are quite a stretch. Major scales are much easier to play, but for the rock and blues players out there we don’t want to miss out on the pentatonic.

It takes a bit of practice to get used to the sweep picking feeling but hang in there. After a while it feels so natural and easy. It’s the path of least resistance.

Have fun!
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