March 18, 2022 by Klaus Crow
In order to learn how to solo and improvise in blues and rock you must know the 5 pentatonic scale shapes. A lot of blues players tend to get stuck in the first pentatonic scale shape, but to be truly free and improvise across the entire fretboard you need to know all the shapes.
And it’s not just about that. Every shape gives it’s own sound and feeling to a guitar lick. This is where the magic happens. This is where the coolness and the beauty comes through all these different shapes. They all got their own personality.
Learn all the shapes thoroughly and when you do also learn them in different keys. It is a lot of work, but it is important that you do, so take your time with it. Practice with focus and dedication.
The examples below are all in the key of A, but you can play these shapes in every key, just move the shapes up and down the neck. The red notes are showing the root notes of the scale, so in the scale shapes below they are all A notes.
If you want to play the shapes in the key of G for example, all you need to do is move them 2 half steps down. (a half step is a one fret distance) If you want to play the shapes in the key of E move up 7 half steps, etc, etc.
Good luck and enjoy!
Pentatonic Scale Position #1 / E shape:
Pentatonic Scale Position #2 / D shape:
Pentatonic Scale Position #3 / C shape:
Pentatonic Scale Position #4 / A shape:
Pentatonic Scale Position #5 / G shape:
Do you really want to get the most out of your pentatonic / blues scale shapes, learn awesome blues licks, create your own licks, connect licks, and be able to improvise all over the guitar neck?
Check out: 50CoolBluesLicksImprovisation
What a great joy it is these days to be a musician or a songwriter. Big studios are no more a necessity to record your music.
I grew up listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan. My oldest brother was a big fan of Stevie and he introduced me to the wonderful world of blues and rock. He did not play guitar himself but he loved listening to guitar players all the time.
