Lastly, the final pentatonic shapes to learn, and we have saved the best for last!
Between the 12th and 15th frets is a favourite part of the fretboard for many guitarists.

To extend the range further simply add the previous scale shape patterns to the upper register, or up one octave. By doing so you have the entire fretboard on which to solo over. Remember, from the 12th fret, all of the notes repeat again, but they are up one octave.

Before you learn any other guitar scales it is important that you can shift this entire pattern up and down the fretboard to match the key that you are soloing in. For example, to play in G minor you would shift all of the boxes, or the whole pattern down two frets. To play in B minor you would shift the whole pattern of notes up two frets. Once you are comfortable soloing with these five box shapes, and can join them together, and move from one to the other, you are ready to jam allong with most backing tracks. This scale can be played over any minor key and most major keys. This is the “bread and butter” scale for most lead guitarists! So, please take your time learning it, this will form the foundation for most of your future guitar soloing.

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Here is the A Minor Pentatonic scale in the open position.  Again, experiment with these notes over the backing track while incorporating the other scale shapes. The minor pentatonic will probably be the most useful scale for guitar solos, so please take your time learning the scale shapes and root notes. Remember, the key can be easily changed by shifting the position of the scale shapes, but you nead to know where the root notes sit and the names of the notes on the strings. This is a great deal easier than learning the same scale in every different key, remember: you only nead to know the shape, the root note positions and the names of the notes on the fretboard to apply this scale to ANY key.

Technorati Tags: guitar solos, minor pentatonic scale., scale shapes

 In the last post we saw how to extend the range of the A minor pentatonic scale, with a new shape. Today we will add another shape to the lower end of the register/fretboard to further extend the basic shape. Experiment with this shape while improvising over the blues backing track, then incorporate this shape with the previous two. As you learn each new shape always remember where the root notes are so that you can play the scale in any key.

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 Add this scale shape to the previous one when soloing over the A blues backing track. This will extend the range of notes available to you when soloing. For bonus points try to work out where the “blue” note or the flat 5 sits. Remember, by knowing where the root notes sit on the fretboard you can use these shapes to solo in ANY key.

Technorati Tags: blues, minor pentatonic