for example iam trying to figure out if the flat in pentatonic scale for example E flat means that the scale is minor ?

Nope, all pentatonic scales work for both major and minor, the Bb is just a note in that penatatonic scale.
Hope this helps

I know pentatonic scales
but I want to know some scales that would be good for alternative rock like stuff.

Hello there,

Here is a link to a handy wedsite to help figure out scales.

http://www.theguitarfiles.com/scale.php

The blues scale is common in most forms of rock. The mixolydiam is handy because it is neither major or minor.

Later,

Like in some positions where the 4th finger is stretching, eg on the low E string, tab = 5-8-9, and the thumb has to drop back behind the neck of the guitar a bit, is there a way to keep my wrist straight? coz im getting sore wrist from practicing it with my wrist bent for the E and A string notes.

That also depends on your anatomy, for ex. how long your fingers are.
But in my opinion there’s no way to play on the lower strings without bending your wrist a bit. One thing you can do, if you’re not doing that already, is to press the palm of your hand against the neck (in a way that it mutes the high E string). That way your fingers can reach a bit further, thus making the wrist bend less severe.
But the main point is: some exercises are more strenuous than others, there’s no way to escape that. What you can do is train on those exercises for only a few minutes a day and with frequent pauses; even a ten second pause after every repetition can make a huge difference. And after all, never forget that in real performance you rarely need to play a passage like the one you gave in your question for more than a few seconds. And also that there’s other ways to play fast pentatonics: using open strings, slides etc etc. In my opinion that exercise you’re doing is to be taken more as fingers work-out than "real music"… so, just as in body work-out, you should take it easy!

Can you use it in any fret? Do you have to include all the notes in the scale? Can you use notes not in the scale? If you can,wy bother learning the scale?

Minor Pentatonic -
Typically you might solo using a minor pentatonic scale over a minor chord with the same root – like A min Pent. over A min.
If there is a chord progression involved (a section of a song that cycles through several chords and then repeats) that starts with or centers around A min., solo A min. Pent. over it.

The Blues Scale -
Next you should try A min. Pent. over A min., but add the E flat note (a "flat 5th") to make the 6 notes of the "Blues scale." Knowing the blues scale is crucial to knowing how to solo, or at least in the traditional fashion.
With the blues scale, be sure to bend the 4th interval into the flat 5th, or emphasize the flat 5th in any other way possible for a "bluesy" sound (the flat 5th interval is called "the blue note").
The blues scale is not "pentatonic" because it has 6 notes; pentatonic means a scale with 5 notes (not including the octave).

Major Pentatonic -
Then try C Maj Pent. over A min. (C Maj. Pent. has the same exact 5 notes as the A min. Pent. scale, but the pattern starts from the C note instead).
The terms for this relationship are as follows: C Maj. is the "relative Major" of A min., and A min. is the "relative minor" of C Major.

Other Pentatonic scales -
So, when starting the scale from the second note of the A min. Pent. scale, we get the C Maj. Pent. scale. Then try starting the scale from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th notes of the A min. Pent. scale to get pattern variations (this is very useful because it extends your playability across the neck further).

…also you can play a minor or Major Pentatonic scale over an unlikely chord to create a new scale when the notes of the pentatonic scale and chord are added together (example: A min. Pent. over B minor to create the B Phrygian "mode").
This superimposition of pentatonics over chords is advanced territory, and is an advanced usage of the "modal system," or the classical scales termed "modes."

~

…what "intervals" refers to is the numeric order of notes in distance from the root note, and in terms of the Major scale.

Here’s the C Major scale:
C – 1,
D – 2nd,
E – 3rd (or "Maj 3rd"),
F – 4th,
G – 5th,
A – 6th (or "Maj 6th"),
B – 7th (or "Maj 7th").

Here’s the A minor scale:
A – 1,
B – 2nd,
C – flat 3rd (or "min 3rd"),
D – 4th,
E – 5th,
F – flat 6th (or "min 6th"),
G – flat 7th (or "min 7th").

~

…also, "Major" is always capitalized, and "minor" is never capitalized.

My teacher just says to do 10 or 20 minutes but i do it for a few hours, not all in a row but a 2 or 3 hours a day, sometimes slowly to get the fingering right and sometimes faster for speed, i only just started it so should I be able to do simple solos in a few months, or is a few hours a day not much? I know theres mores scales to learn and i dont expect to be shredding overnight but just those simple twangy kind of solos.

Hi

A 10 to 20 min practice is the least you can do. You should practice pentatonic, then move on to something else. Then return to pentatonic and move to something else etc…etc..

Don’t just stickto pentatonic scales. You will limit yourself. Do practice scales as well and then, throw in the pentatonic scale in -between the scales.
Ex….C major scale going up and pentatonic going down and vice versa..

For both major and Minor

Depends on the key. In general, you can play them from any position and not necessarily starting at the root as one poster suggested. You can play them from any position within a key and start on any degree.

I’ve been trying to learn Harmonic/Pentatonic scales and I’ve learned few patterns of these scales from a friend and he’s no longer here so I would like to know where else I could find GUITAR SCALES IN PATTERNS. I can’t understand from guitar pro or websites with all those black and red dot full fretboarded diagrams.

Thanks.

Here is a good site for riffs, scales if YOU can read music. The site has to be one of the simplest and most efficient because it lays out 3 or 4 different patters per key which is what you want..

http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/lessons/scales2/

and check this site from Blues guitar to Rock to whatever

http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/lessons.html

Enjoy )

so i just memorized all the 5 patterns on A minor and major pentatonic scale.

my questions are:
- are the patterns the same with other root notes? for example if it’s in g minor do i just have to adjust the same patterns or is it an entirely different pattern?
- how do i know which patterns i should use when i want to add some leads on a chord progressions??

i’ve read so much stuff in internet already but they arent helping theyre just confusing me even more because i dont have much knowledge regarding guitar scales. so here are just a few questions i wanted to get answered.
i hope you guys can help me because i am really confused right now. thanks a lot!
Miles – of course i’d like to learn music theory. but i have no idea how. im self taught and everything i know is just from research. i cant get a teacher for some personal reasons, what’s the best way to learn it?

Yes, if you are playing A pentatonic @ the 5th fret, playing the same at the 3rd would be G, 10 would be D etc.

Anything that works with the key will do, you need to listen to it and practice it….try not to over think, but feel it. Start with simple runs and don’t feel you need to "do too much;" 3 or 4 notes can say a lot if said well.

Hi there. I wrote a solo using the b major pentatonic scale (the one around the 7th fret). I was wondering what are some power chords that would sound good for backing for the solo.

Please and thank you

u can take any note from the scale and turn it into a power chord by addind the fifth to it
for ex here’s a b and other power chords in the scale
———————————–
———————————–
—————————–8—-
——————8—11—6—-
——9—-11—6—9———-
——7—-9———————

those chord will all work and are all formed from the scale
personally a good progression I like it go from these chose 1 st, 4th, 3rd, 2nd
or jus choose any progression that suits the piece as i can’t hear it ah

You should know the notes on your fretboard. Once you do this and learn basic music theory, You can do the work of writing them down.

The Critical Thinking skills you exercise when applying your knowledge of basic music to actually write down these scales is ESSENTIAL. THIS is how you get good. Not by memorizing scale or chord patterns.