Basic Electric Guitar Knowledge

[Funk Fu]

First of all, I'm not sure I'm posting in the right part of the forum so please forgive me if I'm wrong.
Few days ago I bought myself my first electric guitar - Les paul epiphone custom black. I'm really excited about it but honestly I have no idea how to use it properly (which knobs are responsible for what etc). I lend from my friend who doesn't play anymore an amplifier - Marshall vs 100. With the amplifier it's even worse..
Could you recommend me some websites offering the basic electric guitar and amplifier knowledge or maybe even send me to topics on this forum? If this kind of topic had place before then I'm sorry but I'm pretty busy right now because of my work and I didn't have time make any good research.
Thanks for your time and sorry for my english, it's not my mother tongue.

[colchar]

How to Use the Controls on a Les Paul


Amps 101...A How To For Everything Amplified

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[jeff_farkas]

Congrats... And welcome.

[chrisuk]

Welcome to the forum.

[Funk Fu]

Thank you for help and the warm welcome.
I got some more questions too. They are about pretty different topic but I would like to keep them in this one topic in order not to create mess by making a lot of different topics.
The thing is, I lately got really into blues (mainly SRV and Albert King). I know that learning the licks is the vital point here. I checked a lot of lessons on youtube but it kinda felt weird to learn something without understanding it. I mean what pentatonic is it placed on etc. Could you recommend me maybe one solid source of blues lessons or maybe some with even the background (pentatonics etc)?

Thanks once again ; )

[fsenseman]

Originally Posted by Funk Fu

Thank you for help and the warm welcome.
I got some more questions too. They are about pretty different topic but I would like to keep them in this one topic in order not to create mess by making a lot of different topics.
The thing is, I lately got really into blues (mainly SRV and Albert King). I know that learning the licks is the vital point here. I checked a lot of lessons on youtube but it kinda felt weird to learn something without understanding it. I mean what pentatonic is it placed on etc. Could you recommend me maybe one solid source of blues lessons or maybe some with even the background (pentatonics etc)?

Thanks once again ; )

What pentatonic depends on what key the song is in. (At a very basic level that is, songs will through curve balls at you, you can mix minor and major pentatonics on certain chords, you can play minor pentatonic over a song in a major key if there are a lot of 7 chords, etc, etc. But learning your shapes is good practice. There are basically 5 boxes that just move up and down the fretboard.)

For some minor pentatonic scales in a few keys check out this thread:

Minor Pentatonic Boxes

I put together some PDFs showing some of the minor pentatonics. Slide them three frets towards the headstock and they are the major pentatonics in the same key.

Take a look, might help you out. And there are a ton of youtube videos that show different things about playing the blues. I take lessons, so most of my time is practicing what I've learned in my lessons, but from time to time I'll check out youtube vids if someone here recommends them.

Kind Regards,
Fleet

[Funk Fu]

Ok, as for now i got enough materials to work on. Thanks everyone once again for help ; ).

Edited - Got one more question and didn't wat to make a double post.
It is the right presentation of
The Major Pentatonic Scale Box Patterns on Guitar Fretboard?
http://www.myguitarworkshop.com/guit...fretboard.aspx

I'm sorry if putting a like to another site is against the rules, didn't mean to rebel : ).

[freak]

Originally Posted by fsenseman

I put together some PDFs showing some of the minor pentatonics. Slide them three frets towards the headstock and they are the major pentatonics in the same key.

am i reading this wrong or misunderstanding what you wrote?

slide them 3 away from the headstock.

am (5th fret) to c maj (8th fret)

[fsenseman]

Three frets towards the headstock( to the left if you are right handed.) Your root note position will change (as will the box number) but it will be one of the pentatonic shapes in the key's major.

"A minor" starting on 5th fret, slide left three frets, "A major scale" beginning on 2nd fret. Again please note: your root note (A) is no longer on the low E. But you are seeing an A major pentatonic box. Just not box 1 where the root note is the starting note. (It's actually box 5 in the major scale) as the first note on the bottom E is F#. The notes in A Major pentatonic are
1---2--3----4---5
A - B - C# - E - F#

Notice how F# is the fifth note. 5th note, box 5, coincidence? I think not!


Kind Regards,
Fleet

[JonR]

Originally Posted by freak

am i reading this wrong or misunderstanding what you wrote?

slide them 3 away from the headstock.

am (5th fret) to c maj (8th fret)

These are actually two different patterns for the same scale. In the key of A, both of them will work as A minor pent. (In the key of C, both will work as C major pent .)

What fsenseman is talking about is moving the same pattern to give a different scale. A minor pent to A major pent. Both will work on the A chord in a blues in A.

   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
||---|---|---|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|
||---|---|---|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|
||---|---|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|
||---|---|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|
||---|---|---|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|
||---|---|---|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|
                  \_____________/
                    A minor pent
                   (C major pent)
.
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  11  12
||---|---|---|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
||---|---|---|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|
||---|---|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|
||---|---|---|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|
||---|---|---|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
                  \___________/\________________/
                    A minor pent or C major pent
.
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
||---|-F#|---|---|-E-|---|---|---|
||---|-C#|---|---|-A-|---|---|---|
||---|-A-|---|-B-|---|---|---|---|
||---|-E-|---|-F#|---|---|---|---|
||---|-B-|---|-C#|---|---|---|---|
||---|-F#|---|---|-A-|---|---|---|
      \_____________/
        A major pent
      (F# minor pent)

[JonR]

Just a little extra theory...

HALF-STEPS:  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
MAJOR SCALE: 1  .  2  .  3  4  .  5  .  6  .  7  8(1)
MAJOR PENT:  1  .  2  .  3  .  .  5  .  6  .  .  8(1)
.
HALF-STEPS:  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
MINOR SCALE: 1  .  2 b3  .  4  .  5 b6  . b7  .  8(1)
MINOR PENT:  1  .  . b3  .  4  .  5  .  . b7  .  8(1)

[fsenseman]

To add to what JonR said two posts above, the last diagram shows an A Major pentatonic but it also is ar F# minor pentatonic. This is because F#minor is the "relative minor" of A major. Find a good diagram of the Circle of Fifths. There are many out there, just google it. Many show the major keys (of which there are twelve, not counting enharmonics, but I won't get into those just yet) and their relative minor keys. All this means is that the notes found in A Major are also the same note founds in F# Minor but your root note (A or F) is different. That plus A is major F# is minor.

This might be a thread you want to subscribe to and direct to a folder you create under your user account. Come back to it later and it may make more sense. There is certainly a lot of good basic information here. My idea of basic and yours might differ at this point

Kind Regards,
Fleet

[Funk Fu]

Originally Posted by fsenseman

The notes in A Major pentatonic are
1---2--3----4---5
A - B - C# - E - F#

Could you explain me why these particular notes belong to A Major pentatonic or send me to thread with the basic music theory? Because I guess these are the basics.

[freak]

i know the scales-i just was not sure i was reading correctly.
i thought you were saying A minor is the relative minor of C major, but were going in a different direction on the fretboard, by mistake.

circle of fifths i got.

thanks anyway....i little extra theory never hurts, if just to remember correctly.

[fsenseman]

Originally Posted by Funk Fu

Could you explain me why these particular notes belong to A Major pentatonic or send me to thread with the basic music theory? Because I guess these are the basics.

JonR explained it above, but in a nutshell here we go:

Minor pentatonic scales consists of the 1st, flat3rd, 4th, 5th and flat7th notes of the keys scale.

Major pentatonic scales consist of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of the keys scale.

For example, the key of A has the following notes:

A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G#

if we follow the above, for A minor pentatonic (1, b3, 4, 5, b7 notes in key of A) we have:

(using 'b' to indicate flat, it's convention. Actually the flat symbol is slightly different but when typing on a keyboard we use the 'b' key as it looks very similiar.)

1st - A
b3rd - C - in the key of A Cs are sharp, therefore when flat it's just a C
4th - D
5th - E
b7th - G - in the key of A Gs are sharp, therefore when flat it's just a G

For A Major pentatonic (1, 2, 3, 5, and 6th notes in key of A)

1st - A
2nd - B
3rd - C#
5th - E
6th - F#

A good place to go is Justin Sandercoe's website:

Free guitar lessons : Complete Beginners Method and loads of Blues, Jazz and rock : Learn how to play Guitar free here!

He has a lot of good information there which might help you out.

Hope this helps,
Kind Regards,
Fleet

[fsenseman]

Oh, if you keep up with this, practice and study, one day you'll be explaining all this to someone just starting

[ijustdontgiveaf]

Justins site (mentioned by fsenseman) is good for beginners..
he has a free beginners course that you can follow..

for theory you might also want to start reading this thread here: MUSIC THEORY 101 Don't Be Afraid :)

this should give you some good information about the very basics, like for instance why A major has 3 sharps (C#, F# and G#)

[enmity]

i'm a beginner too and i have to admit that even tough i read the whole thread i still have problems with understanding how the minor pentatonics go into major
i know i'm impervious (to not call it vulgar).
i don't really understand how to the boxes change but i wouldn't like to waste your time on more explanations because i'm not sure if they gonna have any effect.
if anyone got time and could provide similar or even the same pdf file with just major pentatonics. it would help me a lot, for sure with understanding

[Sin Nombre]

Originally Posted by freak

am i reading this wrong or misunderstanding what you wrote?

slide them 3 away from the headstock.

am (5th fret) to c maj (8th fret)

Originally Posted by enmity

i'm a beginner too and i have to admit that even tough i read the whole thread i still have problems with understanding how the minor pentatonics go into major
i know i'm impervious (to not call it vulgar).
i don't really understand how to the boxes change but i wouldn't like to waste your time on more explanations because i'm not sure if they gonna have any effect.
if anyone got time and could provide similar or even the same pdf file with just major pentatonics. it would help me a lot, for sure with understanding

This diagram shows the relationship of the major and minor pentatonic scales, a little complex at first glance but in time it will make sense.

[fsenseman]

Originally Posted by enmity

i'm a beginner too and i have to admit that even tough i read the whole thread i still have problems with understanding how the minor pentatonics go into major
i know i'm impervious (to not call it vulgar).
i don't really understand how to the boxes change but i wouldn't like to waste your time on more explanations because i'm not sure if they gonna have any effect.
if anyone got time and could provide similar or even the same pdf file with just major pentatonics. it would help me a lot, for sure with understanding

I'm slowly working on a set of neck diagrams showing major and minor pentatonics. They're not done yet, and it may be awhile. I'll post when I have them. Until then study what's here. It doesn't have to all make sense at once, it didn't for me. But if you study, it will come to you. Also, as mentioned many times before, knowing the scales is good. But a good ear is more important. Noodle around with some blues songs with the pentatonics, you'll start to hear what's sounds good, and what does not.

Kind Regards,
Fleet

[JonR]

Originally Posted by enmity

i'm a beginner too and i have to admit that even tough i read the whole thread i still have problems with understanding how the minor pentatonics go into major
i know i'm impervious (to not call it vulgar).
i don't really understand how to the boxes change but i wouldn't like to waste your time on more explanations because i'm not sure if they gonna have any effect.
if anyone got time and could provide similar or even the same pdf file with just major pentatonics. it would help me a lot, for sure with understanding

Major pentatonic patterns are identical to minor pentatonic. IOW, any minor pent pattern can also be used as (work as) a major pent pattern. It's just a matter of re-assigning the scale degree numbers.

One important distinction here (that can cause a lot of confusion) is between RELATIVE and PARALLEL scales. (If you only take one thing from this post, make it this ).

RELATIVE = same notes, different root.
PARALLEL = same root, (mostly) different notes.

Eg, A minor pent and C major pent are "relative" - they consist of the same 5 notes (A C D E G). So any fret pattern for one is also a pattern for the other.
The difference is only whether A or C sounds like the root. (What governs that is a little more subtle...

A minor pent and A major pent are "parallel"
A minor pent = A C D E G
A major pent = A B C# E F#.

As mentioned above, if you take a minor pent pattern and slide it 3 frets down (towards the nut), you get the parallel major pent.
IOW, A minor pent 3 frets down becomes F# minor pent - which is relative to (same notes as) A major pent.
However, it's better to understand how to combine minor and major in the same position (different patterns), not just by sliding the same pattern to another position. This is where Sin Nombre's diagram above should come in useful.

It's how (and when or why) these parallel scales can interact that may be causing confusion here. Normally, scales with two versions of the same note (eg C and C#) don't mix. Parallel pents only go together in blues, or blues-influenced music (such as rock'n'roll, R&B, some country, some rock).

I realise the following diagram may not help, but try it anyway :

         HALF-STEPS: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
A MAJOR CHORD TONES: A           C#       E              A
 A MAJOR PENTATONIC: A     B     C#       E     F#       A
 A MINOR PENTATONIC: A        C     D     E        G     A

You can see that the major pent contains all the notes in the chord, plus 2: B and F#, which both sound good against the chord. So it's an ideal scale to improvise with over an A chord.

The minor pent only contains 2 chord tones, A and E.
The note G can sound OK with the chord, but the notes C and D clash with the C#.
But the C is a "blue note" - the "flat 3rd" of the chord (strictly the "minor 3rd", C# being the "major 3rd"). Although it's technically a "wrong note", it's a very familiar clash, that we recognise as "blues".
Commonly, the C would be bent, so it goes nearer to C# - this bending is also a standard blues effect. (Very "wrong" in classical music, but quite normal in 20th century popular music.)
The D might also be bent (up towards E).

But the other principle about these scales is that the minor pent is conventionally used on all 3 chords in a blues, the others (in key of A) being D7 and E7. The A minor pent scale contains 3 notes from D7 (A C D) and two notes from E7 (E D), as well as 3 notes from A7 (A E G). So it's a kind of compromise scale, that can be bent to fit any of the chords.
It's popular (and frequently recommended to beginners) because no complex thought is required: you have one scale for everything, and away you go!

This is not the case with A major pent. The major pent scale only really fits its own chord. So to apply major pents, you need a different one for each chord. IOW, you only mix major and minor pent on the "tonic" chord (the "I" chord that the key is named after).
(This is again a somewhat simplified rule, with exceptions. Eg, A major pent contains 2 notes from both D7 (F# A) and E7 (B E), so it's not totally ruled out over those chords; you need to be careful with it, but that's also true of A minor pent if you want it to sound good. The point is that A minor pent - in key of A major - sounds bluesy, while A major pent doesn't.)