Pentatonic Lesson

[VictorLazarus]

I thought I'd share some of my favorite licks and pentatonics with you guys.
(pause for clapping... well no)

Anyway; I'm a man who likes his pentatonics; I also like to play in key when possible (pause for laughs) so here's the most basic pentatonic and I'll build on it thoughout the lesson.

(Most of the example penatonics I'll give are in A)

Minor Pentatonic (basic)

e/----------------------------------5--8---
B/---------------------------5--8----------
G/--------------------5--7-----------------
D/--------------5--7-----------------------
A/--------5--7-----------------------------
E/--5--8-----------------------------------

The root notes here are the 5th on both E strings and the 7th on the D string. All these notes are A.

Well thats all good but how can I use it?

I'm glad you asked; so your friend or jam track is chugging away in A you might wanna try a lick like this:

Key:
BU (bend up) - RB (release bend) - ~ (vibrato) - h (hammer on) - p (pull off)

(shred/rock lick) 1
e/----------------------------------------------------
B/---------5-8h-5p----------5-8h-5p-8h-5p-----------
G/---7(BU)-----------7(BU)---------------------------
D/----------------------------------------------------
A/----------------------------------------------------
E/----------------------------------------------------

(shred/rock lick) 2
e/----------555---------555----------555-8-5p----------
B/---8(BU)-------8(BU)--------8(RB)-------------8~-----
G/-------------------------------------------------------
D/-------------------------------------------------------
A/-------------------------------------------------------
E/-------------------------------------------------------


/ - \ (slide)

(blues lick) 1

e/------------------------------------------------
B/------------------------------------------------
G/---------5--5~-------------------5--5----------
D/---------5--5~-------5--7-------5---5---7~----
A/----5/7---------5/7---------5/7-----------------
E/------------------------------------------------

Now I'll add some blues notes to the pentatonic for you to play around with:

e/-----------------------------------5--8---
B/-----------------------------5--8---------
G/----------------------5--7----------------
D/----------------5--7----------------------
A/--------5-6-7-----------------------------
E/--5--8------------------------------------

Here's another cool pentatonic (though I haven't found much use for it) :

e/---------------------------------6--8-----
B/---------------------------6--8-----------
G/--------------------5--7-----------------
D/--------------5--8-----------------------
A/--------5--8-----------------------------
E/--6--8------------------------------------


Now here's the other pentatonic with more notes:

e/--------------------------------------5-8-10-11-----
B/------------------------------5-8-10----------------
G/---------------------5-7-8-9------------------------
D/---------------5--7---------------------------------
A/--------5-6-7---------------------------------------
E/--5--8----------------------------------------------

Lots of notes here but its great for getting around the neck.

The new root note is at the 10th on the B string and the blues note is on the 11th of the high e.

Here is a minor aeolian pentatonic; you'll notice it has a very different feel to the minor blues pentatonic, good for metal.

e/------------------------------------5-7-8--
B/-----------------------------5-6-8---------
G/---------------------4-5-7-----------------
D/----------------5-7------------------------
A/---------5-7-8-----------------------------
E/--5-7-8------------------------------------

I'll add some more licks later if you like cos as you can tell I have too much time on my hands; to finnish off I'll show the basic pentatonic in the key of open E.

e/---------------------------------0--3-----
B/---------------------------0--3-----------
G/--------------------0--2------------------
D/--------------0--2------------------------
A/--------0--2------------------------------
E/--0--3------------------------------------

The reason I've put that down is because its very easy to use and is great for hammer on's etc.

Well thanks for looking!

MVL.