PENTATONIC GAINS: A CRASH COURSE IN MAKING A SCALE WORK HARDER!

It’s easy to learn the pentatonic scale, but not easy to make it interesting. In this issue, I’m going to improve your confidence surrounding hitting the ‘ wrong note’ by demonstrating that there are valid notes to play outside the basic scale. I’ll also show you some of the first techniques you’ll want to try once you develop confidence. These exercises were recorded at 100 beats per minute.

EXERCISES #1 AND #2: ADDING A NOTE

Technically this makes your scale hexatonic, but it’s a great way to instantly add flavour to the pentatonic. It will also give you more confidence in knowing you can play ‘wrong notes’, or notes not quite in the shape you know.

In Exercise #1 I’ve added a B – or a second degree – to the scale, and in Exercise #3 I’ve added an F#, or a sixth degree. Don’t worry too much about that terminology; you can tell you’ve added a note to the pentatonic and for now, that is more than enough.

If you find you’re navigating the notes nicely but want to add a surprise, try some options. Keep it simple and remember what you played in relation to the pentatonic shape. Consider the sound. Pentatonics also make a great framework for other notes, so don’t feel bad if you happen to stumble off shape – you might be doing something that works.

EXERCISE #3: DOUBLE STOPS

I’ve never really understood why they call these stops – nothing is stopping! If anything, these get things moving. Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Good” is one of the most well known examples of this kind of thing.

There’s no strict rules to a double stop, so I’ve varied mine slightly here. It’s essentially playing two notes at a time, so I’ve used a slight variation at the beginning to achieve the phrasing I wanted. You can get creative and really mix it up. It’s also an occasion where your teacher can’t tell you off for using flat fingers and mashing two strings at a time – it’s the whole point where adjacent notes are concerned.

For the seven and eighth fret double stop or any varying frets, use whichever two fingers feel logical.

EXERCISE #4: BENDING

This is an old exercise I wrote to help students get a feel for where they can bend in relation to the pentatonic scale. You can bend from anywhere, really, but these spots seem to be the most convenient.

Play through this example and you’ll see that I’m using the straight-up pentatonic scale and just bending from the higher note of the thinner three strings. You can use your third finger with a little help from your second to bend the strings. Get a good grip, squeeze down into the board as you press the strings up towards your thumb. You should imagine you are crushing something and try to break the string... Just don’t actually break the string.

EXERCISE #5: BENDING AND DOUBLE STOPS

This is one of the most effective things on the guitar. It’s fairly self-explanatory – bend, then play the double stop. To get that nice, short sound out of the bent note, relax your third or bending finger at the top of the bend, right before you hit the double stop with your flattened first finger. Again, use two fingers to bend – your third to do the fretting and bending, and the second finger to help bend just behind the fret you are bending from.

EXERCISE #6: LEGATO

Here, we have pull-offs – a technique which involves picking the higher note before ripping the finger off to ‘reveal’ the lower note, which you also want to be fretting. Pick the eighth whilst holding the fifth at the same time and rip your pinky or third finger off the eight fret, and you should hear the fifth fret sound out!

When we ascend, we strike the lower note and ‘hammer-on’ the following note. So for example, on the sixth string, you’ll pick the fifth fret held by your first finger and hammer the pinky down onto the eight without picking again. The slamming of your finger should sound the higher note out.