Lesson Tag: pentatonic scale

It’s time to use both patterns over our 5 main keys and chord progressions. Even though it might feel awkward and uncomfortable at first, just remember: the more you practice this, the better you get at it and the more enjoyable and rewarding it becomes!

After you have the basic pattern in your muscle memory, start experimenting. Alternating between long and short notes is a great way to start thinking rhythmically and not just melodically when playing the scale.
Also practice jumping around the scale a bit, so it sounds less like a boring scale shape where you’re simply going through the motions. The best melodies and solos have a great mix of rhythmic and melodic variation.

Now we introduce a very important Major Pentatonic Scale pattern. Notice how the Pentatonic Scale is derived from the Major Scale (as so many, many things are). All we do is remove the 4th and 7th degrees from our original Major Scale and Voila! we’re left with 5 notes: The Pentatonic Scale.