Posts tagged: Guitar Scales

January 28, 2011

Lead Guitar Technique: How to Break Free from Pentatonic Scales to Create Your Own Cool Guitar Solos Part 2

categories Lead Guitar | comments 0 Comments

Now we will look at the major pentatonic scale and the major scale.

Here are the notes that are found in the C major pentatonic scale:

C         D            E            G            A

Now we will look at  a common fingering for the C major pentatonic scale. If you are not quite sure how to read guitar scale fingerings, read this post: Guitar Scale Lesson: How to Read Guitar Scale Diagrams.

C major pentatonic scale fingering

Now let’s look at the C major scale.

The C major scale contains the following notes:

C         D             E             F             G             A             B

Here is a fingering for the C major scale.

C major scale fingering

What do you notice when you compare these two scale?

C major vs C major pentatonic scale fingerings

Do you see how they share some notes?  The only difference between these scales is the C major scale contains the notes F and B, whereas the C major pentatonic scale does not.

So in other words, if you drop out the notes F and B from the C major scale you will have a C major pentatonic scale.

C major vs C major pentatonic scale notes

The best way to start using the major scale in your guitar solos is to first think of it as simply giving you some extra notes to add into your guitar solos.

Your first step is to make sure you are familiar with both of the scale fingerings shown above.  Then you can start to mix things up a bit.

Exercise #1

Play the major pentatonic scale ascending and then play the major scale descending.  Do this several times until you feel comfortable doing this.

Exercise #2

Next play the major scale ascending and play the major pentatonic scale descending. Practice this until you can easily play it.

Exercise #3

Finally, play the major scale ascending and descending, and then play the major pentatonic scale ascending and descending.

Once you’ve completed the above exercises you are ready to start to experiment with these scales in your guitar solos.

There are two main approaches I would recommend you start with.

The first way to begin creating guitar solos is to make the major pentatonic scale your main scale.  All you do is add in the extra two notes here and there for interest and variety.

Once you fThe World of Scales: A Compendium of Scales for the Modern Guitar Playereel comfortable with the above you can switch it up.  Now start soloing with the major scale as your main scale and simply drop out the notes B and F occasionally.  This means you will now be primarily using the major scale for your guitar solos!

As you can guess, there’s lots more to soloing than this, but this will get you well on your way to creating great-sounding guitar solos.

To learn more fingerings for the major scale and see how they connect over the entire fretboard check out my guitar scale course called The World of Scales: A Compendium of Scales for the Modern Guitar Player.

November 12, 2010

Guitar Practice Checklist: The Top 10 Things You Must Have to Not Waste Guitar Practice Time

categories Play Guitar | comments 2 Comments

Every guitar player wants to improve their guitar playing.  And every guitarist wants to see improvements in their playing today.

But let’s face it.  You’ve already got so much going on that it’s virtually impossible to get enough time to play as much guitar as you want.

This means for you become the best guitar player you can, you must make really good use of your limited practice time.

One of the keys to getting the most out of your practice sessions is to make sure you don’t waste any of valuable practice time.

Get Ready to Play Guitar

Before you begin your practice session, you must make sure that you are prepared to practice.  Anything that wastes practice time will diminish your results on the guitar.

So the first thing that you should do before you actually start to practice is make sure you have all of your practice materials at hand.

There’s nothing worse than starting to play guitar, and then discovering that you forgot to get some practice materials.  You now have to stop and go on a search and rescue mission for some sheet music, or something else that you wanted to work on.

Whether you’ve got 30-minutes for practice, or longer, little time wasters can add up fast.

On top of that, if it takes a while to locate what you are looking for, you may return to the guitar cold and have to do a bit of a warm-up before you can really get back into your practice session.

The Top 10 Things Every Guitar Player Should Have Ready for a Practice Session

1.  Guitar, amp, patch cords, effects pedals, power cables, adapters, CD/mp3 player. To start your practice session, you will want to have your guitar out of the case ready to play.  Also, if you need to bring out an amp and effects pedals, you will need to do so.  If this is the case you will also need the appropriate power cables and/or adapters.  If you will be playing along with some songs, then you will need your CD/mp3 player handy.

2.  Guitar picks. I always recommend having a couple of extra picks with you for your practice session.  It is quite common to put your pick down to grab something and then have a hard time finding it again.  Also, you may drop your pick and who knows where it will land.  Always have spare picks around.

3.  Electronic tuner, or tuning fork. The very first thing you need to do before you start to play guitar is tune your guitar.  So make sure you have your electronic tuner, pitch pipe, or tuning fork handy.

4.  Music stand. When you work on chords, scales, or songs from a book, you’ll find it best to prop it up on a music stand.  A music stand will allow you to look at music or a book that you are using for your practice session.  What’s most important is that music stands are adjustable so you can adjust it to the right height for you.  This will help reduce neck-strain and eye-strain.  It will also help you to sit properly so you can maximize your technique.

5.  Metronome. This essential little tool will help you develop rock-solid rhythm.

6.  A cloth for wiping down the neck of your guitar. You will want to do this before and after your practice session.  This will help prolong string life.

7.  Suitable clothing. A lot of guitarists practice in rooms that are not heated properly.  This can be a big problem.  A cold room will reduce blood flow to the fingers and arms and inhibit lubrication of tendons and joints.  A cold environment can also slow down nerve conduction.  Obviously this will negatively affect your playing.

If you don’t have the option of practicing in a well-heated room, get a small space heater or whatever is appropriate for your practice space.  If this isn’t an option, then you need to make sure that you dress warm while you practice and you may want to consider fingerless gloves to help warm your hands.

8.  Sheet music, songbooks or any guitar books you are working on. Have all of the music learning tools you will need for your current practice session ready.

9.  Guitar practice binder. A good idea is to create a guitar practice binder.  Get a big 3-ring binder.  Place dividers in it and add some blank paper.  Also add some blank manuscript paper and/or blank tab.  A good practice binder is a very useful tool.

In your practice binder you can jot down any ideas you get for practice.  Take notes about new things you want to work on, your current practice routine, etc.  In your practice binder you might want to include the scales that you want to practice, the chords you are learning or want to review, arpeggio fingerings, technique exercises, etc.

10.  A glass of water. You will probably get thirsty while you practice, but you won’t want to have to stop to go and get a glass of water, so have one handy.

Customize this list to suit your guitar practice needs. Grab a sheet of paper and write out the items from the checklist that apply to you.

Now it’s time to customize.

Write in the stuff that you are working on beside the applicable point.  Write in the current song(s) you are working.  Write down the books you are working on, etc. If you need to set up and tear down your amp every time you play, you might want to create a detailed checklist of all of the gear you need.

When you have finished your practice session, update your checklist to include what you want to work on in your next practice session. This way when you grab your practice checklist the next time, it will be current.

All you have to do is grab everything on the list.  This is great time-saver!

Place your practice checklist as the first page of your practice binder. This way it’s always easy to find your checklist.

Always return your practice stuff to the same place. When all of your guitar practice materials are in stored in the same place, it makes it easy for you to grab everything you need for your practice sessions.  This means there’s no running around trying to find stuff.

You might want to get a container or box for all of your practice stuff. This way, all you have to do is put everything you need into the box.  Then it’s really simple to get ready for your practice sessions: all you have to do is grab the box.

Also, teardown is easy too.  All you do is put everything back into the box and put it back in its place.

Are you just getting started on guitar and looking for a fast way to learn to play guitar?  Check out -> 14 Beginner Guitar Lessons.

November 1, 2010

Guitar Solos: Using a Cool Hybrid Pentatonic Scale to Add Variety to Your Own Guitar Solos

categories Lead Guitar | comments 0 Comments

When guitar players first start to improvise, they usually create their own guitar solos with the major and minor pentatonic scales.

This great at first, but unfortunately, over time it can start to get pretty darn boring.

In fact, it’s quite common for guitar players to get stuck in a pentatonic rut. All your guitar solos start to sound the same.

The good news is there are many ways to break out of this pentatonic rut.

One such way is to use some different pentatonic scales for some much-needed variety.  You can intersperse other pentatonic scales as tiny phrases, or you can use them more extensively.

Today our focus is on an advanced topic.  We will look at a hybrid or altered pentatonic scale.

When most guitarists think of pentatonic scales they tend to only think of the very popular minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales.  There is however a vast array of pentatonic scales beyond the basic major and minor pentatonic scales.

Our focus will be on a somewhat outside but nonetheless cool-sounding hybrid/altered pentatonic scale.

Now there is no real name for this scale.  It is not a standard pentatonic scale.  A pentatonic scale is simply a five-note scale.  The pentatonic scale we will examine today can be thought of as also being a Dominant 7 #11 arpeggio.

Here is how it is constructed:

1          3         #4/#11        5            b7

So as you can see, it is a Dominant 7 #11 (1-3-5-b7-#11).

This scale has a very cool sound and can be used in a wide variety of contexts.  Do understand that the #4/#11 can create some tension depending on the context it is used in.

But actually, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here.  Right now, I’m sure you want to see how you can play this scale.  So let’s first compare it to the regular minor pentatonic scale fingering…

Minor Pentatonic Scale (1─b3─4─5─b7)

Hybrid Pentatonic (1─3─#4─5─b7)

In terms of the fingering, only two notes have been changed when you compare this scale to the minor pentatonic scale.  Both the third and fourth are raised by one semitone.  The b3 goes to a natural 3, and 4 goes to a #4.

Now I’m not going to go into all of the theory and mechanics behind this scale today.   What we will briefly look at is some of the chords you can use this scale with.

First of all, this hybrid pentatonic scale will work over a power chord.  Position the above scale so that the root notes (black notes in the diagram) are on the note A.  This will put your first finger on the fifth fret.  If you play this scale, on the fifth fret, the notes in it will be: A C# D# E G.  This scale can be played over an A power chord.  The A power chord, or A5 chord contains the notes A and E.  As you can see, both of these notes are contained within this scale.

This scale will also work over an A major chord, A7, A9, A7 #11 and A9 #11.  It will also work with A13, and A13 #11.

For an outside bluesy type sound, you can actually use this scale against an A minor chord.  Depending on context, this will create some pretty strong tension so you will probably want to resolve it to the regular minor pentatonic scale.

This short tutorial just scratched the surface of the many possible uses for this scale.

Practice the scale forwards and backwards until you’ve got it memorized, then apply some melodic patterns to it.  This will help you to “hear” the scale and will start to give you some ideas of ways to use it.

Also experiment with playing the minor pentatonic scale ascending and then this hybrid pent scale descending and vice versa.  Also experiment with using this scale with the major pentatonic scale, the blues scale and the composite blues scales.

This will give you lots to work on.  Have fun with it.  For more information on pentatonic scales, hybrid and altered pentatonic scales you’ll probably be interested in my book called The World of Scales: A Compendium of Scales for the Modern Guitar Player.

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