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Learn Guitar Trick #13 – Minor Pentatonic Scale System D minor

By Mike Hayes | January 28, 2010

The key of Dm is a dark, mysterious key, movie composers use the
key of D minor when they write music to depict night scenes,
guitar players often re-tune their guitar to drop ‘D’ to give
their music a darker quality, listen to the opening bars of
Creedence’s ‘I heard it through the Grapevine’ for a good dose of
D minor.

Take a listen to Eric Clapton’s hit song ‘Layla’ or Dire
Straight’s ‘Sultans of Swing’ to get the feel of this key.

Here’s a quick look at Layla and the D minor sound …

* The intro, chorus and solo sections of Layla will give you an
introduction to the sound and feel of D minor in this instance
the chord progression is derived from the D Aeolian mode; whereas
the verse of Layla is in a contrasting key, listen closely and
you will hear the shift between keys.

* The notes that make up the opening riff for Layla are from the
D minor pentatonic scale so without any further ado let’s dive in
and learn this exciting scale.

Minor pentatonic scale system – D minor

The notes in the D minor pentatonic scale are:

D – F – G – A – C – (D)

If you played these notes anywhere on the guitar fingerboard you
will be playing the D minor pentatonic scale.

Here’s the most common fingering pattern for the scale

D – using your first finger behind the tenth fret, sixth string

F – played with the fourth finger, fret thirteen, sixth string

G – first finger, tenth fret, fifth string

A – played with your third finger behind the twelfth fret,
fifth string

C – first finger, tenth fret, fourth string

D Minor pentatonic scale pattern

—————————
—————————
—————————
——————-10–[12]-
———–10–12———–
-[10]–13——————-

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

The same scale one octave higher.

D minor pentatonic one octave higher:

———————[10]-
————–10–13——
——10–12————–
-[12]———————
————————–
————————–

Here’s another way to play the D minor pentatonic
scale:

———————————
———————————
———————————
————————10–[12]-
————-8–10–12———–
—8–[10]———————–

Keynotes or root notes are your reference points in the scale,
they are the notes that the scale takes it’s name from e.g., the
note on the sixth string, tenth fret is called D, similarly the
note on the four string, twelfth fret is also called D these
notes act as keynotes for the D minor pentatonic scale.

A great idea is to have another guitarist play some power chords
while you practice soloing using the D minor pentatonic scale,
try playing the scale in various positions all over the
fingerboard, remember as long as you are using the D-F-G-A-C
notes you are playing the D minor pentatonic scale this gives you
a chance to create new fingering patterns and develop your own
style.

Here’s a few chord progressions to get you started these
progressions are based on the notes of the D minor pentatonic
scale.

D – F – G – A – C – (D)

Notice how these chords have the same names as the notes of the
scale.

Typical chord progression(s) would be:

D /// | F /// | G /// | A /// ||

or

D /// | F /// |A /// | G /// ||

Have fun playing your new scale and chord progressions on the
guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Fretboard, guitar scales | No Comments »

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