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Learn Guitar Secret #1 – Major Pentatonic Scale System E major

By Mike Hayes | February 2, 2010

Just about every guitarist has heard about the pentatonic scale,
heaps of guitar players play the scale without even knowing what
they are playing. But did you know there are different types of
pentatonic scales?

By definition a pentatonic scale could be any five note scale,
however the most commonly uses scales are the major and minor
pentatonic scales.

If you have been playing guitar for a while there’s a good chance
you have learnt the minor version of this scale and you may also
be aware from personal experience that in certain musical
situations the minor pentatonic does not quite work as well as it
should, sure you can bend notes and use the whammy bar with heaps
of distortion but it can never hide the fact that the scale does
not fit.

They say ignorance is bliss … I’d say it’s dangerous
especially in musical situations, here’s a quick look at the “not
so well known” but equally important major pentatonic scale.

The E major pentatonic scale:

E – F# – G# – B – C# – (E)

Let’s compare this scale with the E minor pentatonic …

E – G – A – B – D – (E)

As you can see there’s two common notes E and B the very same
notes that make up the E power chord [E5].

An easy way to create a major pentatonic scale is to omit the 4th
and 7th notes of a major scale like this …

E major

E – F# – G# – A – B – C# -D# – (E)

Leave out the fourth note (A) and the seventh note (D#) and we
have our new set of notes.

E – F# – G# – B – C# – (E)

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

Here’s the most common fingering pattern for the scale

E – sixth string open, no fingers

F# – using your first finger behind the second fret, sixth string

G# – played with the third finger, fret four, sixth string

B – first finger, second fret, fifth string

C# – played with your third finger behind the fourth fret, fifth
string

E – first finger, second fret, fourth string

On the guitar it would look like this:

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

E Major pentatonic scale pattern open position

—————————
—————————
—————————
———————-[2]–
————–2—4——–
-[0]–2—4—————-

The same scale one octave higher would be played like this:

————————[0]–
—————-0—2——–
————1—————-
–[2]—4——————–
—————————–
—————————–

Compare these patterns with the minor version(s) in the same
position on the guitar.

E Minor pentatonic scale pattern open position

—————————
—————————
—————————
——————-0–[2]–
———–0–2————
-[0]–3——————–

The same scale one octave higher would be played like this:

————————[0]–
—————-0—3——–
——-0—2—————–
–[2]————————
—————————–
—————————–

Check all these patterns to see which scales you already know
remember it’s important to know their correct names.

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, open is called E, similarly the note on
the fourth string, second fret is also called E these notes act
as keynotes for the scale.

Application:

The chord progression of a song is often a good indication of
which scale to use.

This progression made up entirely of major chords would work well
with the major five note scale

E ///| E ///| E ///| E ///|
A ///| A ///| E ///| E ///|
B ///| B ///| E ///| E ///||

Whereas the following progression made up of predominately minor
chords would favor the minor five note scale.

Em ///| Em ///| Em ///| Em ///|
Am ///| Am ///| Em ///| Em ///|
B7 ///| B7 ///| Em ///| Em ///||

When you start to think about chord progressions and how scales
relate to progressions is all starts to make sense, your ear will
only take you so far then your musical theory will ‘kick in’ to
help you find the notes you are looking for 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

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

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