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Learn Guitar Secret #5 – Major Pentatonic Scale System Ab major

By Mike Hayes | February 7, 2010

When a guitar player places a capo behind the first fret of their
guitar and plays chord shapes from the key of G they are actually
producing sounds in the key of Ab.

Sound confusing? Let me explain how this works …

Firstly, it’s important to establish the names of the chords that
belong to the key of G; there’s two sets of chords commonly used
by songwriters of popular music. The triadic or three note chords
and the scaletone seventh or four note chords.

Key of G – triadic version:

Chord 1 = G
Chord 2 = Am
Chord 3 = Bm
Chord 4 = C
Chord 5 = D
Chord 6 = Em
Chord 7 = F#dim
Chord 8 = G

Key of G – scaletone seventh version:

Chord 1 = GMAJ7
Chord 2 = Am7
Chord 3 = Bm7
Chord 4 = CMAJ7
Chord 5 = D7
Chord 6 = Em7
Chord 7 = F#m7b5
Chord 8 = GMAJ7

By placing the capo behind the first fret we raise the pitch of
the guitar by a semitone, a semitone higher than G is G# or Ab.
G# and Ab are two ways of describing the same pitch and since
today’s article is on the key of Ab I’ll refer to the pitch as
Ab.

Here’s what happens to our chords with a capo behind the first
fret.

Key of G – triadic version (without the capo):

Chord 1 = G
Chord 2 = Am
Chord 3 = Bm
Chord 4 = C
Chord 5 = D
Chord 6 = Em
Chord 7 = F#dim
Chord 8 = G

becomes …

Key of Ab – triadic version (capo behind first fret):

Chord 1 = Ab
Chord 2 = Bbm
Chord 3 = Cm
Chord 4 = Db
Chord 5 = Eb
Chord 6 = Fm
Chord 7 = Gdim
Chord 8 = Ab

The second set of chords is the correct names of the pitch
coming from the guitar, what musicians call the ‘concert pitch’;
so although the guitarist is playing the same set of chord shapes
both times the capo changes the pitch of the notes and chords of
the guitar.

If you are working with or intending to work with instruments
other than the guitar it’s vital to understand this process, many
guitar players don’t understand how the capo works and you can
imagine how difficult it would be to communicate your musical
ideas to a piano player if you think you are playing one set of
chords and you are actually producing an entirely different
sound.

Moving on to the scaletone seventh versions

Key of G – scaletone seventh version (without the capo):

Chord 1 = GMAJ7
Chord 2 = Am7
Chord 3 = Bm7
Chord 4 = CMAJ7
Chord 5 = D7
Chord 6 = Em7
Chord 7 = F#m7b5
Chord 8 = GMAJ7

becomes …

Key of Ab – scaletone seventh version (capo behind first fret):

Chord 1 = AbMAJ7
Chord 2 = Bbm7
Chord 3 = Cm7
Chord 4 = DbMAJ7
Chord 5 = Eb7
Chord 6 = Fm7
Chord 7 = Gm7b5
Chord 8 = AbMAJ7

The best scale to play over these type of chords would be the Ab
major pentatonic scale, so let’s say you were playing a ‘Matchbox
20′ song such as ‘3 A.M.’ using chord shapes from the key of G
with the capo behind the first fret, the ideal choice of scale
for fill-ins and improvisation would be the Ab major pentatonic.

Notice I said the Ab major pentatonic not the G major pentatonic
because as we now know we would be playing in the key (or pitch)
of Ab not G.

The notes in the Ab major pentatonic scale are …

Ab – Bb – C – Eb – F [Ab]

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

Ab Major pentatonic scale pattern

—————————
—————————
—————————
———————-[6]–
————–6—8——–
-[4]–6—8—————-

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

—————————–
————————[9]–
—————-8—10——–
–[6]—8—10—————-
—————————–
—————————–

Keep in mind that it’s the names of the notes that make up the
scale not the fingering patterns, if you played the notes
Ab – Bb – C – Eb – F [Ab] anywhere on the guitar fingerboard you
would be playing the Ab major pentatonic scale, try different
scale patterns and see which ones work best for you.

Application:

Play these chords with the capo behind the first fret …

(no capo -open position chord shapes)

G ///| G ///| G ///| G///|
C ///| C ///| G ///| G ///|
D ///| C ///| G ///| G ///||

and you will be playing these chords …

(capo behind the first fret – concert pitch of Ab)

Ab ///| Ab ///| Ab ///| Ab///|
Db ///| Db ///| Ab ///| Ab ///|
Eb ///| Db ///| Ab ///| Ab ///||

So there you have it, next time you come across a song in the key
of Ab don’t drop it and run for the nearest exit, pick up your
capo and play easy chord shapes from the key of G and use the Ab
major pentatonic scale for soloing they are a great combination
for the key of Ab 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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