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Learn Guitar Secret #2 – Major Pentatonic Scale System F major

By Mike Hayes | February 3, 2010

The fix-it-all-in-five-minutes guitar instructors and method
books would have you believe that you could master the guitar and
the entire musical world with the minor pentatonic scale, but as
anyone with even the most basic ‘bandstand’ experience knows …
it ain’t necessarily so!

The minor pentatonic scale has an equally important twin sister
scale, the major pentatonic let’s zoom in for a closer look.

The F major pentatonic scale:

F – G – A – C – D – (F)

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

F – Ab – Bb – C – Eb – (F)

As you can see there’s two common notes F and C the very same
notes that make up the F power chord [F5].

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

F major

F – G – A – Bb – C – D – E – (F)

Leave out the fourth note (Bb) and the seventh note (E) and we
have our new set of notes.

F – G – A – C – D – (F)

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

Here’s the most common fingering pattern for the scale

F – sixth string with your first finger behind the first fret

G – using your third finger behind the third fret, sixth string

A – played with the third finger, fret five, sixth string

C – first finger, third fret, fifth string

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

F – first finger, third fret, fourth string

On the guitar it would look like this:

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

F Major pentatonic scale pattern

—————————
—————————
—————————
———————-[3]–
————–3—5——–
-[1]–3—5—————-

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

—————————–
————————[6]–
—————-5—7——–
–[3]—5—7—————-
—————————–
—————————–

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

F Minor pentatonic scale pattern open position

—————————-
—————————-
—————————-
——————-1—[3]–
———–1—3————
-[1]—4——————–

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

————————[1]–
—————-1—4——–
——-1—3—————–
–[3]————————
—————————–
—————————–

Which of these scale patterns do you know? Make certain than you
know the name of the scale you are learning, you would be
surprised how many guitarists incorrectly name the scales they
are playing, that will definitely get you off to a bad start.

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, first fret is called F, similarly the
note on the fourth string, third fret is also called F 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

F ///| F ///| F ///| F ///|
Bb///| Bb///| F ///| F ///|
C ///| Bb///| F ///| F ///||

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

Fm ///| Fm ///| Fm ///| Fm ///|
Bbm///| Bbm///| Fm ///| Fm ///|
C7 ///| C7 ///| Fm ///| Fm ///||

The style of song also gives you an indication as to what scale
to use; generally minor pentatonic scales work over rock, blues
and heavy metal music whereas the major pentatonic scale is
ideal for country, pop and folk songs.

Why not try recording some of these chord progressions and play
the different types of scales over the pre-recorded progressions
next time you are practicing 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 Tips, guitar scales | No Comments »

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