I received a question from a guitarist studying my 12 Week Guitar Course (www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com ) about Pentatonic scales and why he should memorize them and practice them, how they link together, and how you move from one to another.

Below is his question and my answer:

From: Jeffrey B
To: adam@logicalleadguitar
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: Expert Help For Beginning Guitarists…

Adam,

I am enjoying my playing and making slow but steady progress. I am already subscribed to Will, although I am concentrating on your course at the intermediate level for the moment.

I have a request. Many teachers talk about the various pentatonic scales and you are the only one that I know that is starting to put them together for me, but it is still not very clear.

I don’t understand how, for example, you can move the first pentatonic scale up and down the neck and yet all of the scales lock into each other. Why can’t you just use one pentatonic scale to go up and down the neck? I would think a general explanation of the purpose and use of these scales would be helpful for everybody who is following your course.

Sometimes I think that I am wasting my time learning the five scales by heart but don’t know their purpose.

Thank you for the work that you have done. Watching the video you feel like you get to be friends with the teacher even if you’ve never met him.  So hello, buddy!

Jeffrey

 ************

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for your kind words, and Hello Buddy!

The five Pent shapes lock together. If you move one, you move them all. This is how you change keys.

Let’s say you’re playing the main pent pattern at the 5th fret (this would be A minor). You would play the 2nd pattern at the 8th fret, and you could slide between the two and play a couple notes in each. This is how many great, classic solos are played.

Let’s say the next song is in B.

You would move the main pent to the 7th fret to play in B (minor — the typical thing rock players do).

Well, if we moved the main pent up two frets, we would have to move the 2nd pattern up two frets as well. So you could play the same lick you played in A (sliding from the main pent at the 5th fret into the 2nd pent at the 8th fret), two frets higher on the neck (starting in your main pent at the 7th fret, and sliding into your 2nd pent at the 10th fret).

I hope this makes sense. Please understand that there are other factors involved in truly advanced soloing, but the above is a basic of playing rock and blues-rock based solos the way the vast majority of rock solos are played. Yes, I could teach you more (and do in my www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com and in www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com ) but the above is meant to get you going in the right direction with the most essential info.

The more you mess around with it — and the more you watch and/or re-watch my lesson videos — the more this will make sense!

Thanks again for studying with me, and thanks for writing!

Adam

ps. Please tell some friends about www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com

Adam St. James
www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com
www.ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com
www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com
www.GuitarLifeMag.com
www.RockChops.com
www.BluesLessons.com
www.JazzGurus.com

I get messages…

Sometimes the emails I answer make for great teaching tools. Here’s one:

Michael,

Thanks for writing, and thanks for studying with me!

Yes, you can learn to play by ear. It takes time, but honestly, most guitarists you’ve ever heard (most famous guitarists), basically play by ear.

I spent most of my life as a music journalist, and I’ve written for most of the major guitar magazines. I’ve also been editor in chief of some major guitar and music industry websites, such as Guitar.com and Musician.com (they were actual magazine style sites when I was involved, they aren’t anymore).

To see a small sampling of my hundreds of celebrity guitarist interviews, check out my site: www.GuitarLifeMag.com

Anyway, most of the celebs I’ve interviewed play by ear. Most do not read music. I mean, like 98 percent do not read music.

There are some basics that lead to being able to play by ear, among them learning and practicing at least the basic Pentatonic scale patterns will be very helpful.

Also try these steps:

1) Listen for the bass guitar or bass notes, and try to follow them. Don’t try to run before you can walk — start by trying to learn really easy songs, perhaps some old 50s or 60s stuff, or basic blues-based music. Don’t attempt to start with someone like Joe Satriani, or Metallica — you’ll never get anywhere.

2) Learn to recognize when they’re playing riffs as opposed to chords. Most guitar riff based songs are played in the main Pentatonic pattern I teach in my LLG course. Search within that pattern for riffs. Some examples: Heartbreaker by Led Zep, One Way Out by the Allman Brothers, Funk 49 by Joe Walsh/James Gang.

3) It will be easier if you do some playing/listening homework in which you play notes going up a scale and down a scale, teaching your ear to hear the difference between notes that are, well, going up, as opposed to going down.

4) Learn to hear the most basic movements, whole steps (two frets) and half steps (one fret), by playing two notes over and over again until you can “hear” whether it’s a whole step or half step. Later, try training your ear to hear multiple steps (3 or more frets).

These are some basics…

Hope they help!

Adam

Ahhh…. Finally, it’s warmed up in the Chicago area. And finally I’m gettin’ some stuff done that I had wanted to do long ago…

I’ve reorganized some things, and hope you’ll enjoy the benefits.

For one, I’ve added a lot of motivational messages and free lesson videos to my 12WeekGuitarCourse.com mailing list. If you’re not already studying with my FREE online guitar course, get there now and get started:

www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com

And second, I’ve finally loaded up a bunch more of my archive celebrity guitar player interviews into my www.GuitarLifeMag.com website — so from now on, there will be a new, informative, and inspiring celebrity interview posted every week.

And I’ve got players from all genres for you to gain new knowledge and inspiration from: modern rockers, country guys, blues players, jazz masters, and more.

Enjoy the interviews, check out the artists’ music online, and let their words guide you to more and better guitar playing!

http://www.GuitarLifeMag.com

I’ve just posted Week 11 videos and lessons for the 12 Week Guitar Course.

In these lessons I covered using the E and A shape arpeggios within a variety of scale patterns (Advanced level); the Blues scale, Diatonic patterns, and intervals (Intermediate level); and some fun strum-alongs, the six string scale, plus some fun melody workouts (Beginner level.).

If you haven’t yet gotten started with my free online guitar course, go there now:

12WeekGuitarCourse.com

12 Week Guitar Course

Once again I’ve found that an email reply I made to a Logical Lead Guitar student can help others understand an important concept — in this case how to determine whether to use a major or minor Pentatonic scale pattern for the song you’re learning.

Here are some questions asked by Julien in Switzerland, along with my replies…

From: Julien [mailto:julien
To: 'Adam St. James'
Subject: Question

 Hi Adam,

I’m working my way through Logical Lead Guitar and have the pentatonic more or less (finger) memorized… the problem I have is applying them to music (songs..). For example I am strumming along with something which is played (just for example) in the key of ‘F’ –so I play the first position pentatonic starting on the first fret 6^th string – and it doesn’t fit??? What am I missing? Do I have to start on the relative minor? And where do I go when the chord changes?

 Thanks for your help – I’ll get there one day !!!

 Julien 

From: Adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com [mailto:adam@logicalleadguitar.com]
Sent: 03 February 2010 08:49
To: Julien
Subject: Re: Question

Julien,

You might be running into the issue of major vs. minor.

Yes, it’s true, the main pentatonic pattern will work better over a minor chord than a major chord. Such a huge majority of the rock music of the past 50 years has been based on minor chords — or power chords which lack a major or minor definition — that the main pentatonic pattern usually works.

If it doesn’t, it is probably because the song/chord you’re playing is major.

In this case, you need to learn to adjust a minor pentatonic pattern and play it focusing on the relative major root notes. From your message I think you understand this to some degree…

In your example, the F chord — if played as a major chord — is the Relative Major of the pattern you’re trying to play. So if you play an F major chord, your choices are:

1) play the second pentatonic pattern beginning on F

2) play the main pent pattern beginning on D (10th fret). D is the relative minor/F is the relative major. If you put the main pent pattern at the 10th fret (D minor/F major), but you play phrases which focus on the F notes, rather than the D notes, you’ll be playing major riffs, which should fit better over your F major chord.

I hope this is helpful!

Just keep working your way through the patterns and it will all become more and more clear as you go along.

Everything in the Logical Lead Guitar course took me years to figure out…

Keep on playin’,

Adam

*********************************

And here is a follow-up you can learn from as well:

—– Original Message —–
From: Julien
To: ‘Adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com’
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 2:29 PM
Subject: RE: Question

Thanks Adam – I have to sit down and work this out a bit, one thing that struck me today as I was playing along with a cd – it seemed to me to work if lets say the song was in the key of G – so I played pattern two starting on G on the 6th string third fret – the question is – is this true for all keys ? if yes – then I’ve got it licked !!!!

Thanks again

Cheers for now Snowy Switzerland !!

**********

My response:

Julien,

Yes, you’ve got it.

In your latest example, you’re playing in the key of G major — which is the relative major of E minor.

To play in G major you would/could play the second Pentatonic pattern with your second finger starting on G at the third fret of the sixth string, as you have figured out.

You can also play all the rest of the Pentatonic patterns exactly where they would then fall…

If you use the key of A minor/C major I used for the examples in Logical Lead Guitar as a starting point, you’ve now moved the second pattern down from the 8th fret to the 3rd fret. This five fret move has changed you from the key of C major (my examples in LLG), to the key of G major (the song you’re working on).

So if you took all five of the Pentatonic scale patterns I showed in LLG, and subtracted five frets from where I had each pattern in the key of C major, they would then be in the key of G major and you could play over your song!

Keep on workin’ it!

Adam

Adam St. James
www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com
www.ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com
www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com
www.GuitarLifeMag.com
www.RockChops.com
www.BluesLessons.com
www.JazzGurus.com

Another Logical Lead Guitar student writes asking me to clarify something I’ve said in a newsletter:

—– Original Message —–
From: <standish9@…
To: <adam@logicalleadguitar.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Logical Lead Guitar 13: Here’s The 2nd Most Important Scale

> ok adam
>
> sometimes people use words in ways other have no idea what they mean,
> i write to you for just a clarification, when you say;
>
> As you become more comfortable with these patterns (have
> you remembered to keep putting in rounds of all these
> patterns? You have to!), you’ll be able to start fooling
> around with simple riffs and solos between the two
> patterns.
>
> can you please tell me what in the world your on about with the word
> “ROUNDS” ? ?

Stan,

Thanks for writing, and thanks for studying with me!

When I talk about “Rounds” I’m talking about the process of practicing one pattern at every fret on the guitar, or at least every fret at which you can comfortably play (obviously different on an acoustic guitar than an electric guitar).

So, for example, if you practice the Main pentatonic scale pattern at the first fret, then move up a fret and play it again, then up another fret, and so on.

When you’ve played the pattern at every fret you can comfortably play it at, that is one “Round.” in my book.

In my early days I practiced every single finger exercise, every single Pentatonic scale pattern, every Diatonic scale pattern, and every arpeggio, starting at the first fret and working my way all the way up the neck to play them at every fret I could comfortably play them at.

I played hundreds or more rounds of every pattern over the years.

This is one of the most important steps to make you completely automatic at flying all over the fretboard when soloing, or when copying someone else’s solo.

It takes time, but you’ll be playing guitar the rest of your life, right?

Adam

Adam St. James
www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com
www.ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com
www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com
www.GuitarLifeMag.com
www.RockChops.com
www.BluesLessons.com
www.JazzGurus.com

I recently got an email question from a player named Ray who is studying with my Logical Lead Guitar course, and also had questions about learning specific lead guitar sections from famous songs, as taught in Tony Aja’s Guitar Leads course, which I think is a great learning tool and a fine complement to Logical Lead Guitar.

Find out more about the 425 Lead Guitar Solos and Riffs you can learn from Tony’s course here: Guitar Leads Course

(Follow that link and you’ll get Volume 1 of Tony’s course for free! Volume 1 teaches solos by Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, the Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bad Co., Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and more!)

In answering Ray’s questions, I realized my answer would be beneficial to all guitar players working on their lead guitar skills.

Here’s the gist of what I told Ray:

All the stuff in my Logical Lead Guitar course actually took me years of practice. A player should NOT expect that they’re going to study a course as extensive as LLG, and learn it all in a month or three….

And over time, stuff just starts to make more and more sense. But sometimes the brain has to catch up with the fingers — so just keep playing all the patterns over and over and over again in all the different ways I teach (scales, exercises, noodling around, etc.) and the fingers will eventually just know where to go, even before the brain completely understands….

At the same time, you should understand that the fingers really need the work. They need the practice. They need the massive amounts of repetition I recommend — as in playing dozens and hundreds of “rounds” (playing a scale or arpeggio pattern one time at every fret, all the way up the fretboard, before switching to the next pattern, is what I consider one round).

While your brain is trying to comprehend what it is you are piecing together, you must put your fingers through the workout over and over and over again, until they become totally fluent AND automatic.

If you do not do this, you will NOT become a really advanced lead guitarist.

You might become an OK lead guitarist, but you’ll never really feel the excitement of total fretboard freedom that comes with being able to improvise at an advanced/pro level. And believe me, it is a ton of fun. I live to play lead guitar.

Well, I love coaching my son’s baseball team too — but mostly I live to play lead guitar!

Believe it!

As for Tony’s Guitar Leads course, yes, any time you’ve got someone showing you specific lead guitar riffs from actual songs, you’re going to have fun, and learn a lot. Hopefully though, for every lead you learn, you immediately recognize which scale pattern it came from (because you’ve been studying and practicing scale patterns with Logical Lead Guitar).

If you just learn the solo riffs, but don’t analyze them as to which scale pattern they came from, then you really haven’t benefited very much from learning the solo — because the NEXT song you really want to learn the solo from might be using almost the exact same riffs, but you won’t be able to figure that out without someone else’s help, because you don’t understand how the scales are used to play common riffs… I don’t mean you, specifically, I mean any player….

Any player trying to become a fluent, accomplished guitarist has to become able to recognize the commonly repeated patterns before they’ll be able to just start figuring out solos at warp speed — but you can get there if you follow my lead (ha ha…).

When you learn a solo, you need to think about which scale pattern(s) the
solo uses, or which arpeggios.

It’s just like when you learn a new song: You have to think about what key it is, and what the chord progression it is (like, is it I-IV-V, or I-ii-V-I, etc.)

This is how you unlock the mysteries of all songs.

Simply learning songs or riffs and not putting this easy analysis to it dooms you to forever needing other people to teach you how to play songs, how to play the guitar.

Don’t doom yourself that way!

Rock on!

Adam

ps. Have you checked out my www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com ? It will keep you motivated too!
Adam St. James
www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com
www.ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com
www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com
www.RockChops.com
www.BluesLessons.com
www.JazzGurus.com

I regularly receive emails from guitarists asking me to further explain something in one of my courses, in this case, my teachings on Modes contained in the Advanced level, Week 4, Lesson 1 of my new, completely, totally FREE ONLINE GUITAR COURSE: 

12WeekGuitarCourse.com

This question comes from Shiro in California:

From: Shiro

Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 4:07 PM

To: Lessons@12WeekGuitarCourse.com

Subject: RE: More Fun on Guitar! Week 4 Guitar Course Links Inside…

I believe there is a mistake in lesson 1, Tab for lesson (for advanced wk 4) The first mode is labled C to C: C Ionian Mode (C Major) but all of the other modes are identical. Please explain !!

Shiro,

Thanks for writing, and thanks for studying with me! I shipped your order on Saturday, by the way. You should have it today or tomorrow.

I just took another look at the tab for Advanced Week 4, Lesson 1 and don’t see any errors. Notice the brackets above the Tab, showing you how each one octave mode is actually a subset of the two octave major scale…

There are seven modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.

All seven of the modes can be found within the basic major scale. Each mode starts on a different note from within the major scale. That’s what those brackets are showing.

If you play a C major scale, and you start and end on C, you’re going to sound like you’re playing C Ionian (usually just called C major).

If you play all the same notes in that scale, except you skip the first C and begin on the second note of the scale, the D, and you continue up the C scale all the way until you hit the next D, you’re going to sound like you’re playing D Dorian. D Dorian includes all the same notes — the same key signature — as C Ionian.

If you then repeat the process, but begin on E and play and octave up to the next E, you’re going to sound like you’re playing in E Phrygian. E Phrygian and C Ionian include all the same notes, except to bring out the “Phrygian” sound, you focus on the E notes — try beginning and ending your melodic phrases on the E notes instead of the C.

You’d continue this thinking to find all the other modes as well.

So you might say:

C Ionian = D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, and B Locrian.

But don’t get hung up on all the theoretical mumbo-jumbo. If you learn your seven C major scale patterns inside and out, and then you use those seven patterns to improvise up and down the fretboard — but you do so focusing on the E notes, for example — then you’re going to sound like you’re playing E Phrygian — because you are.

If you solo up and down the fretboard using those same seven C major scale patterns, but you begin and end all your phrases on F, you’re going to sound like you’re playing in F Lydian — because you are.

Does that clarify a bit?

If you haven’t already done so, just make sure you learn all seven diatonic patterns until you can play them in your sleep. Understanding how to then use them to play in any of the seven modes will come to you over time.

Rock on!

Adam

Ps. Please tell some friends about the 12 Week Guitar Course!

12WeekGuitarCourse.com

Hours and hours of video lessons at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels — plus all the tab and sheet music to go with it!

www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com

Plus, when you begin studying with my new course, you’ll recieve a free download of my book, “25 Riffs You Must Know,” part of my Logical Lead Guitar DVD course — and 50-minutes of video lessons teaching those 25 Riffs!

All at absolutely no charge!!!!

www.12WeekGuitarCourse.com