In this lesson, I’ll be taking the most common pentatonic positions and showing you how to string them together to create ripping-fast riffs and runs. It’s a great way to break out of typical pentatonic licks and is easy to visualize all over the neck.
In this lesson, I’ll be taking the most common pentatonic positions and showing you how to string them together to create ripping-fast riffs and runs.
It’s a great way to break out of typical pentatonic licks and is easy to visualize all over the neck.
First, let’s take a look at EXAMPLE 1. This is a basic D minor pentatonic scale on the 10th fret. This whole lesson is based on expanding this scale—so make sure you have it down before you move on to the following examples.
EXAMPLE 2 also uses the Dm pentatonic scale, this time starting on the next degree of the scale (F). This position is crucial for expanding on your basic pentatonic scale (EXAMPLE 1). It also works great for transitioning up and down the neck when you’re shredding fast leads.
Moving on to EXAMPLE 3, we’re going to move our Dm pentatonic scale up one more position, this time starting on the note G. This position works great for many musical contexts and works particularly well for playing slow and melodically.
EXAMPLE 4 is where things are going to get a little more interesting. This example combines EXAMPLE 1 and EXAMPLE 2 into one position. Notice that there are now three notes per string. For this, you can use any left hand fingering you’d like; however, I use my pinky on the highest note of every string. For me, it makes it easier