The Guitar Source

Part 2 - Melody

There is a wide range of other scales around, all of which have different sounds and different applications. Here are a few of the more popular ones:

As the name suggests, this scale contains only five notes, and is used extensively in blues and rock music. It is a strong, powerful sounding scale and is great for blues, rock and pop leads. It can be major (with a major third) or minor (with a minor third).

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PENTATONIC MAJOR Step Pattern:

So, in the key of A, we get:

Fingering for Root Note on 5^th String:

This pattern can be used when the root note of the pentatonic major scale falls anywhere on the 5^th string.

Fingering for Root Note on 6^th String:

This pattern can be used when the root note of the pentatonic major scale falls anywhere on the 6^th string.

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PENTATONIC MINOR Step Pattern:

So, in the key of A, we get:

Fingering for Root Note on 5^th String:

This pattern can be used when the root note of the pentatonic minor scale falls anywhere on the 5^th string.

Fingering for Root Note on 6^th String:

This pattern can be used when the root note of the pentatonic minor scale falls anywhere on the 6^th string.

The pentatonic scale is used extensively in blues and rock music, to the point where it has become somewhat of a cliché. All the great blues guitar players use the pentatonic scale as a basis for lead work, simply playng the pentatonic scale appropriate to the key of the song. It is very effective over 12 bar blues-based music (see 'Chord Progressions'). Some players even combine the pentatonic major scale with it's parallel pentatonic minor scale to create a blues 'super scale' (which contains eight notes, since both scales have the fouth note in common).

Remember to practice these scales in every position up and down the fingerboard.