When it comes to soloing, you will notice 90% of the licks and riffs are based on the pentatonic scale and it is easy to learn because of its simple shapes.
The pentatonic scale consists of only five core notes, and the best part is you don’t even have to know what the notes are.
It’s a scale that can easily be moved all over the fretboard, used in any key, in any situation, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Everyone knows the basic “box” shape of the pentatonic, but I want to introduce you to the pentatonic modes.
All that means is that wherever you are on the fretboard, you’ll be able to rip into a solo. As you begin to learn these different shapes of the pentatonic your soloing is going to take off, and the fretboard is going to open up.
Let’s begin.
5 Pentatonic Scale Shapes
If we were in the key of G, the standard box shape of the minor pentatonic would look like this:
E|———————3-6—————————————–|
B|—————–3-6———————————————|
G|————-3-5————————————————-|
D|———3-5—————————————————–|
A|—–3-5———————————————————|
E|-3-6————————————————————-|
Now expand your practice, by learning each of these modes of the G minor pentatonic, remember once you have the fingerings then you can easily transpose these modes to use in any key.
E|———————6-8—————————————–|
B|—————–6-8———————————————|
G|————-5-7————————————————-|
D|———5-8—————————————————–|
A|—–5-8———————————————————|
E|-6-8————————————————————-|
E|—————————–8-10——————————–|
B|————————8-11————————————-|
G|——————7-10——————————————-|
D|————8-10————————————————-|
A|——8-10——————————————————-|
E|-8-10————————————————————|
E|——————————-10-13—————————|
B|————————-11-13———————————|
G|——————-10-12—————————————|
D|————-10-12———————————————|
A|——-10-13—————————————————|
E|-10-13———————————————————|
E|——————————-13-15—————————|
B|————————-13-15———————————|
G|——————-12-15—————————————|
D|————-12-15———————————————|
A|——-13-15—————————————————|
E|-13-15———————————————————|
And then that will lead you right back up to the octave of the first “box” shape starting at the 15 fret.
Conclusion
Practice these shapes every day, and at the end of 7 days I guarantee that you’ll be a better guitarist.
If you don’t know how to read tabs, the easiest way to explain it is to pretend that the guitar is laying on your lap face up. So you’re looking at a birds-eye view of the fretboard, and the numbers on the strings indicate which fret you need to play.
