Confession #43 - Pentatonic Scales (Part 2)

In Confession #40 - Pentatonic Scales (Part 1) we looked at Pentatonic Pattern #1.  In this week's confession, we'll look at Pentatonic Pattern #2.


Major Pentatonic Pattern #2

Here is major pentatonic pattern #2 in the key of C.  I've coloured the root notes red for easy reference.  I've also shown pattern #1 in the diagram so you can see how the two patterns are connected.  The dashed notes on the left belong only to pattern #1.  The notes in the middle are common to both patterns. The notes on the right belong only to pattern #2.

Minor Pentatonic Pattern #2

Here is minor pentatonic pattern #2 in the key of A minor.  Again, I've coloured the root notes red for easy reference and I've also shown pattern #1 in the diagram so you can see how the two patterns are connected.

In Confession #35 - Repeat & Vary! (Improvisation 1) and Confession #40 - Pentatonic Scales (Part 1)  I talked about the pentatonic extended box.  Now you can see how those notes come from minor pentatonic pattern #2.  They are often used in conjunction with minor pentatonic pattern #1 as demonstrated in the TAB and video below.

I've also coloured two notes in blue.  I find that these two notes from the extended box are very powerful when played together.  You'll see/hear this in the TAB/video below.

I was trying to figure out why they are so powerful and here's what I came up with.  The E is the 5th in the key of A or Am.  We already know how powerful the 5th is from playing root-5 power chords.

The G is the flat 7th in the key of A or Am.  As discussed in last week's confession, the G is what turns an Am chord into an Am7 chord. It's also what turns a an A chord into an A7 chord.

Combined, the 5th and the flat 7th imply a minor 7th chord or a dominant 7th chord.  I suspect that is why they sound so good together.

See Confession #42 - 7th Chords Cheat Sheet! for more information on 7th chords.


VIDEO AND TAB

Here is a little riff that moves between the extended box from pattern #2 and pattern #1.  In the last measure, execute a grace note slide into the E at the 9th fret of the third string and hold it while you play the G at the 8th fret of the second string.

Next Week's Confession - Pentatonic Scales (Part 3)

Confession #26 - One Minute Jam!

Last week's confession, Confession #25 - Fret Hand Muting!, provided the rhythm guitar tab for a track I wrote called One Minute Jam.  The rhythm guitar part illustrated the use of staccato phrasing and string clicks.


One Minute Jam!

Here's an audio-only YouTube video of the recorded track featuring rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass and drums.  The tempo is approximately 102 beats per minute.

Here's the tab for the lead guitar part:

One Minute Jam - Lead Guitar
(Click to Enlarge)

Almost all the notes for the lead lines are coming from the A minor pentatonic scale (there's one B in there, which belongs to the full A minor scale).  Last week we learned that this song could be in the key of G or the key of D, so why am I using the A minor pentatonic scale?

I didn't put much thought into it at the time I wrote it.  My thinking was that the rhythm guitar is hitting an A major chord on beat 1 of each measure, and that playing a minor pentatonic scale over a major chord is a common rock technique.  From there, I let my ear decide.  If it sounded good, then it that's all that mattered.

Looking at it from a theory perspective, here are the notes of each of the three keys:

• G - A - B  - C - D - E - F#
• D - E - F# - G - A - B - C#
• A - B - C  - D - E - F - G 

Thus, the notes that can cause a conflict are F / F#, and C / C#.

If we avoid the F in the A minor scale (there are no F's in the lead lines), then all we are left to worry about is the C and C# conflict.  And this isn't actually a worry because the C / C# conflict is one of the desirable tensions created by playing A minor pentatonic over an A major chord.

Don't be afraid to try something "outside the box", which in this case happened to be "inside" the A minor pentatonic box.  :-)

Next Week's Confession - Use a Capo!