A major pentatonic scale on the fretboard. Pentatonic A on guitar

Purpose of this lesson- understand what pentatonic scale is and how it can be used in playing solo guitar.
During the exercises of the lesson, we will remember with our fingers the location of the notes and the main tonics in the 5 major pentatonic scales. We will learn 5 minor pentatonic scales in the next lesson.

Deliberately getting ahead of myself, I will say: Remember the pentatonic fingerings and your fingers will play an improvised solo on any song themselves, without hitting notes that are off topic.

1. What is pentatonic scale?

   Pentatonic scale- these are 5 sounds, a five-tone scale. There are many scales of 5 notes.

   Let's look at minor and major pentatonic scales.

   In minor pentatonic scales, sounds go through 3, 2, 2, 3, 2 frets. In major ones, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3 frets relative to the previous one. Let me remind you: each fret is a semitone.

   To play, for example, an improvised solo in the key of C major (chords C F G7), you need to select one of the C notes on the fretboard and play the notes according to their location in the major pentatonic scale. “Before” in our case is tonic(root tone) pentatonic scale.
   Let's assume that it will be “C” on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, which means that you need to play a sequence of notes on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 15th frets.
   It turns out that there are not 5, but 6 notes. This is not an error; scales end on the same note they begin with, but an octave higher. Thus, in the pentatonic scale, 5 notes of one octave and 1 note of an octave higher are played.

   Playing all the notes on one string is not very convenient; it is better to play on several strings on four or five frets. Each finger of the hand presses the string on its own fret.
   In our case it will be: 5th string 3rd and 5th fret, 4th string 2nd and 5th fret, 3rd string 2nd and 5th fret.

   This way you can play the pentatonic scale from any note corresponding to the tonic on the guitar neck.

2. Improvising solo is even easier if you remember.
   What is fingering?
3. It is better to remember fingerings by playing the pentatonic scale.

   Let's start with the major pentatonic scales.

   Let's play music in the key of A major, chords A, D, E7. The tonic, accordingly, is “A”.
   Let's find the note "A" on some string. Let it be the 5th fret on the 6th string.
   Let's choose a suitable major pentatonic scale with tonic on the 6th string:

   Green circles in the diagram indicate tonic.
   Play and record music A, D, E7 on your phone recorder, camera or computer and then turn on the recording and play the sounds of the pentatonic scale relative to the tonic “A” on the 5th fret of the 6th string, listening to the A major rhythm part.

   Another option is to include a recording of the rhythm in mp3,

   Have you tried playing? Is there rhythm and solo harmony?

   This way you can improvise by playing notes on the 6th string on the 5th and 2nd frets, on the 5th string on the 4th and 2nd frets, on the 4th string on the 4th and 2nd frets, on the 3rd string on the 4th and 2nd frets, on the 2nd string on the 5th and 2nd frets, on the 1st string on the 5th and 2nd frets.

   Play and try to get both your head and fingers to remember the pentatonic fingering.

   A super effective way to memorize the pentatonic scale: improvise, come up with a solo;
   play and record it without errors, for example, just on a phone video or voice recorder, playing over music.
   There will be takes during the recording process. By repeating and practicing playing solo for a 1.5 minute rhythm part, you will not only perfectly remember the pentatonic fingering, but also teach your fingers to make precise, error-free movements. Try to learn to play without looking at the frets.
   

   Also, for the selected “A” on the 5th fret on the 6th string, this pentatonic scale is also suitable.
   Play it over music in the key of A major and try to remember it.

   From "A" on the 7th fret on the 4th string.
   Play it and try to remember it.

   Pentatonic scales that can be played from A at the 12th fret on the 5th string.
   Play first one, then the second scale, trying to remember them.

   Please note that in each fingering the tonic occurs in several places. Knowing the 5 major pentatonic scales and the arrangement of notes on the fretboard, we can play a solo for music in a major key from any A note on it.
   As for other notes, the situation is the same with them.

4. Record music in the key of E major, chords E, A, H7. The tonic, respectively, is “E”.

   Play each pentatonic scale in turn from the tonic over the rhythm, trying to remember the location of the sounds in them.
   

   Pentatonic scale that can be played
   
   
   from “E” on the 3rd string at the 9th fret:
   

   Pentatonic scale that can be played
   from “E” on the 6th string at the 12th fret,
   from “E” on the 1st string at the 12th fret, and also
   from “E” on the 4th string at the 14th fret.

   Pentatonic scale that can be played
   from “E” on the 4th string at the 2nd fret, and also
   from “E” on the 2nd string at the 5th fret.

   Pentatonic scale that can be played
   from “E” on the 5th string at the 7th fret, and also
   from “E” on the 2nd string on the 5th fret (you can also play the previous pentatonic scale from this note).
   Try playing these two pentatonic scales from E on the 2nd string at the 5th fret. You will get a large fingering from the sounds of 2 pentatonic scales.
   

   Pentatonic scale that can be played
   from “E” on the 5th string at the 7th fret (you can also play the previous pentatonic scale from this note), as well as
   from “E” on the 3rd string on the 9th fret (you can also play the pentatonic scale from this note, discussed in this paragraph of the lesson first).

   Play these two pentatonic scales together.

5. Record music in other major keys:

   Find and play the 5 major pentatonic scales separately and together from the root over each of the recordings on the fretboard.

6. I think you noticed that pentatonic scales have similar note arrangements. In this way, you can create one fingering - a pattern of sounds that can be used to improvise a solo to music in a major key:
   
7. Remember this scale by turning on an mp3 rhythm part and playing it from the basic notes of different major keys “C major”, “D major”, etc.
8. A little theory:

   Scale "C major": C D E F G A B C.
   The major pentatonic scale is a major scale without the fourth and seventh notes:
   C D E G A C

   Scale "C minor": C D Eb F G Ab Bb C.
   The minor pentatonic scale is a minor scale without the second and sixth notes:
   C Eb F G Bb C

9. In the next lesson we will study 5 minor pentatonic scales, playing them over music of minor keys.

Pentatonic scale - a sound system containing five steps within one octave, located at major seconds and minor thirds. The pentatonic scale can also be understood as an incomplete diatonic series.

The major pentatonic scale is a natural major scale without the 4th and 7th degrees.

The minor pentatonic scale is a natural minor scale without the 2nd and 6th degrees.

For clarity, let’s depict the production of major and minor pentatonic scales in the diagram:

In addition, if we exclude the 4th and 7th degrees from any major diatonic scale, and the 2nd and 6th from a minor scale, then we also get the major and minor pentatonic scales, respectively:

Ionian major:	Lydian major:	Mixolydian major:
4,7	#4, 7	4, 7
Major pentatonic scale

Aeolian minor:	Dorian minor:	Phrygian minor:
2, 6	2, 6	2, 6
Minor pentatonic scale

Thus, we have the following formulas for the major and minor pentatonic scales:

Below are the 2nd fingerings of the major and minor pentatonic scales on the guitar neck (these fingering forms do not take into account the 1/2 tone shift on the upper strings, i.e. on the 1st and 2nd strings) for playing in one position:

For clarity, let’s depict these fingerings indicating the degrees of the pentatonic scale:

If we combine the right and left fingerings, we get fingerings for playing in one position on all six strings:

Pay attention to the position of the tonic of a parallel major pentatonic scale in a minor one - here it is convenient, using the octave system, to project the combined fingering of parallel pentatonic scales onto the fingerboard. Despite the fact that the pentatonic scale is a fairly simple scale, in which there are only five notes within an octave, this combined scheme helps to better navigate the fretboard:

Well, now let’s go beyond one position and “apply” the pentatonic scale to the entire fretboard. To begin with, it is worth noting that, for certain reasons, the minor pentatonic scale is most widespread among guitarists, so we, depicting the pentatonic scale on the entire fretboard, will choose the minor one and show it from the first fret of the sixth string, i.e. our pentatonic scale will be in the key of Fm. We will also depict the parallel major - A:

But in practice it is better to start studying the pentatonic scale in the key of C major and its parallel Am minor. To do this, the above diagrams simply need to be moved to the desired position:

And finally, let’s see which notes “fell” into the C/Am pentatonic scale:

To play the pentatonic scale along the entire fretboard, it is convenient to consider it in the form of boxes.

Just as diatonic modes exist in pairs (minor and major), so the major pentatonic scale corresponds to a parallel minor scale, which is built from the fifth degree of the major scale, and the minor scale corresponds to a parallel major scale, which is built from the second degree of the minor scale. That is, the structural diagram of the major and minor pentatonic scales is the same, but the reference (tonic) sound changes. More clearly in the diagram:

Because within the natural major scale there are 3 pairs of modes - major and minor parallel to them (diatonic modes), then on the steps of the natural major scale you can build 3 pairs of pentatonic scales - major and minor parallel to them. Moreover, all pentatonic scales built on the steps of the natural major scale have the same fingering structure. Those. Each major mode corresponds to a major pentatonic scale with the structure IIIIIIVVI, and each minor mode corresponds to a minor pentatonic scale IIIIIVVVII. Let's look at this using the example of fingerings for playing on three strings:

The pentatonic scale is the most commonly used scale in blues. Here it is often found with "blue" or "blue" notes. Blues notes - these are chromatic III, V, VII degrees in the major scale. Here's what the major and minor pentatonic scale would look like with the added third degree in major (aka V degree in minor):

The diagram clearly shows that in major III and in minor V it is the same note. Now let's note the blues note in the major and minor pentatonic fingerings, for playing in one position:

Let’s also add stepwise fingering:

The blue note is the leading tone to the second or third degree in a major pentatonic scale (or the fourth or fifth degree in a minor scale).

In fingerings for playing in one position on all six strings, including boxes, the most interesting parts of the fingering are those in which the blues note is on the same string as the adjacent steps. Then these three notes are played by fingering 1-2-3:

This is due to the ability to use various playing techniques - vibrato, slides, bend, hammer-ons and breakdowns, etc. - in a comfortable position. This is especially reflected in the off-box fingerings of the pentatonic scale (see below). Also note the characteristic placement of these three notes on the fretboard relative to the tonic major and minor:

Let's supplement the standard pentatonic fingerings with blues notes:

Let's write our example with a pentatonic scale on the entire fretboard for the key of Fm and parallel A, but with a blues note:

Also note the blues note in the example with the pentatonic scale in the key of C/Am:

All notes of the C/Am pentatonic scale with a blue note:

In blues, major harmony is often played with a minor pentatonic scale, which is where these “blue” notes appear in the major scale. The blues-note pentatonic scale can also be represented as boxes.

Below are quite commonly used off-box fingerings of the pentatonic scale in its pure form and with the blues III note (aka V in minor):

Let's combine these fingerings into one:

When playing exercises based on the pentatonic scale, do not forget to add “blues” notes. In principle, by studying the fingering patterns of the pentatonic scale, you can immediately learn them with a blues note.

The following schemes are a game of pentatonic scale in a system of octave positions, which are formed by filling one of the five octave positions with pentatonic scale steps. This is the same technique that was discussed for triads and seventh chords.

The pentatonic scale is a five-note scale derived from the major scale. It uses the first, second, third, fifth and sixth degrees of the major scale

Scale C major (C major)

Pentatonic scale BEFORE

Parallel Major and Minor

There is a special connection between the first and sixth degrees of the major scale, which is called parallel. The first degree of the major scale is called Parallel Major. The sixth degree is Parallel minor. To find a parallel minor when a parallel major is given, you would go up a sixth degree in the major mode or a second degree down. Parallel major and minor have the SAME signs at the key.

Five forms of the pentatonic scale

Since there are five notes in the pentatonic scale, there are five different shapes you can use to play the scale starting on a different note each time.

The illustrations show five forms of the pentatonic scale in C major, also known as A minor. The white diamond shows the major tonic, the white circle shows the minor tonic.

On the guitar neck, all five forms of the pentatonic scale are interconnected like puzzles:

Basic rhythmic patterns

The following examples of rhythmic patterns for playing pentatonic scales are given for the 1st form. Practice playing each rhythmic pattern. Start at a slow pace, then gradually speed up the pace of the game.

• Practice playing all forms of the pentatonic scale. Remember them.
• Practice playing the pentatonic scale in all keys.
• Practice connecting the shapes together by playing in all keys along the entire length of the guitar's neck.
• Practice soloing using pentatonic scales in Minor Pentatonic Blues, G Major Pentatonic, and Around the Pentatonic World. Compose your own solo using the scales provided.

In addition to the common seven-step frets that we discussed in this article, quite often you can also find a fret consisting of five notes. It's called the pentatonic scale. And today we will talk about the types of pentatonic scale, the principles of its structure, how it is played on the guitar, and also give examples where this scale can be heard.

Types of pentatonic scale

1. Halftone pentatonic scale. It is not for nothing that it received such a name, since the distance between the two notes will be exactly a semitone. You can give the following example of construction: “si-do-mi-fa-sol”. Surely you noticed that the distance between “si-do” is equal to a semitone, as well as the distance between “e-fa”. This type of pentatonic scale can often be heard in Japanese music. For example, the folk piece "Sakura" is a prime example.

Sakura (Japanese folk song)

2. Halftone pentatonic scale. One of the most common types. The sounds of this pentatonic scale can go in perfect fifths. By the way, if you have forgotten information about the basic musical intervals, you can read about them. It is immediately worth noting that the distance between adjacent notes can only be in the form of a major second or minor third. This is the main rule! Surely you noticed that in this type of pentatonic scale there are no minor seconds. That is why there is no modal gravity here, and there is no tonal center. This type is used in rock music, pop music and blues in European countries. Let's give an example: “sol-la-si-re-mi”.
3. Mixed pentatonic scale. It is formed by combining the half-tone pentatonic scale and the half-tone pentatonic scale. Let's give an example: “la-si-re-mi-fa.”
4. Tempered pentatonic scale. It is represented by the Indonesian Slendro scale. There will be no tones or halftones. Example: “do-re sharp-fa sharp-la-do.”

Major and minor pentatonic scale

Now we will focus on the subtypes of the halftone pentatonic scale. Their sound is similar to the major and minor that are familiar to us, which is why they received this name.

• Major pentatonic scale. The difference from the natural major is the absence of the fourth and seventh degrees. Let's give an example: “do-re-mi-sol-la”. The construction formula is very simple: major second/major second/minor third/major second. Remember this method and you can build a pentatonic scale from any note on the guitar. The pentatonic scale has a major triad: “do-mi-sol”. Therefore, the sound is very close to the major scale that is familiar to us.
• Minor pentatonic scale. It sounds like a natural minor, only without the second and sixth degrees. It also contains a minor triad. Let's give an example: “la-do-re-mi-sol”. We build according to the following formula: minor third/major second/major second/minor third.

Pentatonic scale in Chinese music

Scientists believe that the pentatonic scale first appeared in China. Even earlier than 221 BC there is evidence of the existence of this fret. Later, two sounds were added to the Chinese pentatonic scale and the well-known seven-step modes were built. However, the degrees of the pentatonic scale have been preserved, have survived to this day and allow you to obtain interesting sounds during improvisation.

Jasmine Flower (Chinese Traditional Music)

For the Chinese, the pentatonic scale is not just a scale, but a whole philosophy. It is believed that when we press any note, we hear not just one sound, but five. These are the overtones around a given sound. In fact, there are many of them, however, our ear can only detect five overtones. Therefore, the Chinese considered this number sacred and the pentatonic scale, which also consists of five notes, is the most important scale for them.

Pentatonic scale on guitar

Now we will look at how to play the pentatonic scale on the guitar. In order to improvise in a major or minor pentatonic scale, you need to practice a lot. Let's first determine what fingering we will play with. Each finger will be responsible for a note in its own fret. Very simple: four fingers - four frets. Thus, you will play by position, which in this situation is a very useful and correct decision.

Play the pentatonic scale first from the lowest note, moving up to the highest and in reverse order. If you master this exercise perfectly, you can move on to more complex variations. Play with eighth notes at first, and as you gain more experience, change the duration.

Minor pentatonic scale on guitar

The pentatonic scale allows you to diversify any guitarist's solo with interesting sounds. The blues pentatonic scale will also serve as an interesting example and teach every guitarist how to improvise brightly. The use of pentatonic scale can be seen in rock music and jazz.

It is believed that the pentatonic scale on guitar is one of the most common and simplest scales. However, to really improvise skillfully and interestingly using the pentatonic scale will require a long time of training and practice.

Let's talk about pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scale is a scale consisting of five sounds. A characteristic feature of the pentatonic scale is the absence of semitones and sounds that form tritones (that is, without IV and VII degrees in natural major and without II and VI degrees in natural minor).

Now let's illustrate what the pentatonic scale looks like on the fretboard. Many of you will probably be able to construct pentatonic scales on the guitar on your own, but I still offer five fingering patterns for each of the pentatonic scales so that you can test yourself (fingering is a possible variation of fingers for playing, or, if you prefer, “fingering”).

The tables are the neck of the guitar standing in front of you, with the strings facing you. Thick strings on the left, thin ones on the right. The red square indicates the main tone of the pentatonic scale, it is called the tonic.

You probably noticed the fact that the tables of the minor pentatonic scale completely repeat the tables of the major one, with the only difference being that the tonic is now different. Why is this happening? The parallelism of tonalities explains everything. Those who are familiar with this topic have already understood everything, for the rest I will explain.

We got the pentatonic scale by removing degrees IV and VII from the major scale, and II and VI from the minor scale, so the rule of parallelism of major and minor keys is also suitable for pentatonic scales. And the rule is this: a parallel minor is built on the VI degree of a major, preserving all its signs in the key, if any. There is one more relationship. You can move down a minor third from the major tonic and get the minor tonic. In simple guitar words, step back two frets down the string (meaning moving down the sound).

Thus, the same pentatonic scale can have two names, depending on which of the degrees you consider to be the tonic. One name will characterize the major mood, the other will characterize the minor mood.

Now to the point. Let's say you want to play an improvisation in the key of A minor (what else are pentatonic scales for?), to do this, you need to find the note A on any string, then look at the tables of minor pentatonic scales and find the square on the corresponding string. Then arrange the remaining notes of the pentatonic scale according to the tonic and start playing everything that hurts.

If you pay attention, all pentatonic scales fit into four frets in width, except for the middle one. Four frets - four fingers in the game of the left hand. I think you guessed what we're talking about. This method, in which each finger plays a note on its own fret, is called positional playing. In the case of the middle table, I suggest playing the note on the third string, which goes beyond the position, with the first finger (that is, the index finger).

For the uninitiated, I want to offer some kind of starting system. Play these pentatonic scales in a scale motion from the lowest note to the highest note and vice versa to learn the material. As you play, it would be a good idea to know the name of the pentatonic scale you are currently playing. This will help you quickly find the right pentatonic fingering patterns.

Once you have mastered these figures in their pure form, you can move on to variations. The simplest and therefore traditional way of playing scales is with eighth notes (meaning durations), when for each beat of the metronome there are equally two notes. One - on the blow, the other - strictly between the blows. Let's look at all this using the A minor pentatonic scale as an example.

Take, for example, the tonic (A note) on the third string. This will be the second fret. Look at the minor pentatonic fingering charts at the beginning of the article. We are interested in the last picture. This is where the tonic is on the third string. Take it with your index finger, we get the second (II) position. We start playing from the third fret of the sixth string - this is the lowest sound of this fingering model.

The bottom line - tablature - is the neck of the guitar. The sixth string is below, the first string is above. The tuners are on the left, the body of the guitar is on the right. The rulers (strings) indicate the number of the fret corresponding to the note located above it.

The next option could be a triplet, when the quarter beat (the distance from one metronome beat to the other) is divided into three equal parts and your three notes should sound evenly in one beat. The waltz works well here. Remember dance lessons - one, two, three; one two Three. So, each of your “times” should coincide with the beat of the metronome:

So, the pentatonic scale in triplet rhythm:

Now one of the melodic variations of triplet pulsation, after studying which you can come up with your own similar exercises.

To be able to play pentatonic scales on a guitar and not be able to bend a string is blasphemy. So let's learn.

Let's start with the fact that the pull-up can be done on any string and with any of the four fingers of the left hand (or the right, if you use a non-standard method and play on the right hand). In general, you press the string on any fret, produce a sound (in other words, you pluck the string), and move the finger with which you pressed the string across the fingerboard in any direction convenient for you. In this case, the string should continue to sound, but the pitch of the sound will change. Usually the finger is moved up, but, for example, there is nowhere to pull the sixth string - the neck ends, so we pull down. It should be noted that the band is done for a reason. The most common method is to use tone pulls, which means you pull the string until a note sounds one tone higher than the original note. You can also use the opposite option, when a sound is extracted from an already tightened string, after which the finger lowers the sounding string to its normal state. This way the sound smoothly transitions from high to low. Naturally, you can combine these two methods. We pressed the string, extracted a sound, made a tightening, released the tightening, the string should sound.

It is better to learn to play a bend in the middle part of the neck; there the string is less elastic and therefore stretches more easily. Let's take for example the A minor pentatonic scale that we already know, only with the tonic on the sixth string. This will be the first table in the section of minor pentatonic scales and we will play it in V position, i.e. starting from the fifth fret of the sixth string. From the first to the second note of this figure there is one and a half tone, so we will refrain from tightening it up. From the second to the third - tone; you can pull it up (the sixth string is down). Press the second sound with the 4th finger (little finger) and tighten the string until the next note of this pentatonic scale sounds. You can check this by playing the real third sound on the 5th string after tightening. In turn, the third sound can also be pulled up to the sound of the fourth, since there is one tone between them. And so on. If there is an interval of 1 tone from the note you play to the next note in order, you can do a bend.

You can do the same with the rest of the fingering patterns. Of course, this is only material that can be used, and the rest (musical phrases, melodic and rhythmic combinations, etc.) will depend on your imagination, taste, sense of proportion and experience (I mean musical, of course).

The simplest training that is always at hand is a hit on the radio or on a recording. Turn it on - and go! The difficulty is to determine the key in which it sounds. I think that if it doesn’t work out right away, then after several attempts, through experience, trial and error, you will be able to merge in a single musical impulse with the sounding information. Good luck!