Hi there I'm Tomas I'm going to show you how to play a G major pentatonic scale on the guitar.
The form I'm going to show you is a movable form. This means
that you can learn one scale and by just moving it around the neck
you can play all the major pentatonic scales in any key. Cool, right?
Let me show you what I mean. Here's the G major pentatonic and it starts on the G note.
Now if I move it up two frets G, G sharp, A this becomes A major pentatonic.
Now I can move it up even more. If I go up a few more frets,
this is C major pentatonic. Starting on the C note.
Penta is a medieval latin term meaning five. The scale, the pentatonic has five notes
1 2 3 4 5 and then the next note is a repeat of the first note an
octave. Whereas the normal G major scale has 7 notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and again there's the octave.
Now we're going to break it down and I'll show you the exact fingering for the scale
but first I want to show you the difference in sound between the minor pentatonic
and the major pentatonic. I use both in improvisation and you probably should too.
Here's the minor pentatonic scale ----
and now for the major pentatonic scale.
Okay, that was fun.
Now Let's go over the fingering. Afterwards I'll show you a neat little trick that helps a lot of
people memorize it faster. So we'll start with the second finger on the third fret of the sixth
string. I'm going to use the pinky to go to the fifth fret of the sixth string.
Now over to the fifth string I'm using my first finger second fret
then I'm going to use my pinky to do the fifth fret on that fifth string. Oh, a lot of fifths.
So that much again - third fret, fifth fret, second fret,
fifth fret. Now I'm going over to the fourth string that's the second fret and then I'm
going to end the first octave on the fifth fret that's one octave of the G major pentatonic scale.
We're going to keep going. We've got another octave to go. Over to the third string.
Now my third finger on the fourth fret,
next second string third fret I’m using my second finger. Don't get too attached to this fingering
not only can you use different fingering but I actually do interchange occasionally.
Now the pinky on the fifth fret and over to the second finger on the first string third fret and
that's the second octave. Now I'll go through the whole thing slowly so you can see it all together.
Starting on the third fret, five, over to the second, five, second and five.
On to the third string that's the second, fourth fret, third fret on the second string,
fifth fret and then over to the third fret first string. A lot of times when I'm playing
the scale I'll go on to the fifth fret one more note past the octave but it's optional.
Now a good way to remember this is to use this lick from My Girl, it's a bass line to My Girl.
The rhythm's kind of catchy and that helps you remember it. First practice the first octave.
Try that with me that's the third fret, fifth fret, second fret, fifth ,second, fifth.
Here we go ready, hit it - that's one two and three
and four and. Now once you get comfortable with that try the second octave starting here.
Try that with me once. Pinky on the fifth fret of the fourth string. Ready, slow -
first finger, third, second finger, pinky and over on the third fret second string.
Then when you're comfortable with both of those put them together
and then start here ---
Once you get comfortable with this fingering for the scale, I encourage you to practice it
along with a backing track. It's a lot of fun and it'll help you to get fluid with it as well as
in rhythm. I've created a backing track that I think you'll enjoy and I'll put a link to
it at the end of this video. As usual if you enjoyed this I appreciate a thumbs up
and if you'd like more help with this and other aspects of playing guitar
check out my Real Guitar Success academy. I'll put a link down below in the description. Bye for now.