>> Let's take a look at a pattern called the pentatonic scale pattern.
Pentatonic scale has five notes in it.
On the guitar, that means there'll be five different patterns,
each starting on a different note of the scale.
We're going to use the pattern that everyone learns first.
Because of that, we call it pattern number 1.
We start on the sixth string,
we move across to the first string playing one note at a time.
The first notes that we'll play,
your first finger on the fifth fret, [NOISE] on the sixth string,
and then your fourth finger on the eighth fret. [NOISE]
Then on the fifth string,
move over and play your first finger on the fifth fret,
and your third finger on the seventh fret. [NOISE]
You move to the fourth string with the same pattern,
first finger and third finger. [NOISE]
Third string, exactly the same,
first finger on the fifth fret, [NOISE]
third finger in the seventh fret. [NOISE]
Then on the second and the first strings,
do exactly what you did on the sixth string.
First finger in the fifth fret, [NOISE]
fourth finger on the eighth fret. [NOISE]
Now, I'm going to take a deep breath and go really slowly from strings six to one,
playing that fingering without stopping.
[MUSIC]
Now, when you go to try,
you might think that's slow.
I had a teacher who used to say,
you take whatever you think is slow and you cut it in half,
and then you cut it in half again. That's fine.
Go really slowly so that your fingers feel comfortable,
then you're going to come backwards.
[MUSIC]
This is a chance for you to work on your picking hand with your pick.
It's a chance for you to work on your fretting hand,
whichever hand that is for you,
going back and forth, memorizing this pattern,
memorizing what fingers you're using,
using the same fingers every time,
Memorize that fingering across,
go back and forth until you memorize it.
Once you feel comfortable playing it in order,
what we're going to do is start to improvise with it.
In order to do that,
at first, it's just a physical thing.
What we're going to do is pick two strings.
I like the ones right in the middle,
the fourth string and the third string.
Each of those, you're only playing frets 5 and 7 with fingers 1 and 3.
Get comfortable there. [MUSIC]
This idea of taking a solo or improvising,
it can get scary when people think about it.
They feel on the spot.
They think, "I don't know what I'm going to do."
Really all you're going to do is mix up the order of the notes,
how loud or soft you play them,
the length of them.
Just start to group them.
I'm just going to take those four notes,
play them out of order.
[MUSIC]
Just playing little groups of notes,
and then I'm going to stop and then I'm going to play another one,
like we're having a little conversation,
I'm having a little conversation with each of these little groups or notes.
You could play one note.
[MUSIC]
You can have fun with it.
You can play one really fast and hard, one really soft.
You have to start to have fun, go back and forth.
Then you might say, "Okay,
I'd like to play some things that sound a little lower,"
so after I play some ideas in the middle,
I'm going to add another string, maybe the fifth string,
which also uses frets 5 and 7 with fingers 1 and 3.
I might go.
[MUSIC]
Then I might think I want to go up higher,
so I'm going to jump up to the second string,
where I'm playing on frets 5 and 8 with fingers 1 and 4.
[MUSIC]
I might go all the way up. [MUSIC]
I might go all the way down. [MUSIC]
What you're doing when you do that is you're improvising, you're taking it solo.
That's all there is to it.
You're just starting to play things that sound cool,
you're mixing things up.
The more you balance surprise with expectation,
the more we're interested to hear what you have to say.
If you play something and then you go back to it,
like, "Oh, that's so cool",
like, "Look, she did this," [MUSIC]
then I do something else. [MUSIC]
Then I might go back to it, [MUSIC]
and then do something different. [MUSIC]
You all practice this.
When you want to start playing with other people,
there's one more thing I want you to think about and practice before we take that step.
That is that this pattern can be called different things and played in different places.
If we want to call it a minor pentatonic scale,
all you have to know about that right now is remember the term minor pentatonic scale.
Remember that your first finger is going to tell us what scale you're playing
based on the bass note that you're playing on the sixth string.
When I play this pattern that we've just been playing,
where I've set it up on the fifth fret,
if I want you to think of it as A minor pentatonic,
I make sure my first finger is on the fifth fret, starting on an A.
[MUSIC]
I'm going to make you feel like we're going home to A.
Every time, home to A,
and then you're going to hear a minor pentatonic scale.
I can move that.
If you say, "Oh, let's not play an A minor pentatonic.
Can you play a B minor pentatonic scale?"
I'll say, "Yeah, absolutely."
I'm going to find B, which is on the seventh fret, remember,
and I'm going to play that exact pattern.
That means that I have to keep the same spacing of my fingers
and play the same fingering.
[MUSIC]
If you say, "Hey, what about a D minor pentatonic scale?"
Same thing, put my first finger on D, play the pattern.
[MUSIC]
Everything I did when I played around in A minor pentatonic
will still work in D minor pentatonic. [MUSIC]
You don't worry about little mistakes and little misses.
It all sounds great when you're playing with other people.
You just want to get used to how the frets feel there.
If you want to play in a major key,
if someone says, "Oh, this keys, it's a C major,"
you don't have to know what that means yet.
We're going to get to that.
We're going to play your same pattern,
but it's your little finger that sets it up.
If your little finger is on C and you reach back to play the pattern,
you'll notice it's the same exact pattern as A minor pentatonic,
but this time, I'm going to start on my fourth finger.
[MUSIC]
I play it exactly the same notes,
but this one, that note,
that's going to be my new home.
That will make it sound like a major scale when you play with other people.
If I wanted D major pentatonic,
I put my little finger on a D and I reach back.
When you do that, you'll say, "Hey,
that's the same pattern as B minor pentatonic," and that's right.
But this time, you're going to start on your fourth finger.
[MUSIC] Getting comfortable with moving this one pattern around
and being able to feel good about calling it different things,
different major scales, different minor scales,
that's going to help you when you get to the next step
and you want to use this to play a song with a friend.