Welcome to video #4 of the Lead Guitar Quick-Start Series. In this lesson we’re going to expand
your scale library by learning a shape for the major pentatonic scale. You’re going
to be able to use this scale over the same jam track that we use in the last lesson when
you are working on your major scale, and this is going to give you a new color to use in
your solos. The major pentatonic scale is a really important
scale just because it’s so versatile and you can use it in so many different kinds
of music. If you remember in the last lesson, I told you that the major scale is a 7-note scale, right?
And then it just repeats. What we’re basically doing for the major pentatonic
scale is just taking two notes out of each octave of the major scale. We’re leaving the first
note in there, 1, leaving 2 in there as well, 3 is there, we’re leaving that 4th note
out though and skipping straight to the 5th note, leaving the 6th in there, leaving the
7th out, don’t play the 7th, and skipping straight to the octave. So penta, meaning 5,
pentatonic scale right... means a 5-note scale, so we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then back to the octave.
The cool thing about the standard pentatonic scale shapes is they only have
2 notes per string so you get a way different feel and that’s a lot more even feeling
too. Let’s jump into the scale shape, remember all the tips I’ve given you – relax with
your picking hand and your fretting hand, come right behind the frets, all those things.
Start off on our G root note right here with your middle finger, then your pinky is going
to grab the fifth fret. No different from our major scale shape that we learned in the
last lesson so far. From there go over to the A string second fret first finger,
and then you’re going to skip up to the fifth fret with your pinky. So those are the two notes
on that string. So get that chunk under your fingers. And then you can throw in the notes on the D string,
which are the exact same pattern as the notes on the A string so you’re going to play
second fret of the D string with your first finger and the fifth fret with your pinky.
And remember looking for repeating patterns like this is a way to help you memorize scale
shapes faster. So get those under your fingers and then try and throw in the rest of the scale.
On to the next string, the G string, you’re
going to have your index finger or your first finger on the second fret and your third finger
is going to grab the fourth fret. So, those are the two notes on that string. Get those down
then throw the rest of the scale in. Again this may take you a while but that’s fine.
You don’t have to have this down right now. Take a couple of weeks or a couple of months to work on this.
Alright the last two strings, the B string and the E string are really cool because
they’re the exact same pattern too, they match, so middle finger third fret, pinky
or fourth finger on the fifth fret. Get those two down, add in the rest of the scale
and then like I said it’s the same exact pattern on the high E string, so second finger third
fret, fourth finger fifth fret then add in the rest of the scale. And you probably notice
when you start going through the scale shape more and more, you’re using your pinky an
awful lot. And your pinky may not be the strongest finger on your hand. You may be having a hard
time with it but you have to work on it at some point, so now is a good time to do it.
The cool thing about major pentatonic scales is they sound great over their corresponding
major chords. I’ll tell you what I mean by that. If I have a G major chord that’s
being played, I’m guaranteed that a G major pentatonic scale is going to sound great over that chord
So work on that scale, get it down. One thing
I want to make sure you’re aware off as you’re going through this, again is to just
memorize where the root notes are. If you’re practicing your scale, be aware that there’s
a root note there on the fifth fret of the D string and there’s a root note there on
the third fret on the high E string as well. One thing that you’re going to want to develop
as you start getting in more and more into lead guitar is muting. Um, one thing that kind
of separates a good sounding lead guitar player from a not so good sounding lead guitar player
is only having the strings and the notes ringing out that you mean to be ringing out. So I’ll
show you an example of this. I’m going to play through this scale and I’m just going
to kind of let all the strings ring out as I go. You’ll see what I mean, listen.
Now if you were listening to that scale as I was going through it, you could probably hear
all the open strings ringing out as I was playing all the notes there. And there are basically
two ways to keep that happening. One is muting the strings you’re not playing with your
fretting hand and the other one is muting the strings you’re not playing with your
picking hand. So in this lesson I’m going to give you some
tips for muting the strings you’re not playing with your fretting hand. Check this out.
I mean so far I’ve told you that good finger posture is coming right down on the tips of your fingers,
right? Now that’s not always the case with lead guitar. Check it out, if I have my finger
really straight down on the string, what I want to do is kind of just slightly let it
brush over against the A string. That way if I accidentally hit that A string while
I’m playing the notes on the low E string, it’s not going to ring out. Same thing if
I play the second note on that low E string, my pinky is just barely laying over and brushing
up against that A string just to make sure it stays quite and do that throughout the
entire scale. My index finger when I play this note on the A string is brushing up against
the D string right here and keeping it quite and my pinky again is brushing up against
the D string right here, just to make sure it doesn’t right out if I accidentally brush up against it.
So that’s how you can stop unwanted strings
ringing out with your fretting hand. In the next lesson when we learn the next scale,
I’ll show you how to do muting with your picking hand too. So pull the same jam track
that we used in the last lesson and work on your major pentatonic scale. Work on just
getting the shape down. Once you have that down, work on emphasizing the root notes.
Land on them, kind of pause on them, and then just start trying to make up for your own
little phrases, licks and solos with the major pentatonic. So you can even kind of mix in and
go back and forth between the major scale shape that you learned and this major pentatonic
skill shape. There’s no right or wrong, just have fun with it and this is what it might sound like.
In the next lesson, we’re going to learn a new scale, the minor pentatonic guitar scale and that’s arguably the most popular scale
of all time for the guitar, so get ready for that. If you have any questions about this
major pentatonic scale, just leave them here below in the comments and I’ll get back
to you there or you can just email me again nate@guitarsystem.com. See you.