Welcome to video #5 of the Lead Guitar Quick-Start Series. In this lesson we’re going to switch
gears a little bit. So far the two scales that we’ve learned have been major scale,
the major scale and the major pentatonic scale. In this lesson we’re going to learn the
minor pentatonic scale. Now this is going to have quite a different sound. It’s going to sound
probably sadder to you and it’s going to give you a new color to work with for your
solos. The minor pentatonic scale is probably the most popular guitar scale in the history
of the world, arguably. That makes it a really important guitar scale for you to get down
regardless of what kind of music you play. Like the previous two lessons, what we’ll
do is learn the scale shape and then I have a new jam track for you that you can pull
up to work on your minor pentatonic scale shape.
Like the major pentatonic scale that we learned, this minor pentatonic scale shape only has
2 notes per string, so it’s going to have a similar feel. As we go through this scale
shape and learn it, don’t forget all the technique tips that I’ve given you for
your picking and fretting hands. Let me just play the shape for you real quick and I want
you to listen to it and just get an ear for what it sounds like.
So we’re going to start here on the same G root note that we’ve been working with but we’re going to start
with our first finger this time. Our designated finger concept changes a little bit. It shifts.
Any note on the third fret we’re going to grab with our first finger. There are no notes
on the fourth fret so our middle finger isn’t going to be used at all. Any notes on the
fifth fret we’re going to grab with our third finger and any notes on the sixth fret
we’re going to grab with our pinky. So that first note that low G root note with your
first finger and your pinky is going to grab the sixth fret. So those are the two notes
on that string. Get those under your fingers. The next string, over the A string you’re
going to play with your first finger third fret, fifth fret with your third finger. Those
are the two notes on that string, so get those down, try to memorize them and then to add
the low E string into it. Here’s the cool part about the scale shape,
the next two strings, the D string and the G string are the exact same pattern that we
just played on the A string, so you’re going to play on the A string you have 3 for your
first finger, 5 with your third finger, right? Play the exact same pattern on the D string,
so 3 with your first finger, 5 with your third; exact same thing on the next string over,
3 and 5. That cuts down a lot of memorization if you know the A, D and G strings all have
the same pattern. So take a while, get that under your fingers
and then you can add in the B and E strings as well. The pattern for the B and E strings
is the exact same pattern as we played down here on the low E string. You’re going to
play with your first finger on the third fret, then your sixth fret with your pinky.
Those are the two notes on that string and the exact same thing on the high E string, so 3 and
6 with your first and fourth fingers. Then add the rest of the scale on it.
So at first just work on getting the scale shape memorized. Also work on memorizing where the
root notes are, here on the third fret of the low E string, fifth fret of the D string,
and the third fret of the high E string and don’t forget to apply the muting techniques
that we learned for your fretting hand on the last lesson, so the neighboring strings
don’t ring out if you actually accidentally hit them with your pick.
Now I’m going to teach you another technique for muting the strings. This time we’re
going to use our picking hand to keep the strings down here quiet. Now when I play this
scale on the lower strings, what I do with my picking hand is I take these 3 fingers
on my picking hand, just kind of rest them really lightly on the top three strings just to
kind of keep them quiet and make sure they don’t ring out, right? And I as go up the scale,
the farther I get up the less I do that of my fingers because I have to play these higher
strings, right? Now once I play that low E string, those notes on there, as soon as I go up to
that next A string, I’m going to have to keep that low E string quiet, so what I do
is I come mute that low E string down here with the palm of my hand. That way if I accidentally
brush into it or pick it or something, it won’t ring out. The farther I go up the
scale, when I get to the D string, my palm is muting the E and the A strings and so on
once I get up to the G string, my palm is keeping the E, A and D strings quiet and the
farther up I go, the more of this part of my palm I use to mute those lower strings.
This muting technique with your picking hand coupled with the muting we talked about with
your fretting hand will ensure that only the notes that you’re playing that you mean
to be ringing out will be ringing out and all the other strings are going to be quiet.
The last thing you want when you’re soloing is a bunch of noise and strings ringing
out over the notes that you’re playing. Let’s apply this new scale to a jam track.
This new jam track I have for you is in the key of G minor, so it’s perfect for this
G minor pentatonic scale. All the root notes in this scale shape are in the exact same
positions that they were for the G major pentatonic scale and the G major scale, but the chord
we’re going to be playing over is a G minor. Again, use this jam track to get the scale
shape down, memorize what the root notes are and then just start experimenting with it
for yourself. It will sound something like this.
So now you know three scale shapes – the one for the major scale that we learned, the major
pentatonic scale and now the minor pentatonic scale. There are tons of other guitar scales
and guitar scale shapes out there but these are your meat and potatoes. These are the
foundational ones that you’re going to need to know to play lead guitar. In the following
lessons for this Lead Guitar Quick-Start Series, we’re going to shift our focus from learning
scales to learning some techniques that can kind of make these scales come to life, stuff
like bending, vibrato and legato, which is hammer-ons and pull-offs. Thanks for watching
this video and don’t forget to leave your questions if you have any in the comments
below. I’ll answer them there or you can just email me nate@guitarsystem.com. See you.