I am in my 60’s. Been playing since I was thirteen. I consider my self an intermediate guitarist. However my friends, neighbors, strangers, and family tell me that they enjoy hearing my playing and tell me that I am a really good guitar player. I am very humbled when strangers tell me this. Now with that being written, it took me around 20 years to start getting serious about the guitar. At that time I learned the pentatonic scale. Furthermore…I applied it to backing tracks. I ensured I was in the right key. That was the beginning of my ear-training. I could hear the tone of the notes was pleasant to my ears. Bottom line is this! Learn the pentatonic scale and apply it to backing tracks on TH-cam. It will transform one’s playing and guitar skills. Btw I am still learning the guitar! To truly master the instrument, one must dedicate lifelong learning.
You know I've watched about 70 of these pentatonic videos, I know because I've built the playlists, and for whatever reason, this is the one that got me to the light bulb. I've only been playing for 8 months but practicing every day and spinning gears for the last 2 months trying to memorize some of these patterns. Putting on the backing track I just sort of automatically started playing between positions 1 and 2. I really appreciate this video, sincerely. I actually feel like I'm figuring stuff off now and playing within a context rather than just randomly. Thank you very much.
Years of trying to understand this and just like that this 7 minute video just unlocked it for me. I finally get it. I think I need to find an English music teacher.
bro through your channel i got into music theory. You explain it so well, i could watch ur video series abt the pentatonic scale and learned to improvise. now all in one package. my man deliveres!
I gave the shapes names. 1 =G shape, 2 = E shape, 3=D shape, 4=C shape and 5=A shape. It spells CAGED if you start on 4 so I never get lost. If that make sense.
That's a great way to visualize any 5 position system. However where CAGED is concerned, pattern 1 is always tied to the E shape... the correct order of CAGED is actually EDCAG. watch my CAGED series, which goes into this in more depth. This way every scale chord arpeggio etc all lines up.
Thanks, I will watch it. Yeah G Shape is position 5 but I memorise it as position 1 and it all fell into place that way. I don’t look at them as positions but as G shape etc. I never get lost anymore and improvise all over the neck with ease. I’m too old to relearn lol … Position 1 is the start of the minor and Position 2 is the start of the major, if that makes sense. Seems to work for me. Thanks for your reply. Your videos are outstanding and very much appreciated!
3:29 For more clarity on this section/clip i think would be good to include explanation what makes up the minor/major pentatonic. Minor Pentatonic = 1, b3, 4, 5, b7(i.e 2 and b6 left out) Major Pentatonic = 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 (i.e 4 and 7 left out)
I can't believe I made it all the way through my music career without knowing the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale. This video is a cure for fretboard cancer
Better late than never! Check out my lead guitar series! Covers 1 position each video - Lead Guitar Tool Box: th-cam.com/play/PLcIs25jv9P96vFf7mfO0z2HBdYRoqYfWq.html
It's the same as modes. If you shift the root of a C Major scale to D, the second note if the scale, and play all the same notes as C Major, you get D Dorian. Shift to A, the 6th note of the C Major scale, you get A aeolian, otherwise known as A minor. Learn all the modes, and you can play in every key everywhere on the fretboard, because every modal position links to every other one, and each position has it's own set of corresponding chord and arpeggio shapes. You can learn the 7 modal shapes, and that is all you need to play a scake over the entire fretboard. There are 7 modes because there are 7 notes in the scale. There are 5 pentatonic shapes because there are 5 pentatonic notes in the scale. These shapes are the pentatonic modes. You can learn the chords and arpeggios that correspond with that mode. Then you can start "playing the changes" by shifting the scale position to correspond with the chord it goes with, allowing you to more effectively pick out the notes in the chord. You can add a flatted 5 to the mix to turn it into a blues scale, mess around with using a major and minor third in the same lick, another typical blues thing. You can also start using the pentatonic scale as a framework to add other notes from the diatonic scale, since the pentatonic is simply all the most "good sounding" notes it's the scale that you can't play a wrong note with. You can use it as a safe foundation that you can venture out of as much as you dare. This is how players like Eddie Van Halen were able to play a chaotic barrage of very fast mostly "wrong" notes and always somehow land on a note that sounded good. Eddie described this as "falling down the stairs and landing on your feet"
The minor pentatonic is simply the minor (aeolian) scale with the 2nd and the 6th left out of it. So you can add those notes in whenever you want for more more emotional effect. Personally I love playing half steps. Pentatonic is a diatonic scale with no half steps in it. You can look at these things from multiple different angles, but really it's very simple in theory. The hard part is teaching your fingers to play it everywhere without you needing to think about it.
Short term perhaps. In the long term, learning the 5 positions is far more beneficial and ties together perfectly with CAGED and any other positions of modes/arpeggios/scales etc across the fretboard! Plus I have never encountered a student that struggled with simply starting with position 1 of the minor pentatonic scale, it's such an easy pattern to learn and use immediately!
You get a like and a sub sir. I don't know if it's just starting to click but I've basically been playing position one of the minor pentatonic worth the addition of the blues notes for like 5 years. This will help.
Jerry garcia was a pro at scaleing. Even in his fk ups he always got right back on track. When i listen to the grateful dead....i just hear jerry practicing scales.
This is a really good, informative, and "to the point" video. My only suggestion would be to not show the fretboard upside down. Unfortunately, this seems to be common practice but it's not intuitive to guitar players who are used to the low E string being on the top. This could be confusing to new guitar players.
make sure you learn basic chords/strumming patterns/reading tab/learn songs first! look for my beginner guitar playlist for all of this! if you have already learnt all of this then perhaps watch this series of videos which will break down each position of the minor pentatonic scale individually and show you how to apply them! th-cam.com/play/PLcIs25jv9P96vFf7mfO0z2HBdYRoqYfWq.html&si=gXXe_khq20m1PceY
I have a 5 part series on the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale that breaks down each position in much more detail! It's in my lead guitar playlist if you you want to get in to the subject abit more👌
Learn the relative Major/Minor Scale for ex: For A minor, learn C Major scale(relative minor is One and Half step behind the root scale note )they have same notes CDEFGABC. Map these on entire fretboard. You can improvise on these notes you’ll have more possibilities.
6:45 Actually the root locations have not moved because minor/major is dependant on the 3rd. When you showed them moving it was just cos in the diagram the key changed. If you had kept key of G, the roots would be the same, but the positions would have shifted left one position.
Learn to find Dominant 7 chords all over the neck. Start with the TRITONES created between 3/b7. Play frets 4567-9-10 on low E to high E. That’s G#/D the 3/b7 of E7. Now because that’s the important part of an E7 chord, it will be part of every important scale and chord related to E7. - Now all of A7’s tritones will be one fret lower, and B7’s tritones will be one fret higher; that’s E7/A7/B7, the I-IV-V of a Blues song. That’s how to move around the neck and land on the most important notes of the 3 chords. - See those diagonal lines formed across the fretboard! -
Start with a minor key backing track. Any minor key. Most if the backing tracks are either major or natural minor, not modal. From there just shift the first position shape so the root note is the same as the backing track. If the backing track is Am, then play the first position on starting on the 5th fret. If your backing track is in a major key, then use the second position as your starting point. So if you're a playing C Major backing track, you'll start with the second position on 8th fret, which is actually all the same notes since C Major and A minor are literally the same scale with different starting points.
You have to think of it as a circle of positions...or better yet a conveyor belt. Position 5 joins back up with position 1. So, in the key of Dminor, you could travel backwards through each position until you reach the nut or upwards until you run out of fretboard.
@Shred_Master no problem! It's best at this stage to go through the process of learning each position and using them as described in the video! Also check out my LEAD guitar playlist, this will walk you through each position in isolation before moving on to the next! In these videos I also discuss how they fit together/changing keys and also directly address the issue you had... highly recommend going through each one by one👌
Im super confused with these. i've practised a pentatonic scale, that starts from 5th fret of E string, and then 8th etc. , but here it doesn't even exist!
Just take the diagram he has with all the notes for the five positions out on a backing tracking in the right key and have fun for a while an it will start to makes sense
can you clear up one thing, I want to know that all these 5 position of the G key(for e.g) are same but different pattern for that very key. right? so we just need to find the key we want to play and play it with any of the 5 patterns and we get the results. or am I missing something.?as a self-taught , i get stuck in theory sometimes and it not hard to learn but hard to understand initially
No problem👌 all the patterns look the same and fit together in the same way when playing in different keys. For example if you changed to the key of A then you would start from the A note on the E string 5th fret and play position 1, after this positions 2-5 would slot together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
![[#2024MAMA] BIGBANG (빅뱅) - 뱅뱅뱅 (BANG BANG BANG) + FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EQsYfiPR9uM/mqdefault.jpg)
Grab a GUITAR MUSIC THEORY POSTER at the SAMJAMGUITAR MERCH STORE my-store-cb48d5-2.creator-spring.com/listing/guitar-theory-poster
I am in my 60’s. Been playing since I was thirteen. I consider my self an intermediate guitarist. However my friends, neighbors, strangers, and family tell me that they enjoy hearing my playing and tell me that I am a really good guitar player. I am very humbled when strangers tell me this. Now with that being written, it took me around 20 years to start getting serious about the guitar. At that time I learned the pentatonic scale. Furthermore…I applied it to backing tracks. I ensured I was in the right key. That was the beginning of my ear-training. I could hear the tone of the notes was pleasant to my ears. Bottom line is this! Learn the pentatonic scale and apply it to backing tracks on TH-cam. It will transform one’s playing and guitar skills. Btw I am still learning the guitar! To truly master the instrument, one must dedicate lifelong learning.
Kids these days are learning the distinct feel of all 7 modal scales at the age of 12 🥴
@@Globbaglobglob when your entire family pays someone to teach you that, I'm not surprised that happens
@@GlobbaglobglobThat’s a great thing honestly.
@@Globbaglobglob They start out with TH-cam and apps, that gives them an edge, different eras
@@saarza9991most of them learn on TH-cam😭
You know I've watched about 70 of these pentatonic videos, I know because I've built the playlists, and for whatever reason, this is the one that got me to the light bulb. I've only been playing for 8 months but practicing every day and spinning gears for the last 2 months trying to memorize some of these patterns. Putting on the backing track I just sort of automatically started playing between positions 1 and 2. I really appreciate this video, sincerely. I actually feel like I'm figuring stuff off now and playing within a context rather than just randomly. Thank you very much.
Thanks! I'm glad this lesson helped you out! Feel free to share it around👌
Me too, this video is such a lifesaver. Discovered it during practice today! I am so grateful.
Your content is amazing. No faff, no unnecessary blah blah blah - just short, clear and useful lessons.
I appreciate that! Many thanks 👋
I must’ve watched hundreds of videos tryna lean guitar but the way you explain that seems to be the key to penetrating my old brain
This guy is the actual goat.
Cheers👌
Years of trying to understand this and just like that this 7 minute video just unlocked it for me. I finally get it. I think I need to find an English music teacher.
Fantastic! glad to help
Your channel is the reason I got a lightbulb moment thank you so much its all clear
That's great to hear!! Pleased to know that my videos are helping people out! Thanks for watching👌👌👌
This is 100% what I was looking for and you lay it out so succinctly. 10/10 fricheks
This video is incredible, I hope more people find it
Thanks👌
This is by far the most useful video on this I’ve ever found.
Thanks!
bro through your channel i got into music theory. You explain it so well, i could watch ur video series abt the pentatonic scale and learned to improvise. now all in one package. my man deliveres!
Glad you like them!
I gave the shapes names. 1 =G shape, 2 = E shape, 3=D shape, 4=C shape and 5=A shape. It spells CAGED if you start on 4 so I never get lost. If that make sense.
That's a great way to visualize any 5 position system. However where CAGED is concerned, pattern 1 is always tied to the E shape... the correct order of CAGED is actually EDCAG.
watch my CAGED series, which goes into this in more depth. This way every scale chord arpeggio etc all lines up.
Thanks, I will watch it. Yeah G Shape is position 5 but I memorise it as position 1 and it all fell into place that way. I don’t look at them as positions but as G shape etc. I never get lost anymore and improvise all over the neck with ease. I’m too old to relearn lol … Position 1 is the start of the minor and Position 2 is the start of the major, if that makes sense. Seems to work for me. Thanks for your reply. Your videos are outstanding and very much appreciated!
3:29 For more clarity on this section/clip i think would be good to include explanation what makes up the minor/major pentatonic.
Minor Pentatonic = 1, b3, 4, 5, b7(i.e 2 and b6 left out)
Major Pentatonic = 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 (i.e 4 and 7 left out)
I can't believe I made it all the way through my music career without knowing the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale. This video is a cure for fretboard cancer
Better late than never! Check out my lead guitar series! Covers 1 position each video - Lead Guitar Tool Box: th-cam.com/play/PLcIs25jv9P96vFf7mfO0z2HBdYRoqYfWq.html
This is one of the best and most useful guitar videos I’ve come across!! Tysm
I've been watching guitar lessons in yt and felt more confused after watching it and this video of yours has been a light bulb for me. thank you!
you have provided the easiest lesson to understand that i have come across well done.
Glad you think so! Feel free to share it around!
Great content no unnecessary blah blahand and we understand we liked it. Every creator must be like you. Love from Bodo tribe
Many thanks Bodo tribe!!
This usefull tutorial. The best explanation. Compared to other tutorials about major & minor pentatonic scale.
Thank-you! It's much appreciated 👌
I’ve never understood the logic of relabeling the scales from 1 to 2 etc. but this video is awesome.
Fantastic!
It's the same as modes.
If you shift the root of a C Major scale to D, the second note if the scale, and play all the same notes as C Major, you get D Dorian. Shift to A, the 6th note of the C Major scale, you get A aeolian, otherwise known as A minor. Learn all the modes, and you can play in every key everywhere on the fretboard, because every modal position links to every other one, and each position has it's own set of corresponding chord and arpeggio shapes.
You can learn the 7 modal shapes, and that is all you need to play a scake over the entire fretboard. There are 7 modes because there are 7 notes in the scale.
There are 5 pentatonic shapes because there are 5 pentatonic notes in the scale. These shapes are the pentatonic modes. You can learn the chords and arpeggios that correspond with that mode. Then you can start "playing the changes" by shifting the scale position to correspond with the chord it goes with, allowing you to more effectively pick out the notes in the chord.
You can add a flatted 5 to the mix to turn it into a blues scale, mess around with using a major and minor third in the same lick, another typical blues thing. You can also start using the pentatonic scale as a framework to add other notes from the diatonic scale, since the pentatonic is simply all the most "good sounding" notes it's the scale that you can't play a wrong note with. You can use it as a safe foundation that you can venture out of as much as you dare. This is how players like Eddie Van Halen were able to play a chaotic barrage of very fast mostly "wrong" notes and always somehow land on a note that sounded good. Eddie described this as "falling down the stairs and landing on your feet"
The minor pentatonic is simply the minor (aeolian) scale with the 2nd and the 6th left out of it. So you can add those notes in whenever you want for more more emotional effect. Personally I love playing half steps. Pentatonic is a diatonic scale with no half steps in it.
You can look at these things from multiple different angles, but really it's very simple in theory. The hard part is teaching your fingers to play it everywhere without you needing to think about it.
You are a one of a kind teacher!
Thanks!
Mindblowing explanation
Thank you so much 😀
Definite light bulb for me, thank you
Brilliant! Glad to help👍
Love your simplicity , thanks
No problem, Thanks for watching!
The best explainer on YT
Cheers, it's much appreciated!
So well explained. Thanks a lot for this. Hope for more
I find that the diagonal pentatonic is more useful for lead beginners since it’s super easy to remember.
Short term perhaps. In the long term, learning the 5 positions is far more beneficial and ties together perfectly with CAGED and any other positions of modes/arpeggios/scales etc across the fretboard! Plus I have never encountered a student that struggled with simply starting with position 1 of the minor pentatonic scale, it's such an easy pattern to learn and use immediately!
Thank you for this. Everyone else talks about the scales but never shows them. this is excellent. Thanks! I subscribed.
Brilliant! Many thanks!!
You get a like and a sub sir. I don't know if it's just starting to click but I've basically been playing position one of the minor pentatonic worth the addition of the blues notes for like 5 years. This will help.
Jerry garcia was a pro at scaleing. Even in his fk ups he always got right back on track. When i listen to the grateful dead....i just hear jerry practicing scales.
This is the best description I've seen on how it works.
oh my god this video is so underrated, it is so well explained and i understood so fast lol
Im speachless, premium content thank you very much got my like and subscribe
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the video!!
'..your level of technique and Imagination...'
I Knew there was Catch ! !😉
always great vids.
👏👏👏
🤣 thanks!
The advice to practice one shape on a backing track helped me so much
No probs!
Thank you 🙏
I don't usually subscribe to Pages, but you're different
Great Teaching 👏
Thank-you! It's very much appreciated 👌
Great video
Thanks!
Perfect. Excellent lesson (and terrific channel too!).
Many thanks!
This is a really good, informative, and "to the point" video. My only suggestion would be to not show the fretboard upside down. Unfortunately, this seems to be common practice but it's not intuitive to guitar players who are used to the low E string being on the top. This could be confusing to new guitar players.
Love your videos it helps me a lot!
Glad to help! Thanks for continuing to come back and watch!
Im new in guitar my friends said learn this pentatonic forst but i dont understand a thing please help me
make sure you learn basic chords/strumming patterns/reading tab/learn songs first! look for my beginner guitar playlist for all of this! if you have already learnt all of this then perhaps watch this series of videos which will break down each position of the minor pentatonic scale individually and show you how to apply them! th-cam.com/play/PLcIs25jv9P96vFf7mfO0z2HBdYRoqYfWq.html&si=gXXe_khq20m1PceY
easily the best video for learning the pentatonic scale. ive seen tons of other ones and never understood it until i watched this one
Ive been playing for 9 years and I had no idea about the 5 positions.. I feel like I have to re-learn guitar. Lol.
I have a 5 part series on the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale that breaks down each position in much more detail! It's in my lead guitar playlist if you you want to get in to the subject abit more👌
Learn the relative Major/Minor Scale for ex: For A minor, learn C Major scale(relative minor is One and Half step behind the root scale note )they have same notes CDEFGABC. Map these on entire fretboard. You can improvise on these notes you’ll have more possibilities.
6:45 Actually the root locations have not moved because minor/major is dependant on the 3rd. When you showed them moving it was just cos in the diagram the key changed. If you had kept key of G, the roots would be the same, but the positions would have shifted left one position.
I know you probably don't like the idea of books. But you should write a couple. It'd be like The Guitar Grimoire - only shorter and useful.
It's actually something I'm considering! Watch this space...
Holy shit man, this is BRILLIANT.. Liked & subscribed long ago but hot damn, this visual & explanation is a total game changer. Thank You!
Brilliant!! Really great to hear comments like this!
HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED HOW IT WORKS THANK YOUUUUUUUYUUUU
Minor pentatonic scale goes hard
It certainly does.
love the beck pfp
Liked 👍 & subscribed! 😁🎸 🎶
Awesome thank you!
@@Samjamguitar you're welcome 🤗
@@Samjamguitar and thank YOU!
Learn to find Dominant 7 chords all over the neck. Start with the TRITONES created between 3/b7. Play frets 4567-9-10 on low E to high E. That’s G#/D the 3/b7 of E7. Now because that’s the important part of an E7 chord, it will be part of every important scale and chord related to E7. - Now all of A7’s tritones will be one fret lower, and B7’s tritones will be one fret higher; that’s E7/A7/B7, the I-IV-V of a Blues song.
That’s how to move around the neck and land on the most important notes of the 3 chords.
- See those diagonal lines formed across the fretboard! -
1:03 3:11 4:20 5:06 5:31
This concise video just totally made it clear to me! So many other explanations just over complicate it with silly memory techniques! Thank you man!
Glad it helped!
if i want to jamming all over the fretboard, what key do i use in backing track? Since each position is in different note.
Start with a minor key backing track. Any minor key. Most if the backing tracks are either major or natural minor, not modal.
From there just shift the first position shape so the root note is the same as the backing track. If the backing track is Am, then play the first position on starting on the 5th fret.
If your backing track is in a major key, then use the second position as your starting point. So if you're a playing C Major backing track, you'll start with the second position on 8th fret, which is actually all the same notes since C Major and A minor are literally the same scale with different starting points.
How do I use these shakes in different keys? Say D minor all the way in the 10th fret. All that empty space behind it confuses me
You have to think of it as a circle of positions...or better yet a conveyor belt. Position 5 joins back up with position 1. So, in the key of Dminor, you could travel backwards through each position until you reach the nut or upwards until you run out of fretboard.
@@Samjamguitar do do you mean do position 1 on D the go down 5,4,3,2? I’m still kinda confused here
That's it yes!
@@Samjamguitar I see! Thanks man I appreciate it
@Shred_Master no problem! It's best at this stage to go through the process of learning each position and using them as described in the video! Also check out my LEAD guitar playlist, this will walk you through each position in isolation before moving on to the next! In these videos I also discuss how they fit together/changing keys and also directly address the issue you had... highly recommend going through each one by one👌
🎉I finally know how to solo😅😂🎉😊
Awesome!
One of the best vids on youtube !!! Loving the explanation of how to flip between minor & major.
Awesome, thank you!
Just had a light bulb moment... thank you
this is the video
Im super confused with these. i've practised a pentatonic scale, that starts from 5th fret of E string, and then 8th etc. , but here it doesn't even exist!
Just take the diagram he has with all the notes for the five positions out on a backing tracking in the right key and have fun for a while an it will start to makes sense
This is not guitar lesson. This is story 😂
This is both.
i understood but i didnt understand anything😭
BRO???😭😭😭😭😭
@@THEREALPAPAO 😭
That makes zero sense.
@@MrTears03 yes
Kirk Hammett
I’m intermediate
Scottish? I’m from Stirling
can you clear up one thing, I want to know that all these 5 position of the G key(for e.g) are same but different pattern for that very key. right? so we just need to find the key we want to play and play it with any of the 5 patterns and we get the results. or am I missing something.?as a self-taught , i get stuck in theory sometimes and it not hard to learn but hard to understand initially
No problem👌 all the patterns look the same and fit together in the same way when playing in different keys. For example if you changed to the key of A then you would start from the A note on the E string 5th fret and play position 1, after this positions 2-5 would slot together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
@@Samjamguitar thankyou so much...
Hey I want to say in one night you healed me
Glad to help!!