CAGED: Connecting Pentatonic Patterns
Posted by: Phillip in CAGED, Guitar Lessons, Music, Scales, guitarContinuing from the last post, we’re going to discuss how to connect pentatonic patterns. Let’s look at the first two patterns: C and A.
If you start at the bottom of the C pattern, play all the way to the top. Slide your pinky up two frets, then descend using the A pattern. Look at the tab to see what I mean.
E------------------------7-10/12-10--------------------------------- B-------------------8-10------------12-10--------------------------- G---------------7-9-----------------------12-9---------------------- D-----------7-9--------------------------------12-9----------------- A------7-10-----------------------------------------12-10----------- E-7-10----------------------------------------------------12-10\7---
To really get the relationships of these patterns drilled into your head, try isolation two or three strings at a time like this:
E|| --------7-10/12-10--------- || B|| --8-10--------------12-10-- || G||. --------------------------- .|| D||. --------------------------- .|| A|| --------------------------- || E|| --------------------------- ||
Practice this pattern repeatedly until you have completely absorbed it, then move on to the B and G strings, then G and D, etc. Before long, you will be able to play the pattern on all six strings ascending or descending.
Use this same technique on the other patterns, pictured below.
Notice that these two sets of scale patterns are identical, even though they are separated by an octave. The first one is in open position, and the second one continues the pattern up the neck.
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Good stuff. I need to practice my scales more. I had them all down, then I didn’t need them for a long time and now I’ve forgotten some of the forms
It’s also good to practice connecting on strings other than high e. I used to go up and down each string and play the scale, then play the scales in position but randomly chose a string to use as the connecter.
thanks for this great resource and a reminder on pentatonics. i’ll be lost without them
btw, what do you use to get the nice images you have on the post? thx!
Mike – good point about varying the string that you shift on. You definitely don’t want to habitually shift on the E string every time.
Rhoy – I used Photoshop CS3 to create these images. If you choose the view>show>grid option, it makes it really easy to make even, symmetrical images like this.
“I feel so lost, yet so enlightened…” says the primarily rhythm-playing guy.
Good lesson. re: other comments, I don’t think of them as scales but more like shapes. From the shapes you can come up with melodic lines. It’s also good to understand the note function of each note over the current chord to get a sense of how each note sounds over each chord.
My difficulty is not in shifting between the two adjacent (C-A, A-G, etc) forms, but more of playing a lick at the C form and another one at perhaps the E form. I find it difficult to visualise the fretboard so I can’t ‘see’ the E form right off the bat, even though I know what melodic line I would like to play in my head. It gets even messier when the songs in the setlist are in different keys! Any tips?