Want to really get a handle on blues guitar?
Checkout Playing Through The Blues
There’s really no limit to what you can do with the pentatonic scale, and the absolutely coolest thing about it is that as long as you’re playing in the right key, you literally can’t go wrong with the pentatonic scale. Any single note you grab from there will work over top of whatever you’re soloing on top of.
A fun exercise you can do to convince yourself of this fact is to strum a couple of chords, then pick at random a note from the pentatonic scale, then play the next 2 or 3 notes in the scale, then strum another chord.
You literally can’t go wrong. It’s awesome!
Hi Jonathan, Just wanted to let you know I think your lessons are great. You have a very pleasant personality. If you have any teaching video lessons for sale I would be interrested. Keep the lessons coming. Tom
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Jonathan Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Aw shucks – thanks Tom! LOL
Actually, I am working on a little something that should be out shortly. Stay tuned!
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That’s some way good stuff, just what I needed. Keep up the good work, Thank’s a MIL Alex
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really good and interesting lessons thankyou very much
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Johnathan, thanks for all the tips. They have helped my playing alot. Though my brain is a little ahead of my abilities to play some of those bits. But that, along with the I-IV-V and Scale lessons, they have opened up a whole new world to my learning of music and playing guitar. I get a alot from the lessons and you’re not just in it for the money. I hope to see a lesson on how to play certain songs in the future. ( Night Moves” maybe.) Can’t seem to get that intro. C ya.
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good back to basics lesson,but always sounds good.thanks,don
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Thanks Wayne – I’ll add that song to the list of requests! Cheers.
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Very good basic lesson Jonathan, this should help a lot of beginning guitarists.
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The scale to play that goes with the chords is the pentatonic scale for the major key, – or the pentatonic of each chord? Say we’re doing a I, V, IV sequence – pentatonic of I or pentatonic of I following I, pentatonic of V following V, etc.?
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Hi Jim, you can stick in the same scale across all the chords… so you can use the pentatonic minor for the I position even when the rest of the band is playing the IV and V chord.
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Funny how you know stuff but see someone else use it differently. I play blues in that key and use the same scale so it was easy to pick up what you were doing. just from a different angle. Thanks. really like your tips and the fact that you said you were not perfect, so few of are, are including me. Thanks again and keep it up.
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That was a great tip. I already knew about using the notes that way, but I didn’t realize I was playing a scale. Now I know what I’m doing. I also didn’t know about using your index finger on the nut but that sure helped with the E minor blues scale.
What’s the difference between the minor blues scale and the pentatonic scale?
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Hi Jerry – a lot of guys call the pentatonic minor scale the blues scale – but really they’re the same thing… with the exception that some people also add a chromatic passing note in between the 4 and the 5, which they then call the ‘blue’ note.
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hi Jonathan just wondering what key this progresion is in because you started on the B chord but played the Em pentatonic scale the reson i ask this is I do somthig similar but I lpay A C D as root on fith bar chords and then play Am pentatonic scale at the fith fret and it seems to sound ok this is an area that I find confusing I have been playing for 12 years now and I feel like Im none the wiser can you help me with this?
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Hi Darren,
Technically A, C and D (if they’re all major) don’t belong in the same key together. If you’re playing an Am instead of A major, then you’d be in the key of G… in which case you’d use the Em scale (which is the relative minor of G).
The progression I’m playing here is B, A then E. These are the three major chords in the key of E (I cover this in more detail in my Unlocking I IV V lesson). In the lesson I used the E minor pentatonic, which is kind of a cheater move… technically it should be the C#m pentatonic.
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Mike Reply:
February 24th, 2011 at 9:53 am
Thanks for the reply. I was expecting the relative C# pentatonic scale. I was lost until you answered here.
Is there a way to know what scales you can “cheat” substitute with? ie. E minor for C# minor
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Jonathan Reply:
February 24th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Hmm… yeah I should clarify that a bit better I suppose.
With A C D, depending on the emphasis that goes to each chord, you could probably get away with using the A minor pentatonic scale. The reason for this is the C is flatted (should be C# in the key of A), so you’ve now got a minor third from the A (which is the C), and the D which is the IV.
So the progression is I, bIII, IV
In the pentatonic minor scale, you’ve got that flatted third already… and because this chord is likely the one that is defining the progression, you need to make sure that whatever you’re soloing in accomodates that.
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Hi Jonathan, I find your teachings very helpful and understanding are much better now. The only bad thing about your video clips shown are the irritating pausing throughout the video. That’s breaking my spirit and make me loose interes in what you try to bring forward.
Joker
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Hey Joker, I would recommend letting the entire video load before you start watching it. My guess is the pauses are due to the speed of your internet connection, and if you let the whole thing load first, then it shouldn’t have any interruptions when you play. Cheers.
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I really like the riffs and so forth, but I just can’t get anything going like others do. It is just like there is a mental block when it comes to these scales and ect. As far as chords, whether open or barre they are no problem.
Any ideas in overcoming a mental block with this. When I try to do them it is like I am up against a brick wall for some reason and become tense.
I try to do them with the video, but one thing I do know is that I have to see it before doing it. This is not a neg, but sometimes when I see your fingers go in the riffs I can’t see where they are landing in the frets. If I could see them, I think it would come after practice. I am finding that with this no coming through I just want to say the heck with it, but I am too stubborn to give it up. Any Ideas for this?
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Jonathan Boettcher Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Hi Jesse – yeah in this video it isn’t very clear, but in more recent videos you’ll see things zoomed in much closer…
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I always pick up a few things even if it’s the simplest riff
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Great lesson. It is amazing how that little scale can make a person sound really good. Great lesson
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Thanks Jonathan!Have the cords down just alittle slow on the licks! I’ll get it i just need more doodling
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This is the kind of thing that is severly lacking from other sites. We all want to sound “cool”, Johnathan give me more. I think theory is important, practice, form ,etc. I just want to play, I will learn all other aspects in time. Thank you, Thank you!
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Hey Johnathan, just wanted to letcha know that you’re right on target with the lessons as to where I am with the guitar. Thanks alot,man for making these lessons easy to understand. I feel like if I stick with you and your lessons I’ll be soloing in no time. Thanks again for all that you do for those of us who really loves the guitar but maybe need a little extra push to gain the proper understanding. Have a great day.
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Awesome. They say when the student is ready the teacher will appear.Thank you.
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Jonathan,
Seems there’s tons of blues lessons out there, and that’s ok,I like playing blues, but how about some lessons on Rock guitar, like 50 popular rock riffs and how to use them in a solo. Not the shredding stuff, or Metal, just classic rock stuff from the 60s and 70s. There’s a lost art there, those two decades produced a ton of stuff that influenced us guitarists forever.
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Enjoying your lessons.A lot of things are starting to make sense….. Like the way you break things down , eazy to follow and understand. Playing is the hard part. Keep up the good work..
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