Pentatonic Guitar Scales : Essentials For Lead Guitar
Pentatonic guitar scales are usually the starting point for many guitarists when first starting out with lead guitar. They are great for soloing and can be applied to many different types of music, including blues, rock and country.
All pentatonic guitar scales, by definition have five notes.In western music there are two pentatonics commonly used, these are the minor pentatonic and the major pentatonic. A variation of the minor pentatonic scale is the frquently used blues scale.
The minor pentatonic is commonly used in blues and rock music but is not limited to these musical genres. Many guitar solos rely on the minor pentatonic, and it is generally a very popular scale used for lead guitar playing. The minor pentatonic is composed of: root, flat 3, 4, 5 and flat 7 scale degrees.
The minor pentatonic can be changed to the blues scale by simply adding a flat 5. This is also a very popular scale for not just blues but for many other genres of music. When discussing pentatonics for guitar, often the blues scale will be included even though technically it isn’t a pentatonic. It contains : root, flat 3, 4, flat 5, 5 and flat 7. This scale is often regarded as the most popular scale for soloing with the guitar.
A useful and versatile scale commonly used is the major pentatonic. This is comprised of| root, 2, 3, 5, 6 degrees. This scale is also often used in blues guitar and country music but again is not limited to these musical genres. If we take both of these scales we find they are commonly used together when soloing over a twelve bar blues in conjunction with the flat 5, mentioned earlier, from the blues scale
To learn lead guitar it is crucial to learn the minor pentatonic, blues and the major pentatonic guitar scales. These scales can be used for guitar solos in almost any style of music and contain the common notes that the diatonic modes are formed with. These scales are genearally a good starting point when learning lead guitar.
Clause J Dillon has been studying and playing music for over two decades. He has just released an easy to follow guitar scales and soloing E Book which will help any guitar player to learn lead guitar and soloing. For a limited time we have arranged for subscribers to receive a free copy by clicking the coloured link. Pentatonic Guitar Scales, Blues Guitar Scales
