pent a tonic guitar success

PENTATONIC GUITAR SUCCESS www.GuitarScaleMastery.com

© Copyright 2006-2007 by Craig Bassett. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in any form without the express written consent of Craig Bassett is prohibited. 1

Pentatonic Guitar Success By Craig Bassett (A Guitar Mastery Publication)

IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT & LEGAL NOTICE: You Do NOT Have The Right To Reprint, Resell, Auction or Re-distribute This E-book. You May NOT give away, sell, share, or circulate This E-Book or any of its content in any form. The copy of this e-book you have purchased is for your own personal use. The e-book is fully printable and one printed copy may be made for your own personal use. You are also welcome to copy the e-book to a CD-Rom, Zip disc or other storage media for backup for your own personal use. Electronic books, also known as e-books, are protected worldwide under international copyright and intellectual property law, the same as printed books, recorded material and other literary works. Under Copyright law, "Literary Work" includes "computer","computer program", "software", and all related materials sold online, including electronic books (e-books), and adobe acrobat PDF files. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this e-book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system, without expressed, written and signed permission from the author (with the exception of brief quotations as used in reviews or discussion groups, with attribution to the author and source).

http://www.GuitarScaleMastery.com



And now—the scary looking one. This is to protect me from complete idiots who: 1. Can’t follow instructions. 2. Have faulty technique and don’t go to a professional tutor to fix it. 3. Generally don’t exercise their common sense.

Legal Disclaimer: This e-book is sold as information only. It is not meant to be a substitute for lessons from a qualified and professional guitar tutor. The material from this e-book should be used with the guidance of a qualified and professional guitar tutor. Please use your best judgment and make sure you consult with a qualified and professional guitar tutor before trying anything from this e-book. They will be able to analyse your technique to see if it is right. Any new practice routine should be applied with caution and common sense. You and you alone assume all risks and responsibilities for any exercises or practice methods that you learn from this e-book. You and you alone assume all risks and responsibilities for any injuries as a result of practicing with incorrect technique. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this guide, neither the author nor guitarscalemastery.com (nor its dealers, distributors, successors, directors, agents, employees, or independent contractors) nor the publisher assume any responsibility for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions. This e-book is an information product and is not meant to be a replacement for advice from a qualified and professional guitar tutor. Neither the author nor guitarscalemastery.com (nor its dealers, distributors, successors, directors, agents, employees, or independent contractors) nor the publisher shall be liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity with respect to liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to have been caused either directly or indirectly by this e-book. The author, his company (and its dealers, distributors, successors, directors, agents, employees, or independent contractors) and the publisher disclaim any liability whatsoever arising from use of any exercises, practice methods or other materials mentioned or recommended in this e-book.




“You can either become a great

guitarist, or you can make excuses,

but you can’t do both”

The Gratitude Page: There are a few people that I would like to thank. In no particular order of importance they are… To my good friend Dave Klein ( HowToStopHairLoss.com). Thanks for inspiring me with your drive, enthusiasm and energy. Your work ethic in both wealth creation and music is fantastic. Thanks also for the help with the legals! To my family—thanks for all the love and support over the years. To my good friends both in New Zealand and overseas—it’s awesome knowing you! To Noel Clayton and Leigh Jackson—thanks for inspiring me with your guidance and your incredible guitar playing. Your mentoring and help over the time I studied with you truly helped me get closer to the vision that I have for my playing. To Steve Vai—your music has helped inspire me to develop both as a guitarist and as a musician. Thanks to all my roommates, both past and present for putting up with many hours of me practicing to my metronome. Your patience has been outstanding! Thanks to all my students. You keep me wanting to grow as a guitarist, teacher and musician. I wish you all the best with your own music!




Hi there, and thanks for making the decision to purchase Pentatonic Guitar Success.

I take your very decision to buy this very seriously—that’s why I’ve spent an insane

amount of time making this the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide

available on developing technique using major and minor pentatonics. I’ve given you

enough information and ideas to keep you busy for a very long time!

Before we get started, it would be valuable for you to find out a little bit of

background information about myself. That way you can be totally confident that the

information in this guide is accurate, powerful and trustworthy…

Rather than take up a lot of your time going into more detail here, please go to

www.GuitarMasteryCoach.com/guitar/ . If you click on “About Me” on the

navigation bar, you’ll be able to get all the info you need!

All done? Great! Let’s get started…


http://www.GuitarMasteryCoach.com/guitar/



What we will cover…

Here’s a quick outline of what this guide covers…

⇒ SECTION ONE: Introduction. This will give you some background

information on the purpose of this guide. I’ll also give you some ideas on how

to get the most from this guide.

⇒ SECTION TWO: Essential Theory. We’ll cover some background theory

and information that is needed to totally understand both major and minor

pentatonics.

⇒ SECTION THREE: Common Fingerings. We’ll look at the five most

common fingerings for the minor and major pentatonic scales.

⇒ SECTION FOUR: Techniques Used. I’ll break down all the techniques that

you will need to use to play all the ideas in this guide.

⇒ SECTION FIVE: The 5-minute practice technique. We’ll look at

something that I call the 5-minute practice technique. This technique alone is

probably worth the cost of this guide!

⇒ SECTION SIX: Melodic Ideas. We’ll look at 420 different ideas using the

fingerings that you learnt in Section Three. I’ll make sure that you feel totally

comfortable using all five fingerings.

⇒ SECTION SEVEN: Linear Exercises. We’ll look at 264 powerful exercises

to help you learn to connect the five fingerings in a seamless way.

⇒ SECTION EIGHT: Conclusion. I’ll give you a few parting comments and

hints.

On the next page is a diagram showing you the content of this guide in a much more

pretty way!




Section One: Introduction.

Benefits of this guide… Your time is valuable. You shouldn’t practice things that don’t benefit you greatly…

So why practice the stuff in this guide? Well…here are some of the benefits you will

receive from working on the material diligently…

⇒ Your overall technique will improve drastically. You will notice

improvements to the following techniques

§ Alternate Picking.

§ Position Shifts.

§ String Skipping.

§ Finger-rolls.

§ Hammer-ons.

§ Pull-offs.

⇒ Your speed will increase.

⇒ Your timing will improve.

⇒ You will learn a system to master any scale. You can apply what you

learn from this guide to ANY scale.

⇒ You’ll gain an understanding of some essential theory.

⇒ You’ll be internalizing a huge number of melodic ideas. This will lead to

an improved ability to hear melodies more clearly.

⇒ Your ability to visualize will improve. What do I mean by this? It means

that you will learn how to develop the ability to see scales clearly over the

entire fretboard.




⇒ You will learn a powerful practice technique that you can apply to almost

anything.

The benefits I’ve mentioned above will lead to a couple of ultimate benefits…

How to use this Guide…

There are two types of exercises in this guide:

1. Melodic Ideas. These focus on helping you master the scale in a position.

2. Linear Exercises. These focus on helping you master the scale along the

length of the fretboard.

So to get the most from this guide, please do this:

1. Choose one melodic idea that you will work on.

2. Choose one linear exercise that you will work on.

3. Practice both exercises daily until they have been mastered.

4. Repeat steps 1-3.

Why would this approach be such a good one? Please write your answer below…

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1. Your ability to improvise will improve.

2. Your ability to learn licks and solos will improve.




How the exercises are presented…

Have a quick look at the music below…

Here are few important observations…

⇒ I’ve written all exercises out in both proper music and tablature (TAB).

⇒ I’ve added picking directions. Here’s what they mean…

⇒ I’ve added left hand fingerings underneath the TAB. Just in case you don’t

know, here’s what they mean…

1=index finger

2=middle finger

3=ring finger

4=pinky

⇒ I’ve written the exercises out as quarter notes (one-note-per-beat). This

keeps the rhythm easy for everyone to read.

Basically, I’ve gone to a huge amount of effort to make this book easy to understand!




A quick note to advanced players…

Some of my more advanced students say things like this when they see the exercises

in this book…

“Craig, this is too easy…I can already shred it up! Why should I waste my time

with these wimpy exercises?”.

Usually what I say is this…

Check out the following exercise…

I know you can play this at 200 bpm.

But what about this one? (A whopping 10 notes-per-beat at 200bpm!).

Get the idea? Your challenge will be to get each exercise up to ridiculous speeds.

Sounds like fun? You bet!

“Anything is hard if you play it fast enough”.




Frequently Asked Questions…

Here are a few questions that seem to crop up a lot…

“ Why have you written all the exercises in one key only?”

I’ve found through years of teaching that it is best to totally master a scale in one key

before moving onto another key. You’ll find that if you really internalise one key, the

next key you learn will take you a lot less time.

“Why do you want me to practice all the exercises as quarter notes?”.

Doing this will allow you to learn the exercises in a relaxed and effortless manner.

This is essential. It will allow you to program your muscle memory with no excess

muscle tension. If you practice too quickly you will “lock” tension into your muscle

memory. This excess muscle tension will stop you from becoming the best you can

be.

It is beyond the scope of this guide to go into detail about this, so you may want to

check out the work of Jamie Andreas. Jamie’s website can be found at:

www.guitarprinciples.com.

Once an exercise is mastered using quarter notes, feel free to practice it using different

timings.

“Do I have to learn ALL the exercises”.

The short answer is no. The best approach is to learn the exercises that you think look

interesting and would help your playing the most. Even just learning a few will help

your playing a lot.

At the same time— if you did work through them all over a period of time, your

pentatonic technique would be awesome!


http://www.guitarprinciples.com



Getting the most from this guide… Ok. Let’s now quickly talk about a few points so that you can get the most from this guide… 1. Your Commitment. I know that the exercises in this guide work. My students have proven that to me. But there’s one catch… So what’s your level of commitment? How much time will you invest on a daily basis working on your pentatonic technique? How will you keep yourself motivated? Are you willing to do what it takes to become a great guitarist? 2. Practice Journal. To keep track of your progress, I recommend keeping a practice journal. This is a book where you document what you practice every day. This allows you to monitor your practice habits. I also find it motivating to look through the book and see all the hard work that I’ve done over the months and years. Why does it work? If you don’t keep track of metronome speeds and how much time you practice, how do you know for sure that you are improving? You may say “but I feel like I’m getting better”. That’s cool—but if you can’t measure it, you don’t know for sure! 3. Speed Goals. Have a quick look at a few exercises. Notice that they all have a box next to them which looks like this…

This guide works if you do!

What you measure tends to improve.

My Speed Goal=___________bpmDate completed:




Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to use speed goals:

1. Decide on a speed that you would eventually like to play the exercise at.

2. Practice the exercise daily to a metronome. Always practice at a speed where

you can play the exercise perfectly with no excess muscle tension.

3. Over a period of days (or weeks/months) gradually increase the metronome

speed until you reach your speed goal.

4. Write down the date that you achieved your goal.

Simple huh? Speed goals serve too main purposes:

§ They give you something to work towards.

§ They tell you when you can stop practicing the exercise. That will

prevent you from practicing an exercise that you have already

mastered.

4. Checklist.

Please do the following and tick off when complete. (Yes—I know I’m being tough

on you!).

I have read Section One a minimum of three times.

I have read Section Two a minimum of three times.

I have read Section Three a minimum of three times.

I have read Section Four a minimum of three times.

I have read Section Five a minimum of three times.

That’s it for now. You’re ready to get started with the exercises! If you have any

questions about anything in this guide, please let me know. You can get hold of me at:

[email protected]

Important: Never speed up the metronome setting if it means that you will make mistakes or play with excess muscle tension.


mailto:[email protected]



Section Two: Theory.

This section of the guide will explain some vital theory. This theory will help explain

exactly how minor pentatonic scales are constructed. If you already know all this

stuff, feel free to skip to the next section.

Let’s go through the theory step-by-step…

Step 1: Musical Alphabet.

The musical alphabet is simply this: A B C D E F G

Everything that you play which involves pitch (e.g. chords, scales, melodies) will use

these letters. Here are three very important things to remember…

⇒ E and F are always a semitone (1 fret) apart.

⇒ B and C are always a semitone (1 fret) apart.

⇒ All other consecutive notes are a tone (2 frets) apart.

Here are the notes of the musical alphabet shown on the thickest E-string. Notice that

I have only gone up to the 12th fret. Why?(And no—it’s not laziness!☺).

Here is the musical alphabet mapped out on the other strings…




It would be a great idea to memorise the musical alphabet on all six strings!

To make it even clearer, on the next page I’ve put a fretboard diagram showing the

musical alphabet over the entire fretboard…




There are couple of things which complicate matters a little. Here is a table showing

you these two nasty things…

Symbol. Name. Means.

b Flat Lowers a note by one semitone (1 fret).

# Sharp

Raises a note by one semitone (1 fret).

Example:

If G is at the third fret then…

⇒ Gb would be at the second fret

⇒ G# would be at the fourth fret

All clear? Cool…let’s move onto the next step…

Step 2: Major Scale.

The next step is to understand the major scale. The major scale is probably the most

important scale there is. All other scales can be derived from it. If you totally

understand the major scale you will be able to understand every other scale there is!

You may have read in a book that the major scale has the following formula…

W W H W W W H

So what does it mean?

W=Whole step=2 fret distance H=Half step=1 fret distance




This formula tells you the distance between each note of the major scale. (Some

geeky people call this the intervallic structure of the major scale).

For example…here’s the F major scale written out on the thick E-string…

Some of my students freak out when they see this diagram, so here’s the same

information shown in a table…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

F G A Bb C D E F

Now…here’s a question for you. Why have I called the fourth note in F major “Bb”

and not “A#”?

This brings us to an important rule…

The major scale must contain EVERY letter of the musical alphabet. In the

example above, if we had called the fourth note A# it would mean we wouldn’t have

some kind of a B in the scale.

I’ve found through my experience with teaching that people learn best by doing, so

here is a great exercise for you to do…

On the next page is a table to fill out. You will need to work out the notes of all the

major scales. Don’t be afraid of using your guitar to help you work out the notes…




1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major

All done? Great! What did you learn? Were there any things that were a bit

confusing?

The main area where people can get confused is with major scales that contain weird

notes like Cb, B#, Fb and E#. A lot of students for example ask me “why do we call it

a Cb and not B”? I then have to remind them of the following rule…

The major scale must contain EVERY letter of the musical alphabet.

Let’s go through an example. Here is the Gb major scale

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

Notice how the fourth note is a Cb. If we had called it a B, we wouldn’t be following

the rule…




The major scale must contain EVERY letter of the musical alphabet.

Yes…I know I’m repeating myself—but it’s that important.

Here’s the same table with the answers. If you made some mistakes, figure out what

you did wrong.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major C D E F G A B C

F major F G A Bb C D E F

Bb major Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

Eb major Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

Ab major Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

Db major Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db

Gb major Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

Cb major Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb Cb

G major G A B C D E F# G

D major D E F# G A B C# D

A major A B C# D E F# G# A

E major E F# G# A B C# D# E

B major B C# D# E F# G# A# B

F# major F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

C# major C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

ACTION STEP:

Before reading further, please do the following:

⇒ Once a day (for the next week) work out the notes of all

the major scales.

I know I’m being tough on you—but by doing it you’ll gain a much deeper

understanding than someone who skips this action step.

To help you, here are the tables that you will need to fill out…




DAY ONE:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major

DAY TWO:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major




DAY THREE:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major

DAY FOUR:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major




DAY FIVE:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major

DAY SIX:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major




DAY SEVEN:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Db major

Gb major

Cb major

G major

D major

A major

E major

B major

F# major

C# major

All finished? Did you find that it got easier and easier the more times you did it?

Hopefully you’re not feeling like this now!

Don’t worry…we’ll get to the fun stuff soon enough.

I’m pretty impressed that you’ve done the exercise.

That’s awesome!

If by some chance, you skipped the Action Step, then

go back and do it. (I’m watching you…)

OK. Enough talk, let’s go to the next step where we talk about the minor pentatonic

scale. “About time!” I hear you shout…




Step Three: Minor Pentatonic.

In this section we’ll explore how the minor pentatonic scale is created from the major

scale. You have done the last Action Step haven’t you? If not, please go back and do

it.

So how do we build a minor pentatonic scale from the major scale? There’s a few bits

of information we need…

⇒ Go back and have a look at the tables that you filled in for the major scale.

Notice how at the top there are some numbers. Have a look below…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

These numbers are called scale degrees. Some people call this the musical spelling

of the major scale.

⇒ The next bit of information we need is the musical spelling of the minor

pentatonic scale. Luckily, I can give you it! The minor pentatonic has the

following musical spelling…

One of the first questions my students sometimes ask is “how do you pronounce it”?

The musical spelling is pronounced: “One, Flat3, Four, Five, Flat7”.

All clear so far? Awesome!

⇒ The last thing we need to know is how to use the musical spelling of the minor

pentatonic scale. At this stage it’s really important to note the following…

⇒

The musical spelling tells us what we have to do to the major scale in order to

create a minor pentatonic scale.

1 b3 4 5 b7




At this stage it would be a great idea to go through some examples to make it really

clear for you…

Example 1:

Let’s work out the notes of the G minor pentatonic scale.

Step 1: Write out the notes of the G major scale. This gives us…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

G A B C D E F# G

Step 2: Because the musical spelling of the minor pentatonic scale doesn’t include a 2

or 6, we need to remove these from the G major scale. So this would give us…

1 3 4 5 7 1

G B C D F# G

Step 3: Because the musical spelling of the minor pentatonic scale has a b3 and a b7,

we need to flatten the 3 and 7 of the G major scale. This would result in…

1 b3 4 5 b7 1

G Bb C D F G

These are the notes of the G minor pentatonic scale.

ACTION STEP:

Read through the example slowly at least 10 times. It is vital

that you understand it!

OK. Let’s look at one more example. Skip to the next page…




Example 2:

Let’s now work out the notes of the C# minor pentatonic scale.

Step 1: Write out the notes of the C# major scale. This would give us…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

Step 2: Because the musical spelling of the minor pentatonic scale doesn’t include a 2

or 6, we need to remove these from the C# major scale. This results in…

1 3 4 5 7 1

C# E# F# G# B# C#

Step 3: Because the musical spelling of the minor pentatonic scale has a b3 and a b7,

we need to flatten the 3 and 7 of the C# major scale. And here it is…

1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C# E F# G# B C#

These are the notes of the C# minor pentatonic scale.

ACTION STEP:

You guessed it! Please read the above example at least 10

times.

When I teach someone, I find it really helpful if they put the above process in their

own words. I get them to pretend that they are teaching me how to do it, and have to

explain clearly to me the steps involved.

In the space provided on the next page, please write down in your own words the

steps we took to create minor pentatonics from major scales…




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Because I’m feeling in a kind mood right now, here’s a table showing you the notes in

almost any minor pentatonic scale that you might encounter. That should save you a

bit of time! ☺

1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent C Eb F G Bb C

F minor pent F Ab Bb C Eb F

Bb minor pent Bb Db Eb F Ab Bb

Eb minor pent Eb Gb Ab Bb Db Eb

Ab minor pent Ab Cb Db Eb Gb Ab

Db minor pent Db Fb Gb Ab Cb Db

G minor pent G Bb C D F G

D minor pent D F G A C D

A minor pent A C D E G A

E minor pent E G A B D E

B minor pent B D E F# A B

F# minor pent F# A B C# E F#

C# minor pent C# E F# G# B C#

G# minor pent G# B C# D# F# G#

D# minor pent D# F# G# A# C# D#

A# minor pent A# C# D# E# G# A#

Have a quick look at this table. Why have I drawn a bold line around the G#, D# and

A# minor pentatonics?

I’ve drawn a bold line around them because you can’t use the normal method to

work these ones out. Why’s that? Because there are no G#, D# or A# major scales. If

you don’t believe me have a look at the major scale tables you filled out. See…I told

you! So how do we work these out? Any ideas?

Flip over to the next page, where all will be revealed…




Probably the easiest way to work out these three wierdos is to take a normal one and

sharpen all the notes. Have a look at the example below to see what I mean…

Example:

Let’s work out the G# minor pentatonic scale.

Step 1: Write down the notes of the G minor pentatonic scale…

G Bb C D F G

Step 2: Sharpen all the notes. Keep in mind that when you sharpen Bb it would

become B. This gives us…

G# B C# D# F# G#

Pretty easy huh?

ACTION STEP:

OK…I admit it, I’m not so kind. For this action step please:

⇒ Work out (once a day) for the next seven days the notes

for all the minor pentatonic scales.

On the next page I’ve put blank tables for you to fill out. Please don’t skip this

Action Step. Once you complete it, you’ll have a total understanding of how the

minor pentatonic scale is constructed.

Good luck! We’ll catch up in a week’s time…




DAY ONE: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent

DAY TWO: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent




DAY THREE: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent

DAY FOUR: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent




DAY FIVE: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent

DAY SIX: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent




DAY SEVEN: 1 b3 4 5 b7 1

C minor pent

F minor pent

Bb minor pent

Eb minor pent

Ab minor pent

Db minor pent

G minor pent

D minor pent

A minor pent

E minor pent

B minor pent

F# minor pent

C# minor pent

G# minor pent

D# minor pent

A# minor pent

Welcome back!

If you’ve just completed the Action Exercise…well done!

What about major pentatonics? Don’t worry…here’s all you need to know…

Step Four: Major Pentatonic.

The cool thing about major pentatonics is that they are easier to work out than minor

pentatonics. The major pentatonic scale has the following musical spelling…

Let’s go through a couple of examples…

Example 1:

Let’s work out the notes of the Bb major pentatonic scale…

1 2 3 5 6




Step 1: Write out the notes of the Bb major pentatonic scale.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

Step 2: Remove the 4 and the 7. This gives us…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Bb C D F G Bb

These are the notes of the Bb major pentatonic scale.

Pretty easy huh?

The interesting thing about the major pentatonic scale is that it contains the

same notes as the minor pentatonic scale starting three frets lower.

For example, Bb major pentatonic contains the same notes as G minor pentatonic.

Here’s a table showing you what major and minor pentatonic scales contain the same

notes.

Major Pentatonic Minor Pentatonic C Amin F Dmin Bb Gmin Eb Cmin Ab Fmin Db Bbmin Gb Ebmin Cb Abmin G Emin D Bmin A F#min E C#min B G#min F# D#min C# A#min




Because the focus of this book is on technique and not namby-pamby theory, that’s all

we are going to cover. Here’s a checklist. When you have completed it, you are ready

to move onto the next section.

I understand the musical alphabet and how to work out the notes on my guitar.

I understand how to construct the major scale in all keys.

I understand how to construct the notes of the minor pentatonic scale.

I understand how to construct the notes of the major pentatonic scale.

On the bottom of this page please write down some of the things you’ve learnt. Once

you have done that, move onto the next section. In that section we’ll look at five of

the most common fingerings for the minor and major pentatonic scale.

See you in the next section…

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Section Three: Common Fingerings.

In this section we’ll look at five of the most common fingerings for the minor and

major pentatonic scales. If you already know these, then skip to the next section.

I’ve mapped out the A minor pentatonic scale for you below. Have a quick look at

it…

Out of this huge sea of notes we are going to create five fingerings. All of them will

be two-notes-per-string. Here they are…

Fingering One:

Fingering Two:

Important: I have written all the fingerings using the A minor pentatonic scale. It is really important to realise that these are also the fingerings for the C major pentatonic scale. If you don’t understand this, please work through Section Two again.




Fingering Three:

Fingering Four:

Fingering Five:

Now I know that some of you out there prefer TAB rather than fretboard diagrams. So

here are the same fingerings written out in TAB. The numbers under the TAB tell

you what finger of your fretting hand plays each note.

Fingering One:




Fingering Two:

Fingering Three:

Fingering Four:

Fingering Five:

ACTION STEP:

For this action step please do the following:

⇒ Memorise all five fingerings. Make sure that you use the

right fingers (as shown below the TAB).

All done? Fantastic!

Continue to the next section. I’ll explain all the techniques that you will need to

master to play the ideas in this book…




Section Four: Techniques Used.

In this section we’ll look at all the techniques that you must master in order to play the

ideas in this book. The techniques we will cover include:

⇒ Alternate Picking

⇒ Finger -rolls

⇒ Hammer-ons

⇒ Pull-offs

⇒ String Skipping

IMPORTANT:

⇒ This section is for the benefit of people who may be new to these techniques.

If you are already comfortable with all of them, please skip to Section Five.

⇒ If you are new to these techniques I would highly recommend booking in for a

few lessons with a good guitar tutor. It’s very hard to learn correct technique

from a book. Please make sure that you do this. If you don’t, you may not do

the techniques properly. This would result in less than optimal progress

and potentially a nasty injury. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Technique One: Alternate Picking.

Alternate picking is when you use alternating downstrokes and upstrokes. With

alternate picking you never have two of the same pick motion in a row. It is always

down, up, down, up etc.

Here are a few important points:

⇒ The symbols that guitar players use to indicate pick motions are…

⇒ For fast picking I recommend using a heavy gauge pick. I prefer using Jim

Dunlop Jazz III picks.




⇒ I prefer using mainly my wrist when I pick and I lightly anchor my picking

hand pinky on the guitar body. Check out the photos below…

⇒ Your picking technique should be the same at any speed. The way you pick

fast should be exactly the same way as when you pick slow.

⇒ Make your pick motions as small as possible. The less the pick moves the

faster you will be able to play.

Here’s one exercise to get you used to alternate picking…

ACTION STEP:

⇒ Practice the alternate picking exercise for a minimum of

10 minutes a day for the next 7 days. Be sure that you

practice the exercise on all six strings.




Technique Two: Finger-rolls. This technique is often needed when you move to an adjacent string at the same fret

as you are currently on. Clear as mud? Check out the examples below…

Example One:

In this example we are going to use the first finger of your

fretting hand to play both notes. Here is a step-by-step

breakdown of the technique…

Step 1: Start with your first finger playing the first note. Make sure that your finger is

right on its fingertip. Here’s a photo of what it should look like…

Step 2: Collapse the joint closest to your fingernail of the first finger. Your finger

should now be fretting the second note. The fingertip of your first finger should be

“stubbed up” against the B string. Check out the photo below of what it should look

like…

Important: The first finger is on its tip. All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the B string.

Important: The first joint of your first finger should be collapsed. The tip should be lightly stubbing up against the B string. (Just enough to mute it). All other fingers are hovering slightly above the E string.




Example Two:

In this example we are going to reverse the direction of the

finger-roll. Here’s how to do it…

Step 1: Start with your first finger fretting the first note. The joint closest to your

fingernail should be collapsed. Your fingertip should be “stubbed up” against the B

string. Here’s a photo of what it should look like…

Step 2: To play the second note you will need to roll your first finger onto the B

string. You do this by making the collapsed joint curved again. Here’s a photo of what

it should look like…

IMPORTANT:

⇒ This technique is a tricky one to learn from a book. If you are not sure whether

or not you are doing it right, please book a lesson with a good guitar tutor.

⇒ Keep your left hand as relaxed as possible.

On the next page are two finger-roll exercises. They will get you used to doing finger-

rolls with every finger of your left hand…

Important: The first joint of your first finger should be collapsed. The tip should be lightly stubbing up against the B string. (Just enough to mute it). All other fingers are hovering slightly above the E string.

Important: The first finger is on its tip. All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the B string.




Exercise One:

⇒ Play this exercise very slowly. Make sure that you can play it perfectly in a

very relaxed manner.

⇒ Use all downstrokes to pick the notes.

⇒ Once you master it as written, be sure to practice it on the following pairs of

strings:

§ G and B strings.

§ D and G strings.

§ A and D strings.

§ Low E and A strings.

Exercise Two:

⇒ Like Exercise One, play this exercise very slowly. Make sure that you can

play it perfectly in a very relaxed manner.

⇒ Use all downstrokes to pick the notes.

⇒ Once you master it as written, be sure to practice it on the following pairs of

strings:

§ G and B strings.

§ D and G strings.

§ A and D strings.

§ Low E and A strings.

ACTION STEP:

⇒ Practice each finger-roll exercise for 5 minutes daily.

Do this for the next seven days.




Technique Three: Hammer-ons.

Hammer-ons are used to sound a note without picking. Have a quick look at the

example shown below…

You would play this example in the following way…

Step 1:Pick the first note while fretting using the first finger of

your left hand.

Step 2:Play the next note by whacking your second finger onto

the sixth fret. You don’t pick the note—it is created entirely by

the second finger hammering onto the note. As the second

finger hammers the note, lift your first finger up.

Check out the photos below. These should give you a better idea of how the two steps

should look…

Important: The first finger is pressing down (Just behind fret). All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the E string.

Important: The second finger is pressing down. (Just behind fret). All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the E string.




Let’s look at an exercise to develop your hammer-ons…

IMPORTANT:

⇒ Be careful when practicing hammer-ons. If your technique is faulty, you will

injure yourself.

⇒ Make sure that when one finger plays a note, the other finger lifts up. You will

never have more than one finger pressing down at once.

⇒ Keep your left hand fingers close to the fretboard at all times.

⇒ Keep your left hand relaxed.

⇒ Practice the exercise super slow.

⇒ Experiment with playing the exercise on different strings.

⇒ If you feel any pain or discomfort then stop immediately!

Hammer-on Exercise:

ACTION STEP:

⇒ Practice the hammer-on exercise for a few minutes every

day for the next seven days.

Technique Four: Pull-offs.

Pull-offs are a more complex motion than hammer-ons. Let’s look at an example….

You would play this example in the following way…

Step One: Your second fingers frets the 6th fret while at the

same time your first finger frets the 5th fret. Both fingers will be

pressing down at the same time.




Step Two: Pick the first note and then (without using any

picking) make a small downwards flick with your second finger.

This downwards flick causes the second note to ring.

Have a look at the photos below to see what each step looks like…

Let’s now look at an exercise to help you get used to pull-offs…

IMPORTANT:

⇒ Be careful when practising pull-offs. If your technique is faulty, you will

injure yourself.

⇒ Keep your left hand fingers close to the fretboard at all times.

⇒ Keep your left hand relaxed.

⇒ Practice the exercise super slow.

⇒ Experiment with playing the exercise on different strings.

⇒ If you feel any pain or discomfort then stop immediately!

Important: Both the first and second fingers are pressing down. (Just behinds frets). All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the E string.

Important: The first finger is pressing down. (Just behind fret). All other fingers are hovering a little bit above the E string.




Pull-off exercise:

ACTION STEP:

⇒ Practice the pull-off exercise for a few minutes a day for

the next seven days.

Technique Five: String Skipping.

It’s really funny when you hear some guitar players talk about string skipping. They

talk about it as if it’s some unusual, amazing (even magical) new thing. So what is it, I

hear you ask?

String skipping is when you play a note on string and then move to a nonadjacent

string. That’s all! Here’s an exercise to get you used to it…

String Skipping exercise:

OK…that’s all the techniques that you need to know in order to play all the ideas in

the book. In the next section I’ll be teaching you a powerful practice technique called

The 5-minute Practice Technique. See you then…

ACTION STEP: ⇒ Practice the string skipping

exercise for a few minutes a day for the next seven days.




Section Five: The 5-minute Practice Technique.

All done? Great!

So what is the 5-minute practice technique?

Quite simply, it means to practice something for 5 minutes non-stop. Here are a few

really important points…

⇒ Always take regular micro-pauses throughout the five minutes. (A

micro-pause is a short break of a few seconds).

IMPORTANT:

⇒ If you use this practice technique with faulty technique you will hurt yourself. I highly recommend getting your technique analysed by a qualified and professional guitar tutor before starting to use this technique.

⇒ Everyone has a different tolerance to this sort of practicing. If 5-

minutes is too long, then do it for less than 5 minutes.

⇒ All the examples that are mentioned are what I do. You may have to make adjustments depending on your level of experience and technique. Please seek out the advice of a qualified guitar tutor who can advise you how to make the adjustments.

⇒ STOP IMMEDIATELY if you feel any pain or discomfort.

⇒ Don’t use this practice technique on things that require huge amounts of hand strength. For example, if you use this technique on exercises that require very big hand stretches you are asking for trouble.

ACTION STEP: Please do the following before using the 5-minute practice technique…

⇒ Get your technique analysed by a qualified and professional guitar tutor.

⇒ Get your posture analysed by a qualified physiotherapist who has had a lot of experience dealing with musicians.




⇒ Never do more than two 5-minute blocks without taking a break for a

couple of minutes.

⇒ Stop if you feel any discomfort or pain.

⇒ This technique shouldn’t be used for things that are extremely

technically demanding such as really wide stretches.

⇒ Everyone has a different tolerance for this sort of practice so if you

find 5 minutes is too long, then do shorter blocks.

Here’s an example of how I use this technique in my practice…

Let’s say that I want to practice an exercise for 10 minutes every day. Here are a few

tables showing you how I would gradually increase the metronome speed over a

period of three weeks.

Week One: Day First 5 minute block Second Five minute block

1 80 84 2 80 88 3 80 92 4 80 96 5 80 100 6 80 104 7 80 108

Week Two: Day First 5 minute block Second Five minute block

1 80 112 2 80 116 3 80 120 4 80 126 5 80 132 6 80 138 7 80 144

Week Three: Day First 5 minute block Second Five minute block

1 80 152 2 80 160 3 80 168 4 80 176 5 80 184 6 80 192 7 80 200




As you can see, over a period of three weeks I have increased the speed substantially!

Here are a few more important points…

⇒ Always start at the slowest speed each day. It helps to warm up your

muscles and gets you used to the exercise.

⇒ Always practice at a speed where you can play without making any

mistakes. If you are making mistakes, you need to slow down.

⇒ Always practice at a speed where you can play the exercise in a very

relaxed manner. Practicing with excess muscle tension is worse than

not practicing at all.

⇒ Never increase the speed if it will cause you to make mistakes.

So there we have it! Many of my students have gotten great results by using this

practice technique. Try it out on the ideas later on in this book.

ACTION STEP:

⇒ Have a think about why this practice technique works so

well. Write down some of your reasons in the space below.

Come up with as many reasons as possible!

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Section Six: Melodic Ideas.

Now we get to the fun stuff! In this section we look at 84 ideas in each of the five

minor pentatonic fingerings. That’s 420 ideas in total!

Let’s get started…

IMPORTANT:

⇒ For ease of learning I’ve put all the exercises in the A minor pentatonic

scale. Remember that A minor pentatonic contains the same notes as the C

major pentatonic scale. This means that the exercises will help you

master both scales.

⇒ Practice the exercises one-note-per-click of your metronome. Use the 5-

minute practice technique and gradually build them up to at least 200 beats

per minute.

⇒ Set a speed goal for each one.

⇒ Stop if you feel any pain or discomfort.

⇒ If you find playing the whole exercise too challenging, then practice it one

bar at a time.




Idea 1:

Idea 2:

Idea 3:

Idea 4:

A minor pentatonic: Fingering One

My Speed Goal=________bpm Date completed:







Idea 5:

Idea 6:

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A minor pentatonic: Fingering Two








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A minor pentatonic: Fingering Three








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A minor pentatonic: Fingering Four








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A minor pentatonic: Fingering Five








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Section Seven: Linear Exercises.

A lot of guitar players can sometimes have trouble moving fluidly between the five

fingerings. They often feel like they get locked into a particular fingering when they

solo. If this sounds like you then don’t worry—the answer is here!

This section will give you the tools to gain a complete mastery of the fretboard when

playing the minor and major pentatonic scales. If you work hard at the following

exercises you will gain the following benefits…

⇒ You’ll be able to move between the five fingerings effortlessly.

⇒ You’ll gain a greater ability to visualise the scale over the entire neck.

⇒ Your ability to shift positions will increase substantially.

⇒ Your overall technique will improve.

The exercises in this section are broken down into three types:

1. Single string exercises.

2. Two string exercises (adjacent strings).

3. Two string exercises (non-adjacent strings).

Let’s get started!

IMPORTANT:

⇒ All the exercises use A minor pentatonic. As you know, this is the same as

C major pentatonic.

⇒ Practice the exercises one-note-per-click of your metronome. Use the 5-

minute practice technique and gradually build them up to at least 200 beats

per minute.

⇒ Set a speed goal for each one.

⇒ Stop if you feel any pain or discomfort.

⇒ If you find playing the whole exercise too challenging, then practice it one

bar at a time.

And here are the exercises…




Linear Exercise 1:

Linear Exercise 2:

Linear Exercise 3:

Linear Exercise 4:

Single String Exercises








Linear Exercise 5:

Linear Exercise 6:

Linear Exercise 7:

Linear Exercise 8:








Linear Exercise 9:

Linear Exercise 10:

Linear Exercise 11:

Linear Exercise 12:








Linear Exercise 13:

Linear Exercise 14:

Linear Exercise 15:

Linear Exercise 16:








Linear Exercise 17:

Linear Exercise 18:

Linear Exercise 19:

Linear Exercise 20:








Linear Exercise 21:

Linear Exercise 22:

Linear Exercise 23:

Linear Exercise 24:








Linear Exercise 25:

Linear Exercise 26:

Linear Exercise 27:

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Linear Exercise 29:

Linear Exercise 30:

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Linear Exercise 33:

Linear Exercise 34:

Linear Exercise 35:

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Linear Exercise 37:

Linear Exercise 38:

Linear Exercise 39:

Linear Exercise 40:








Linear Exercise 41:

Linear Exercise 42:

Linear Exercise 43:

Linear Exercise 44:








Linear Exercise 45:

Linear Exercise 46:

Linear Exercise 47:

Linear Exercise 48:








Linear Exercise 49:

Linear Exercise 50:

Two String Exercises: Adjacent Strings






Linear Exercise 51:

Linear Exercise 52:

Linear Exercise 53:







Linear Exercise 54:

Linear Exercise 55:

Linear Exercise 56:







Linear Exercise 57:

Linear Exercise 58:

Linear Exercise 59:







Linear Exercise 60:

Linear Exercise 61:

Linear Exercise 62:







Linear Exercise 63:

Linear Exercise 64:

Linear Exercise 65:







Linear Exercise 66:

Linear Exercise 67:

Linear Exercise 68:







Linear Exercise 69:

Linear Exercise 70:

Linear Exercise 71:







Linear Exercise 72:

Linear Exercise 73:

Linear Exercise 74:







Linear Exercise 75:

Linear Exercise 76:

Linear Exercise 77:







Linear Exercise 78:

Linear Exercise 79:

Linear Exercise 80:







Linear Exercise 81:

Linear Exercise 82:

Linear Exercise 83:







Linear Exercise 84:

Linear Exercise 85:

Linear Exercise 86:







Linear Exercise 87:

Linear Exercise 88:

Linear Exercise 89:







Linear Exercise 90:

Linear Exercise 91:

Linear Exercise 92:







Linear Exercise 93:

Linear Exercise 94:

Linear Exercise 95:







Linear Exercise 96:

Linear Exercise 97:

Linear Exercise 98:







Linear Exercise 99:

Linear Exercise 100:








Exercise 144:









Linear Exercises 159:









This part of the book will be particularly fun for you! It contains all the string

skipping exercises.

Here are a couple of important points:

⇒ Pay careful attention to clean playing. The only sound that you want to hear is

the note you’re playing.

⇒ Don’t work on this section until you have worked on at least a couple of the

adjacent string exercises.





Two String Exercises: String Skipping




Section Eight: Conclusion. Well my friend, we’ve reached the end of our intensive look at pentatonic technique.

In this section I’ll give you a few ideas as to how to take this stuff even further.

Some cool ideas…

Idea 1: Compose licks.

Making up your own licks is a great way of developing your own style. You can have

hours of fun designing monster licks that will terrify even the fastest of shredders!

I like to take small chunks of the ideas in this book and join them into a cool sounding

idea. Have a look at one I made up below

Pretty cool huh? Idea 2: Practice the melodic ideas chromatically.

What do I mean by this? It simple—let’s say that you’ve just mastered Melodic Idea

One…

You could then use the following approach:

1. Play Melodic Idea 1 four times at the 12th fret.

2. Play Melodic Idea 1 four times at the 11th fret.

3. Continue this until you reach the 1st fret.

What would be some of the advantages of this approach?




I think there are a couple of benefits…

⇒ It gets your fingers used to playing the Melodic Idea in every key.

⇒ It gets your ears used to hearing the Melodic Idea in every key.

So how would this help your…

§ Soloing?

§ Musicianship?

§ Improvising?

§ Composing?

I’ve found it to be a very powerful approach!

Idea 3: Learn the Linear Exercises in ALL keys.

This is one of the most effective ways of learning to visualize pentatonics in all keys.

Here’s how it works…

1. Master a linear exercise in the key shown in this guide.

2. Choose another key and master it in that key.

3. Repeat Step 2 until you have learnt the linear exercise in all keys.

It takes a lot of hard work—but the results are definitely worth it!

A few parting comments… I’ve really enjoyed helping you develop your pentatonic technique. With disciplined

practice I have absolutely no doubt you will reach the technical level that you want!

I hope you will stay in touch and let me know any questions you might have about the

stuff in this guide. You can get hold of me at: [email protected]

I would also love to hear your own personal success story. These can be sent to:

[email protected].






Oh well…that’s all from me. I wish you all the best with your guitar playing and your

music.

All the very best,

Craig Bassett.

“Slay your enemies with furious, blindingly fast, pentatonic licks”


pent a tonic guitar success

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