Music : Guitar Lesson: How To Use The A-minor Pentatonic Scale In The First Position
|
By: Peter Edvinsson
 
Date Submitted: 2008-01-30 13:33:58 - Article Views: 20184
|
|
When you learn to improvise you have most likely come across various guitar scales. But, how do you practice guitar scales in order to use them in your playing? In this lesson you will learn how to make music of scales!
What is a pentatonic scale?
A common major scale consists of seven notes. A C-major scale for example have these seven notes:
C D E F G A B
The note after the B is a C and the scale starts over again in another octave. A pentatonic scale consists of five notes. In a pentatonic C-major scale the notes F and B are omitted. This makes for less collisions between scale notes and notes in the chords used. In other words, you can use a pentatonic scale together with more chords.
The A-minor pentatonic scale
This scale consists of the five notes A C D E G
If we play these notes in the first position on the guitar you will have the following sequence of notes:
05 35 04 24 03 23
The first number tells you which fret to press down. The second number indicates which string to play. 05 means that you play the open fifth string, that is, without pressing down a fret. The first string is the bottom string when you play.
We will now play the A-minor pentatonic scale in the first position of your guitar. The whole scale from the sixth to the first string will look like this:
06 36 05 35 04 24 03 23 12 31 01 31
In this scale sequence you will find the note A in two positions. That is, on the fifth open string and on the second fret third string.
What can you do with this scale?
1. First I suggest that you commit this scale to memory and that you practice playing it from the lowest note to the highest and then back again.
2. Use correct left hand fingerings. That means that you play the notes on the first fret with your left hand index finger, the notes on the second fret with your middle finger and the notes on the third fret with your ring finger.
3. Play small sequences using only a few of the notes in the scale. For example:
05 35 04 24 04 35 05 or:
23 12 32 01 31 12 23
4. Work on creating melodies using the scale. This will help you understand where the notes you hear in your head are on the fretboard and also make your pentatonic improvisations more musical and enjoyable for yourself and your prospective audience.
5. Improvise together with chords. As you work with the A-minor pentatonic scale you can use chords to make the guitar solo improvisations more interesting. Here are two chords that you can use together with the notes:
A-minor: 05 24 23 12 01
D-major: 04 23 32 21
As your probably remember, the first number indicates the fret and the second number the string to play. When you play the chords you can strum them from the lowest sounding string to the first string. For example, strum the A-minor chord and improvise a few notes using the pentatonic scale. Then play the D-major chord and continue to improvise. Play the A-minor chord again and continue in this way.
Improvisation is a form of composition and the musical value depends on how well we know where the notes are on the fret, how focused we are in the creative process, how well we have mastered patterns and licks that are building blocks that can be used to create music, our feelings and many more elements in the musical process. |
|
|
 Author Resource Required for Reprint:
Peter Edvinsson is a guitarist, composer and music teacher. He invites you to download your free guitar tablature sheet music at http://www.capotastomusic.com
|
|
Article Source:
Echievements
Back to Top
|
Tags:
guitar  guitar scales guitar lesson learn to play guitar how to play guitar |
|
|
Bookmark and Share
|
|
 Music Category Rss Feed |
-
Paisley, who is known for pulling outrageous pranks on his opening acts on tour, might just have his work cut out for him this time.
Viewed: 82 Times.
Read More ...
-
Though Chicago's history is about as long as some of their music videos, there are several distinguishing moments that help to define their persona.
Viewed: 82 Times.
Read More ...
-
Country star Billy Currington has kept his country boy attitude even with his rise to fame.
Viewed: 82 Times.
Read More ...
-
It looks like Michael Buble may be feeling some Crazy Love, the name of his most recent album, for Argentinean actress Luisana Loreley de la Torre, as the Canadian singer announced his engagement in early January.
Viewed: 82 Times.
Read More ...
-
Some of the greatest piano players in history became known for their proficiency in jazz. Technicality and a heavy reliance upon the ability of the musician to improvise makes jazz piano one of the hardest styles to learn.
Viewed: 83 Times.
Read More ...
|
|
| Peter Edvinsson's Author Feed |
-
Maybe you know how to play a C-major chord. In this lesson we will take a closer look at the notes in the major chords you use and how you can learn to understand how a guitar chord is constructed.
Viewed: 111 Times.
Read More ...
-
Have you ever wondered why you practice on your guitar? Is it really that important to practice? Let us take a look at your practice time!
Viewed: 115 Times.
Read More ...
-
How can you use a fake book to become a better pianist? A fake book includes a lot of melodies due to the concise format. Let us use a fake book to make you a better chord player!
Viewed: 119 Times.
Read More ...
-
In this lesson you will learn to play Amazing Grace on your ukulele. I will instruct you on how to play the melody and you will also learn to use an easy form of ukulele tablature.
Viewed: 120 Times.
Read More ...
-
In this ukulele lesson you will learn to play a popular song with chords on your ukulele. I will show you with easy ukulele tablature notation how to play the chords. Let us start with the C-major chord!
Viewed: 121 Times.
Read More ...
|
|
Article use is considered your agreement of our Terms of Service.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Thanks for visiting Echievements
Copyright © 2008 - 2011 Echievements
Back to Top
|
Print
