Pentatonic Scale

[Thomas]

This is the first time that I've actually figured out how to find a scale up and down the neck in any key. BUT i'm having a lot of trouble actually making it sound like music.

so i'm looking for a little help. Can anyone just list out a few rock songs that ONLY use the pentatonic scale so I can hear it in action. If you knew what key the song was in too, that would be awesome. i don't really care what kind of song, i just want to hear how it's used.

the simpler the better.

[nate]

Alot of Jack Johnson stuff is pentatonic based I believe. Granted he doesn't really solo in his songs but a good amount of the runs he uses and riffs come from the pentatonic scales. Like the intro to "Better Together" is all F major pentatonic I believe.

Also I believe the intro solo for Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is pretty much all G major Pentatonic. It's hard to find really good solos that just stick to the pentatonics because most solos usually flow with the chord progression and pull notes from the regular major scale, the blues scale as well as switching to different modes.

If you know the scales and all the different positions up and down the fretboard look to start playing the scale in one position and then slide up or down and finish the scale in a new position. And then try messin with hammer-ons and pull-offs with the notes in the pentatonics as well as bending some notes. I don't know if that helps but I hope it did.

[Brian M.D.]

This isn't necessarily an answer to your question, but kind of an extension of what you're doing.

What I would do, is learn as many scale shapes as you can, and to be honest I would start with the major scale. (Just because so many scales, ie the major+minor pentatonic scales, are derived from the major scale.)

Then, with your hand trained to hit the notes in the shape and your ear trained to predict what sound each note will actually give you, hum or sing a short little riff, and then play it. (Be prepared to use notes that aren't in the scale too.)

This way, you're not just learning shapes and immediately trying to jam on them; instead, you're solidifying the relationships between notes in a scale, which will help you incredibly.

Wow, reading back over that I think it's incoherent. Maybe not though, but I always have trouble writing stuff like this out. Hopefully that helps.

[Thomas]

Alot of Jack Johnson stuff is pentatonic based I believe. Granted he doesn't really solo in his songs but a good amount of the runs he uses and riffs come from the pentatonic scales. Like the intro to "Better Together" is all F major pentatonic I believe.

Also I believe the intro solo for Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is pretty much all G major Pentatonic. It's hard to find really good solos that just stick to the pentatonics because most solos usually flow with the chord progression and pull notes from the regular major scale, the blues scale as well as switching to different modes.

If you know the scales and all the different positions up and down the fretboard look to start playing the scale in one position and then slide up or down and finish the scale in a new position. And then try messin with hammer-ons and pull-offs with the notes in the pentatonics as well as bending some notes. I don't know if that helps but I hope it did.

thanks man, i'm going to check out that song. I really want to see how it's used. and thanks for the rest of the advice, I didn't realize jack johnson used it a lot.

[Thomas]

This isn't necessarily an answer to your question, but kind of an extension of what you're doing.

What I would do, is learn as many scale shapes as you can, and to be honest I would start with the major scale. (Just because so many scales, ie the major+minor pentatonic scales, are derived from the major scale.)

Then, with your hand trained to hit the notes in the shape and your ear trained to predict what sound each note will actually give you, hum or sing a short little riff, and then play it. (Be prepared to use notes that aren't in the scale too.)

This way, you're not just learning shapes and immediately trying to jam on them; instead, you're solidifying the relationships between notes in a scale, which will help you incredibly.

Wow, reading back over that I think it's incoherent. Maybe not though, but I always have trouble writing stuff like this out. Hopefully that helps.

i thought of that but part of me wanted to kind of get comfortable with the pentatonic first since it has the fewest notes. but whenever i play around with it, it actually feels like i don't have enough notes. So i really think i'll take your advice and try out the major scale.

thanks

[Hydro120]

A variation of the pentaonic scale is the blues scale.

Of the major scale, it is notes 1 2 (#2/b3) 3 5 6

The #2/b3 adds a tasty transition.

[skoal]

Pretty much any solo you hear in any song is coming from the pentatonic scale