Ken’s Corner: Guitar Improvisation for Starters - Lesson #23

By Ken Volpe
This is Lesson #23 in a series on Guitar Improvisation.  Last week in Lesson #22, we sidestepped our series on Improvising and due to e-mails questioning the differences between Minor Pentatonic and Major Pentatonic Scales; I decided to address this issue.  Just to reiterate…from this point forward WE WILL REFER TO THESE 5 SCALES AS THE 5 PENTATONIC FORMS.  We will not use the terms Minor or Major Pentatonic.

Now let’s continue our series on Improvising with Option #3.  In Lesson #21, we learned to play a different Pentatonic Scale Form for each of the 3 chords.  These 3 scale forms were all in the 2nd fret area or 2nd position.  Let’s stick with the same theme but starting from the 5th fret area. 

Play the following: (see diagrams)

A Major chord use Form 2 of F# Pentatonic Scale

Form 2 of F# Pentatonic starts from the 5th fret
(Click on tab to enlarge)

D Major chord use Form 5 of B Pentatonic Scale

Form 5 of B Pentatonic starts from the 5th fret
(Click on tab to enlarge)

E Major chord use Form 4 of C# Pentatonic Scale

Form 4 of C# Pentatonic starts from the 4th fret
(Click on tab to enlarge)

The following statements from Lesson 20 still apply.

The A Major chord contains notes A, C#, E
. 
All 3-chord tones exist in the F# Pentatonic Scale.  

There are 2 scale tones that are not in the chord.
These notes are: F#, B

The D Major chord contains notes D, F#, A
. 
All 3-chord tones exist in the B Pentatonic Scale. 

There are 2 scale tones that are not in the chord.
These notes are: B, E

The E Major chord contains notes E, G#, B. 
All 3-chord tones exist in the C# Pentatonic Scale.  

There are 2 scale tones that are not in the chord.
These notes are: C#, F#

In next week’s lesson we will continue to further explore Option 3.
I’ll see you all at the next lesson.

Ken Volpe is the Chief Lesson Officer at GJD
Contact Ken: [email protected]