Taylor Made Music

Now you need to learn some classic riffs that use the pentatonic scales. First you need to learn the sliding pentatonic scale. Which is really the same minor scale you’ve learned before but it extends throughout the length the keyboard. Since every note is two fret positions apart, they are easy powerful in playing up and down the neck instead of just playing in a “box” shape. The root note (names the scale) are signified with the capital “O” vs. the lower case “o”. In this case if the “O” on the low E is played in the fifth position you’d be playing a sliding A pentatonic scale. Oh yea, there are only about 8,000 songs that use this scale in this key!

e|-|—|—|—|—|—|-o-|—|-o-|
B|-|—|—|—|—|—|-o-|—|-O-|
G|-|—|—|-o-|—|-o-|—|-o-|—|
D|-|—|—|-o-|—|-O-|—|—|—|
A|-|-o-|—|-o-|—|-o-|—|—|—|
E|-|-o-|—|-O-|—|—|—|—|—|

Here are some licks to impress your friends! You’ll notice they combine legato techniques and the pentatonic scales we’ve learned earlier. Just ad some vibrato and a killer distortion and the let the fun begin.

|—————-5~–5h8p5——|
|—–5——5h8———-8p5~–|
|-7b9—-7b9——————–|
|——————————-|
|——————————-|
|——————————-|

|—————————–|
|—————————–|
|———5h7p5———–7~–|
|—–5h7——-7p5—–7—–|
|-5h7—————7p5——-|
|—————————–|

Now just move this scale anywhere you want on the neck of your guitar, but play the same relative positions on the fretboard. This is where the real fun begins. Learn this simple sliding scale and you can have your hands running up and down the neck of your guitar like an expert in no time. Rock On!

Bill McRea is the publisher of The
Guitar Warehouse and Guitar
Playing Techniques. Both sites offer free lesson and product sales.

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