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Hi,
I’ve taken a few lessons but am mainly self taught and am overwhelmed with on-line information and unsure what step to take next.
I know enough chords now and barre chords too, where I want to include some walk ups, step downs and even some leads. If not leads, some lead ins with individual notes.
I’ve learned the pentatonic scale but after that I get lost. The five positions? Do those put me in specific keys? Can I play in any key in any position?
Can someone recommend a site, or exercise to help me learn how the pentatonic scale relates to what key I’m in. It seems the many videos on line either assume stuff or I’m just not getting it.
For example, blues in key of E. Marty Schwartz shows a blues run – but that seems to be a box I’ve read about too. Can I use that run in any key?
I’m really lost and not even sure how to ask the questions especially without a guitar to show what I’m trying to get at.
Thanks in advance if you have an answer or suggestion and if not thanks anyway for being part of this great site.
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Wesley,
I am sure you will get a lot of feedback to your question. I’ll take a shot at a few of your questions.First you should take a look at the blues lead course. Go to the lessons page and scroll to the bottom left (assuming you are a premium member).
The five positions of the minor pentatonic scale are relative. They are relative to position one, which will move depending on the key. So position one in G is at the third fret, A is at the fifth fret etc. All the other positions shift relative to that. You mention the E pentatonic, which if it is a minor pentatonic, will have position one staring on the open strings.
Can you play any pentatonic scale at any position? Sort of. Not if you are thinking about shapes and fret positions. If you know the notes on the fretboard, and the notes in the specific key you are playing in, you can play them pretty much any where. This is probably at a more advanced level than it sounds like you are at, and is not the way most people approach them.
Hope this helps.
Bob
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Hello Wesley and welcome to the site. Many of us have experienced similar frustration with the various Youtube and online courses. I will give you my input and you can run from there.
Go to the lessons page and scroll down to the lower section. You will see a tab for the Beginners course, the Blues Lead course and one other course. I suggest you start with the beginners course just to make sure your foundation is solid. You will probably breeze through it quickly.
Next, move on to the Blues Lead Course. I think it will help tie together your questions on the pentatonic scales/patterns.
Lastly, as you continue through the Blues Lead course, select a lesson from the upper menu (main menu) that you find interesting. Start working your way through that single lesson. Brian does a great job infusing each lesson with theory and explains how and why certain notes and scales work. As you continue to watch new lessons, the theory explanations will slowly start to come together and you will grow as a musician.
Most importantly, keep at it. Perseverance is the key.
Jim
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Hi Bob,
Thanks a million for replying. Yes I’m a premium member so I’ll do all you suggested. It’s late so I’ll keep this short but I hope to connect with you and site members more often.
Thanks again. – Wes
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Hi Jim,
It’s late so I’ll be brief. Thank you very much for replying and I’m looking forward to your suggestions.
Perseverance is key as I’m old enough with experience in pursuing something difficult. Even when it doesn’t make sense, just doing it again and again almost always brings about understanding. It’s a great feeling and learning guitar as well as playing is turning out to be one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.
Good stuff – thanks again and hope to connect with you again sometime. – Wes
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Hello Wesley and welcome to the site. Many of us have experienced similar frustration with the various Youtube and online courses. I will give you my input and you can run from there.
Go to the lessons page and scroll down to the lower section. You will see a tab for the Beginners course, the Blues Lead course and one other course. I suggest you start with the beginners course just to make sure your foundation is solid. You will probably breeze through it quickly.
Next, move on to the Blues Lead Course. I think it will help tie together your questions on the pentatonic scales/patterns.
Lastly, as you continue through the Blues Lead course, select a lesson from the upper menu (main menu) that you find interesting. Start working your way through that single lesson. Brian does a great job infusing each lesson with theory and explains how and why certain notes and scales work. As you continue to watch new lessons, the theory explanations will slowly start to come together and you will grow as a musician.
Most importantly, keep at it. Perseverance is the key.
Jim
I’ll 2nd this suggestion. Between the Beginner’s Course and the Blues Lead Course, you will have a great foundation to build on
Another important point: if you have a question about something – ask! Many people feel that their question is “dumb” and shouldn’t be asked. If its a question in your mind, it needs to be answered so it doesn’t become a stumbling block that could hold you up on your learning progress
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Hi,
I’ve taken a few lessons but am mainly self taught and am overwhelmed with on-line information and unsure what step to take next.
I know enough chords now and barre chords too, where I want to include some walk ups, step downs and even some leads. If not leads, some lead ins with individual notes.
I’ve learned the pentatonic scale but after that I get lost. The five positions? Do those put me in specific keys? Can I play in any key in any position?
Can someone recommend a site, or exercise to help me learn how the pentatonic scale relates to what key I’m in. It seems the many videos on line either assume stuff or I’m just not getting it.
For example, blues in key of E. Marty Schwartz shows a blues run – but that seems to be a box I’ve read about too. Can I use that run in any key?
I’m really lost and not even sure how to ask the questions especially without a guitar to show what I’m trying to get at.
Thanks in advance if you have an answer or suggestion and if not thanks anyway for being part of this great site.
You are not alone in finding the whole thing confusing, My take on it is that there is 5 patterns and the same patterns can be played in any key, So say pattern 1 is played on the 3rd fret then that is the key of G, If you move that same pattern ( pattern 1) down 2 frets to the 5th fret then you are playing in the key of A, the confusion for me arises when I have to start thinking in other patterns. I sometimes wonder if it would be more helpful to ignore the 5 patterns and just learn all the notes/finger positions in the combined patterns which imho would free up the neck…Anyway, it is a question that needs answering so thank you for asking it, I am interested to read all the replies.
..Billy..
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Billy,
I have had the same thoughts about the pentatonic patterns. For a long time I always started in pattern one and moved up to pattern two or down to pattern five. I rarely ventured beyond those, and never started in a pattern other than one. Over the past year or so, I have learned the notes on the neck, mostly through playing the major scales and arpeggios. I think this has opened up the neck for me. I was working on one of the AM lessons, where Brian was embellishing chords and then adding pentatonic runs. I tried to change it up by playing the chords in different positions, but I had no clue where the nearest pentatonic box was. But I needed a Cm pentatonic and knew that a Cm7 arpeggio has four of the five pentatonic notes so it was easy to fall into that.
But having said all that I think shapes are still important, because it seems to me any to be very difficult to navigate notes at tempo without them. I think at the very least you should home in on where the roots are in each pattern, so you can quickly go to them without needing to start in pattern one.
Bob
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Hi Wes
Yes we have all had some or all of the things you mention at some point. Ithink the advice given so far is likely to be really good way to go. Re a lesson you might like to take a run through EP144 its a slow blues and has various chord voicings and some lead so it hits exactly at some of your main points. I hope that is a help. I think this is a wonderful lesson but maybe it wont suit you so dont fuss you have over 200 to browse and so go find another few you like. I should also add that if you hit an impasse in a lesson shelve it for a while and choose a new one and so on. After a while make sure to come back to the original impasse and you will likely find it no longer is such a difficulty. it takes time but you will progress here as quick as any where in my view, AM is a great resource.
All the best
JohnStrat. -
Hi Wesley,
The suggestions above have pointed you in the right direction. And I think it’s very important that whenever you have a question on anything to do with guitars or practice or theory, you should just post it on the forum. There is no more helpful group of people anywhere on the internet than here.
Sunjamr Steve
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Welcome Wesley, the first thing that occurred to me was a joke, but it actually applies. If an animal can squeeze its head through a gap, it can quite frequently get the rest of its body through (so if you can get your head around what you’re trying to do, you’ll be able to get your body to respond and produce some music).
All the other suggestions sound good, never know which one will “click”; different approaches work differently for each individual.
If you’re “lost,” feeling like you have a lot of information but nothing to tie it all to, I’d recommend picking a song you like—one of Brian’s lessons would be ideal because he’ll walk you through it—and learn that song till you’re comfortable playing it. If you have trouble with it, it’s definitely okay to go away and come back; find one that you can play through at your current level. I’m on my at least tenth approach to some songs. I’m looking forward to going back to “The Sky Is Crying” this coming weekend; one of these times I’ll learn to play it as I think it should be played.
If you go to ML030, that’s a snappy rhythm that uses the same notes as thousands of other shuffles, in about the same order. It’s only the rhythm and flourishes that make it different. It’s the tonic (G), a grace note on the 2 (A; you can also start a half step up, one fret up, on the flat 3 [Bb], either note just hit it and slide up to the natural 3), the natural 3 (B), the 5 (D) and 6 (E). With those notes and some rhythmic shifts you can play countless songs.
Don D.
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