Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a minor pentatonic scale blues by yourself (no jam track needed). This first half is all played using only minor pentatonic scale pattern 1, limiting your options.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walkthrough
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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I’m always down for some Minor Pentatonic Blues! Thanks Brian
This lesson is a bit of a breakthrough for me in matters of gaining fluency.
Not always easy lessons, but progress is very noticeable.
Another great ‘stand alone’ minor key lesson. The slowed down version hits the spot.
Love Love This this lesson!! ❤️
Wow! This fantastic, thank you for all you do Brian
Love it! Good to see the old Gibson again.
This is a great gift for my Friday the 13th birthday! Much appreciated!
Thanks Brian. The great thing about your teaching style is that you are always thinking about the ‘average punter’ (me!) who battle on daring to hope we’ll improve. You keep throwing that lifeline in the form of a lesson that makes me believe that I can do this! Here again is such a lesson. Thank you and keep inspiring!
This is a good one for me to learn and get the phrasing down. I think these types of tunes bring out the soul in you. This style calls for a lot of emotion in the phrasing and should be popular with most. Like the G7 chords in the 19th and 23rd measures. Don’t normally play the one in the 19th measure. Thanks.
Like these stand alone lessons and where you limit your options as the foundation and then advance into another neighbourhood to get a really a great result musically. As you have intentionally done this piece without open strings and encouraged us to transposed it and put it through a ‘stress test’. I will, good practice 🤔 Incidentally, I have been looking at this pattern 1 on the 5th fret in the Key of A this week and how the root notes are the Em shape, 3 frets up the same pattern is a Major with the root notes in the G Shape and the relative minor of the major being F# also this same pattern on the 2nd fret but has the root notes with the Em shape. I was thinking how I could bring this idea of limitation to one pattern and successfully bring it together musically. Thanks, I think I have got a start now, but going to hit some shortcomings and it will be a stress test for sure.
Have to say I love this already and I’ve only just logged in and listened to the sample. I’m sure the lesson will be brilliant too.
Thanks Brian for enhancing my Saturday mornings!
Brian, I love the “gems” you so casually drop in your final comments such as:
“Don’t think about the fret numbers think about everything in relation to the chord shape”. It took a while but I have finally embraced this as a keystone of licks and improvisation. I am glad you hammer this one home.
Love this and without the backing tracking its going to really help with my timing, phrasing and hearing the changes. I can always jam with a backing tracking but find it difficult to improvise and get the timing and chord changes right on my own.
What a great lesson on how to use the Penta scales to create Blues music. Also a lot of cool light bulb moments learning how to incorporate the 4 and 5 chords with blues licks using the Penta scale positions too.
Thanks Brian
That is a great option to use the minor scale of the 5 chord over the 5 chord, rather than staying in the minor scale of the 1 chord.
Each week. I always learn something new Brian. Thanks!
Very cool, can never get enough solo electric blues. I vote for doing one of these in all 5 positions, to really showcase all the possibilities, and the different types of licks, phrases, and chords available in each.
A great structured approach to the Blue’s much appreciated yet again Brian.
Nice Brian! Very tasty, simple yet challenging to make it sound right! Luv it!
Your lessons, I can’t keep up with you, learning them as you teach them, but have been following you for years and the ones I’ve memorized make me feel like a guitar slinger lol…. even tho I’m not…. my fingers aren’t fast because I tense up so my timing gets out of wack when I try playing with jam tracks. I know where my fingers are supposed to go, I just can’t get them there in time even though I keep trying. So, anyway I make many of your compositions sound awesome slowed down without a jam track. That’s why I love lessons like this one. But it doesn’t matter, I can take bits and pieces of different lessons, change keys and make things sound pretty good now. Also, I don’t need a pick! I’ve found out I’m better and more accurate with just my fingers on most all the lessons I’ve done. Thank you for sharing your talent and spreading the blues!!!
I’m with you Dave W. Each lesson you teach Brian you pound the cage system. So grateful that you do. It’s sinking in and getting easier. A lot of times I have to stop, think about it , play it, and it makes sense. This lesson is great that it’s easy to follow how cage works and a bluesy tune that I play. This is what I joined for and I’m liking it. Thanks again Brian.
This piece is insanity. It’s a challenge, to say the least. Something about the cadence. And those G chords at the start of part II are a form of punishment. Still, I’m enjoying the challenge.
Hello Brian,
My question doesn’t really relate directly to your video ep586. I have been watching ep432 over the last few days and trying to understand everything. The topic that you can move a sixth triad two frets towards the guitar head in order to find the matching ninth triad is clear to me. Thinking one step further: For example, is a D9 triad (A-shape) just another voicing of a C6 triad (A-shape)?
Kind regards and thank you for your great lessons. Really awesome!
Georg
Yes, you got it
Hi Brian,
Many thanks Brian. It’s really amazing that with the amount of messages you get, you still manage to answer individual questions. That’s top-notch.
Georg
I love the lessons that go back to the basic roots! would love to see you continue on up the neck with the other positions. thanks for another great lesson!
Another fantastic lesson,Thanks Brian.
I liked the detailed explanations. Especially bending the b3 to the 3 for the G chord.
Man, love that sound. The old Gibson and the minor pentatonic with the chord stabs screams T-Bone. Can’t wait to dig in to this one!
What kind of strings do you use on this guitar?
11 gauge electric strings
love these standalone blues pieces – many thanks Brian – keep em coming
Fantastic, Brian. “Simple” in theory but stuffed full of wonderful things to learn and incorporate. So much in there. Thank you
Nice lesson Brian!! Really stand alone blues that sound good!! Thanks for this lesson!
I cant wait to tackle this. It will be a test for my fairly new Gibson 356 to sound as good as that. For some reason my G (and occasionally B) string wants to dive out of tune. Frustrating!
This is a question for Brian Sherrill or any member who might know. It’s about a PRIOR LESSON (EP533), one of my favs. While Brian is doing his comping (to a jump blues in B), is the band, in this case the backing track, staying with plain 7s, Dominants, throughout the piece? Example: When he uses a B6 in bars 11 and 12, is the band/backing track going to B6 also? Said another way, should I let the band know what I’m going to do? Same general question for the bars 9 thru 12. In Brian’s lesson those bars were V, V, I, I, instead of the conventional V, IV, I, V. Can that be spontaneous, or should the ‘band’ know that ahead of time? Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to answer. Brian Burke
Switching the scale to play D minor licks in two different positions threw me just enough of a curveball outside of the strike zone of G minor pentatonic. Trying to play the changes for each chord is too much, but this lesson demonstrated how you can play D minor licks over the 5 chord.. I can hear that 5 chord coming and play the D minor (penta scale) before returning to the G minor penta.
It’s funny, a little observation helps to see the fretboard more clearly. D-shape G-shape; A-shape over the 1-4-5 and Voilà!
Sweet great lesson as always
Don’t ever retire Brian! These are great!
Some of these phrases, especially the “gospel” one, I can get and able to practice it over and over, but then struggle putting in into context of the before, and especially, after lick.
I hadn’t noticed the ‘focus’ settings on the tablature/score app before today. Very nice feature
Been playing some forms of pentatonic scales for 30 years and this lesson just gave an aha as to how to connect these patterns up and down the neck according to shapes. thank you. Better late than never.
Hey Brain, on part 2 @ 2mins in, and in the play along with tabs it’s @ :50/1:22, where there’s a G chord between licks as you get a high pitch squeal out of it. The lesson doesn’t mention it unless I’m missing something? I l like that part and want to play it the way you do, but strumming that chord does nothing similar to what you get out of it. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to replicate what you get when it’s played through. Can you or anyone else offer any guidance on this? 🙂 Thanks for everything, loving these stand alone blues pieces!
Je regrette que les notes ne figurent pas sur les PDF à télécharger. Les tablatures, ça aide mais ça ne chante pas. Serait-il donc possible d’associer les 2, comme vous le faites dans le soundslice, qu’on ne peut pas imprimer? Merci