Chords
Scales
A Minor Pentatonic Scale Forms
The following are the 5 basic minor 7/11 Pentatonic Scale Forms. Notice that the letter name for each is taken from the EDCAG Octave Shapes.
The minor 7/11 Pentatonic Scales will use the same Octave Shapes in the same order of occurrence as the Major 6/9 Pentatonic Scales Forms. Form 1 always has the E Octave Shape and the rest will progress in the same EDCAG order. Like the 5 Major Pentatonic Forms or any other scale when referring to the Octave Shapes, remember that the Octave Shape letter does not refer to the letter name of the scale you are playing. For example, these minor Pentatonic Forms are written using A minor as the key for all of the Forms, but Form 1 is still referred to as using the E Octave Shape, Form 2 is referred to as using the D Octave Shape and so on. There is a small hurdle to get over to understand this when you are first looking at it this way. You will soon realize though, that the letter name of the scale is independent of the Octave Shape letter. The Octave Shape letter names are just a way to help navigate the fretboard.
16th Note Exercise
Apply the following 16th note steady down/up/down/up picking exercise to each of the 5 Pentatonic Scale Forms. Form 1 is shown as an example.
Pentatonic Scales Hammers and Pulls Exercise
Here are 5 exercises using hammers (ascending) and pulls (descending) for the 5 basic minor Pentatonic Scale Forms.
C Major Pentatonic Scale Forms
The following are the 5 basic Major 6/9 Pentatonic Scale Forms. Notice that the letter name for each is taken from the EDCAG Octave Shapes.
The Major 6/9 Pentatonic Scales Forms will use the same Octave Shapes in the same order of occurrence as the minor 7/11 Pentatonic Scales. Form 1 always has the E Octave Shape and the rest progress in the same EDCAG order. Like the minor Pentatonic Forms or any other scale when referring to the Octave Shapes, remember that the Octave Shape letter does not refer to the letter name of the scale you are playing. For example, these Major Pentatonics are written using C Major as the key for all of the Forms, but Form 1 is still referred to as using the E Octave Shape, Form 2 is still referred to as using the D Octave Shape and so on. There is a small hurdle to get over to understand this when you are first looking at it this way. You will soon realize though, that the letter name of the scale is independent of the Octave Shape letter and that the Octave Shape letter names are just a way to help navigate the fretboard.
Major Scale Forms
Here are 6 forms (fingering patterns) of the Major Scale. There are many other ways to play these (such as 3 note per string versions), but these forms serve as a good starting point and can be used if you want to stay in a fret position with minimal shifting to other positions. All of these forms can be used to play any Major Scale by moving them to different positions. I refer to these as the “6 Basic Major Scale Forms”. I might say the F form, or the G form etc. In this case, the only reference I would be indicating is that of the finger pattern. For instance, if I referred to a G Major Scale played using the F Major Scale form, you would play the F Major Scale form starting with the 1st finger on the 3rd fret. Any of these 6 basic forms can be used to play any (musical letter name) major scale by moving to a different position. On a string instrument like guitar, by learning one Scale (or Chord) if no open strings are used, you can play any other (musical letter name) Scale (or Chord) using the same finger pattern.
Modes of the F Major Scale Form
Modes can also be derived in a similar way from any other Major Scale form by starting on different notes of that form.
