Robin May

The subtitle for this final part of my series on the minor pentatonic and blues scale is 'Pulling it all together'.

The focus here is on consolidating what you've learned in parts one to five and, hopefully, embedding it within you as concrete knowledge that you can call upon at any time when soloing and jamming.

I work through identifying the relationships of the notes within the scale, so that you begin to recognise which notes are the roots, flattened thirds, fourths, fifths etc.

No guitar required with this final video! Simply sit back and select play:



The minor pentatonic and blues scale are often utilised when playing over blues songs and backing tracks. The blues, in it's most basic form, consists of only three chords - the first (I), fourth (IV) and fifth (V ) chords that are derived from harmonising the major scale. In the key of E these would be E, A and B. In G they are G, C and D. In A they are A, D and E. Locate these notes on your guitar and you'll begin to see the pattern that results.

I see an 'L' shape that is lying down. This pattern repeats itself across the guitar neck and I encourage you to notice and learn it. Note that when we cross from the 3rd to 2nd strings notes tend to be one fret higher than we might expect.

Below is a diagram that shows only the 1st, 4th and 5th notes (key of E) from the positions that we have been focusing upon within this series. Find and play them on your guitar. Commit to memory, the pattern of where to find them:
NB: I haven't put some of the 1st, 4th and 5ths into these diagrams because my purpose here is for you to notice the lying-down 'L' shape at this stage.

Notice that most of the time:

The fourth is one string south of the root, at the same fret.
The fifth is one string north of the root, at the same fret.

Here is the same diagram but with the blues note (flattened fifth) added:
In the following diagram I have highlighted the lying down 'L' shape relationships that I'm encouraging you to recognise/learn.


Now I suggest you notice another lying down 'L', which highlights another spatial relationship between the first, fourth and fifth on a guitar neck:
With regard to where this doesn't occur, when travelling across the second and third strings, notice and remember the following -

When moving UP a scale, and crossing the third to second strings, everything is UP ONE FRET further than you might expect.
When moving DOWN a scale, and crossing the second to third strings, everything is DOWN ONE FRET further than you might expect.

This is a product of standard tuning on a guitar and, as such, is a constant ~ whichever scale you consider.

Notice that the flattened seventh is one tone or two frets down from the root:
The minor pentatonic is a minor scale (it's in the name!). As the blues scale is simply the minor pentatonic with an added note ~ it is also a minor scale. The definition of minor is determined by the interval between the first and the third. This is a crucial piece of musical understanding:

A major third interval is two tones, or four frets.

All major scales/modes are defined by this two-tone / four fret interval between the 1st and 3rd.
          For example, every A major scale has a C# note in it.
All major chords are defined by this two-tone interval between the 1st and the 3rd.
          For example, every A major chord has a C# note in it.
 
A minor third interval is tone and a half, or three frets.

All minor scales/modes are defined by this tone and a half / three fret interval between the 1st and the flattened 3rd.
          For example, every A minor scale has a C note in it.
All minor chords are defined by this tone and a half / three fret interval between the 1st and the flattened 3rd.
          For example, every A minor chord has a C note in it.

Notice that, just as the 5th is two frets up from the 4th, the flattened third is two frets down from the 4th: The 4th sits in the middle, equidistant between the flattened third and the 5th.

Therefore, by adding the flattened third to our diagram, we now have the blues scale across our entire neck. Remember that all patterns repeat every 12 frets, so once you know a scale across 12 frets you know it everywhere: