Building Your Fretboard Knowledge – Part 2

In the last post on building your fretboard knowledge, I focused on using chord shapes. In this installment, I’ll focus on using the pentatonic major and minor scales. These two scales are the most popular scales throughout the world. I think they are more important than the full major and minor scales when beginning the guitar. The exception to this rule is learning classical guitar techniques and literature.

The Difference Between Pentatonic Scales

Like scales with eight notes, the pentatonic scales are divided into major and minor. When to use which in soloing is debatable and subjective. However, the general rule of “like with like” (i.e. major song/major scale and minor song/minor scale) should be the starting point.

I have labeled the scale shapes below as The Pentatonic and The Blues Scale signifying the major and minor scales respectively. You will notice the scale degree numbers indicated next to the description. Each uses scale degrees related to a major scale. For instance, a major scale would be written 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 to indicate the solfege do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti. The Pentatonic scale would leave out 4 and 7 of the major scale giving the five notes for the pentatonic.

The Blues Scale differs in the use of flattened notes and the added augmented 4th or flattened 5th. This note is idiomatic to the blues sound. It gives the “feel” of the blues when added to the scale. Therefore, I recommend learning it as a part of the scale rather than adding it after learning the shape.

Relating Scales To Chords

Learning the five main chord shapes (see Building Your Fretboard Knowledge – Part 1) should be paralleled with learning the five main pentatonic and blues scale shapes. This develops an understanding of their relationship on the fretboard. This leads to fluency in the art of improvisation and single note soloing. Again, the most important aspect is the ability to “see” or visualize the shapes on the guitar.

Practicing The Scales

Initially, get comfortable playing these scales as written according to the frets indicated. You will be playing the scales in either A major or A minor. Pay attention to where scale degree 1 appears on each scale. This is the root note of the scale. In this case, the note you are playing is an A. After getting comfortable seeing and playing these scales, every student should change the root note to the seven non-accidental keys (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G).

For further application, search for a backing track on YouTube to practice soloing with the scales. If you want to practice the key of B, then search for a B major or minor backing track. Find one that suits your taste and jam out using the various shapes around the fretboard.

If you’d like to get all of these on a PDF printout, then click below to download them from Gumroad. They are free but if you’re feeling generous, consider paying something to support this work. Thanks.

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.