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Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos
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The notes
In E minor, the notes of the pentatonic scale are E, G, A, B, and D. These notes
can be easily found and played in open position, which makes it a great starting
point for learning pentatonic-scale concepts. Figure 8-6 shows the notes
and tab of the E minor pentatonic scale in open position.
Track 44
Figure 8-6:
The
ascending E
minor
pentatonic
scale.
T
A B 0 2
0 3
0 2
0 2
0 3
0 3
When figuring out a new scale, most guitarists like to see just the neck diagram
(instead of the tab written out) because remembering a cluster of notes
is quicker. Also, a neck diagram doesn’t tell you to play the notes in any
order, like music and tab do; it just shows you which notes are in the scale.
The way to make the scale shine
When you can run the notes from bottom to top and top to bottom, it’s time
to mix up the order of the notes. After all, music is about a lot more than running
scales — even if it’s a really cool scale, like the minor pentatonic! The
minor pentatonic shines when it’s played against the chords in an E blues —
E, A, and B7.
In Figure 8-7, I mix it up a little for you, and you take the minor pentatonic
scale and play a 12-bar blues with it. The lead plays over the rhythm part by
using the notes of the E minor pentatonic scale. This exercise is your first
official solo. Try memorizing this figure and practicing at different tempos
until you can play it smoothly and confidently.
The blues creates drama in part because the melody uses blue notes that
don’t fit in the major scale. In the key of E, the major scale is E, F#, G#, A, B, C#,
and D#. And the chords of the blues progression include these notes. But a
quick look at the E major scale and E pentatonic minor scale reveals they
have few notes in common.
TEAM LinG