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Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck
Five Positions You Should Know:
Meanderings of the Pentatonic Scale
When you’re based in the home position (fifth position for the A minor pentatonic
and blues scales), most of the time you use the upper and lower extensions
for their ability to extend your range. That’s why you play just the top
three strings in the eighth position and the lowest two in third position.
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However, you can play the minor pentatonic scale across the entire width of
the neck using all six strings. Not coincidentally, there are five positions for
the pentatonic scale. Some are more useful than others, but knowing all five
in their complete, six-string form allows you to play any scale note on any
string in any position on the guitar. It means you know the entire area of the
neck — which roughly consists of 140 notes!
Relating the positions to each other
To understand how the five patterns of the pentatonic scale relate to one
another, start off by viewing two positions: the eighth and third positions.
When you play the full versions, their positions change to seventh and
second, respectively, but the notes are still in the same place.
Figure 9-10 shows the full, six-string pattern for the A minor pentatonic scale
in seventh and second positions. Note that the home position is indicated in
open circles for easy reference. The lower notes of the seventh-position pattern
are actually the upper notes of the fifth position, and the upper notes of
the second-position pattern are the lower notes of the fifth position. So the
patterns really interlock and are related to each other.
2fr.
5fr.
Figure 9-10:
The seventh
and second
positions of
the A minor
pentatonic
scale.
7fr.
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