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Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck
167
The pentatonic positions actually outline specific open-position chord forms, if
you try to look at them that way. The home position relates to the G or E minor
chord. The lower position outlines an A chord. The position immediately above
home is an E chord, and the two above that are D and C or A minor. This relationship
is displayed by first playing the scale and then playing the barre chord
with the appropriate form at the same fret.
Connecting the positions: Licks
that take you up and down
To truly appreciate the scales’ interlocking properties, you need to be able to
connect the positions together in a seamless way. This combination involves
multi-position ascending and descending licks (self-contained melodic passages).
Licks are even more fun to play moving up and down the neck than
scales are, so get ready to really sound (and look) like a blues player. Figure
9-13 is a passage that takes you from eighth to tenth to twelfth position and
back down to home position (at the fifth fret). (See “Like taking candy from a
baby: The subtle shift,” earlier in this chapter for more on shifts.)
Track 53
Figure 9-13:
A passage
with shifts
that take
you in and
out of
multiple
positions.
T
A
B
Shuffle (qr=qce)
A7
3 1 3
_
3 1 4 1
shift
8 10 12 10
10 13 10
1 4 1
_
1 4 2 3
_
shift
10 12
10 13 15 13 14
3 2 1 1 4 1 3
shift
12 10
13 13 10
14 12
1
_
1 3 1
_
1 3 1 3
shift shift
10 8
9 7 5
7 5 7
Understanding the Logic behind the
Corresponding Shift of Position and Key
You quickly find that when you learn a lick in closed position, transposing it
up or down the neck is no big deal, technically. It’s the same lick, different
location. But for your guitar playing to be meaningful to the outside world,
you must know what happens (and why) when you move around. You can’t
just grab any position to play a lick arbitrarily because there are typically
constraints on where you can play something. For example, if you’re learning
a song that must stay in a particular key.
TEAM LinG