As with many of my blog lessons, this one comes from a question…
The question was in reference to using the Major Pentatonic Scale over a blues… and changing the scale for each chord.
Short answer, yes, you can, and here’s how (longer version, it’s not my thing… but you might really love this sound)
Download this video, or Download the TAB
39 replies to "Major Pentatonic Pattern In 3 Positions"
The 3 + 2 pattern. Another lightbulb moment. Thanks Griff.
Cool riffs. Funny thing is how close they are to some of the stuff Dickey Betts and Duane Allman did in “Blue Sky” but how different they sound
Griff
Nice lesson think I will break out the tele today give this a go thanks
Amazingly beautiful and simple. Thanks.
Speaking of counting Griff, I developed what you might think a strange way of counting. Back in the day when I tried sounding like the blues it always ended up sounding more like rock. Some years later I came across the triplet count. So I listened to some blues and then tried counting in threes.. That seemed to start sounding a bit more bluesy. So for blues even if it’s 4 time say, I still count in threes. Any notes between the beats I don’t exactly count I just play them between the counts. I know they’re there so to speak.
Sometimes when I think about it I’m keeping “count” of the beats in say 4 or 8 time in the background but count the notes I play in threes..sounds crackers I know but it’s just the way it worked out for me.
If I’m playing anything else like rock I do count in fours or whatever. I think maybe for me it’s just how I hear a blues rhythm as opposed to anything else. I guess it’s just the way different people hear something. Or I’m just weird maybe….
I like the Telecaster sound here…very Country!
Great music class thank you Griff !!!
Great lesson Griff. Question though: when do you use a major diatonic scale versus a major pentatonic?
My Girl
This is sooo much fun and easy !!
The opener to Santeria (Sublime) is this ! Riff !! I played it but didn’t know the ins and outs of it-
Now I know how it works !! Moving over a fret for the second string ! Too ! Look forward to using this for lead guitar alongside my buddy at the next jam!! 😎
Thanks Again , Griff !! Your Awesome !!
How do you download load? Where does it go on an iPad?
Download folder
Is this a Major pattern over the I, IV and the V chords.. I’m probably wrong but I thought that was a no no.
You can’t play the major scale that goes with the I chord over the IV and V, but you can play the major scale for each chord over that chord, i.e. “chasing the chord.”
Not sure if everyone knows this little trick , but if you play any note on the low E .. For Ex Fifth Fret A . Then play the note on the A string fifth fret D , then the 7th fret on the A string is E . Thats your 1 , 4 , 5 no matter where you play it and any key.
Great video Griff. I love this slow older type blues. To me this is real blues. Wish u would put some more videos out for us like this. Pls and thank u
Young Griff said Molly Hatchet. Cool.
Great lesson Griff! Playing over a slow 12 bar blues feels bluesy to me and it does have a Duane Allman and a Griff Hamlin sound. Iam definitely having fun with this.
Hi
Managed to get that one with the looper beat running in my head. It’s a first from my collection of your lessons. Got my finger pads back and looking for another.
Many thanks Griff
George C
Alicante Spain
Griff,u make learning fun,I dig it,Im almost 50 an still learning the gutiar!!!!
Thanks man,
nice good job . I have seen a minor demostration in the past and memorized it. I am wondering how I might fit that in . I think that that could be easy enough to do. Major to minor to major could spice it up a bit maybe .I will have to try it .
Hi Griff, Awsome lesson, just managed to download it took a while.
I will get to it later.
Thanks
Michael-Sydney-Australia 13th May 2018
Awesome lesson, Griff. Who doesn’t love the Allman Brothers playing, horribly tragic though the band member’s lives were? It makes learning the major pentatonic scale so it can be tastefully mixed in with the minor much clearer. I’ve always had difficulty with that aspect (geez…among so many other aspects I suppose!) of creating a mix of them. Thanks again.
Hello Griff. Counting issue for me. In bar 9, and 10 at the count of 3 is my problem. Bar 9 I’m counting this as 1 + u, 2 + u, then when I’m at the third beat, I see two tied eighth notes. Not sure if the first eighth note gets a 1 + or just a 1.
If they are truly eighth notes, it is hard to count in triplets then switch to eighth notes then back to triplets.
I need some help with this .
Thanks Griff
Nice work. Sat down last night to this and had Alot of fun. Just one more little piece of the puzzle to put I’m to use. Put this to use with the standard licks with box 1 and 2 in E and there is Alot of music to play with.
Great riff Griff, I was hoping there would be tab so I could print it up for my son and daughter. Pick Long and Prosper!
Can totally hear Duane Allman there, and agree, not very “bluesy” sounding. Cool lesson, thanks.
…and such a cool little riff – though I’m still shredding my fingertips on the bends!
That’s so Peter Green around the time of early Fleetwood Mac!
You are my morning coffee…great job and I have some of your videos!!!
Great lesson Griff. That was something I had always wondered about. I always felt a bit conflicted as I felt what you were teaching was not what I thought I was hearing in a lot of classic rock. Esp southern blues/rock. This really made things much more clear. You rock Griff. Thank you.
Clear as mud, and too fast to follow
Fine for intermediates who know their way around the fretboard. There are plenty of beginners’ videos around the site, come back to this one later 😉
If it seems too difficult, you may just not be there yet and that’s fine you will be someday and this will give you an idea of what is to come. However, I suggest watching the video all the way through two or three times before you try to play it. That also may help because you will catch little things every time you watch it through.
Which box are you using?
This is not a box pattern, but for major pentatonics I use this as much or more
cool riffs…always good to have in the pockets…thanks…later.
cowboy
well, just starting out but some of your intro stuff is very quick…by the time you have looked at where the fingers are going and what fret you are onto the next piece…, maybe I’m just a little behind..
Griff, you make it so easy for us that are guitar challenged to make music. Thanks