Lessons - Bass – A Minor Pentatonic Scale Sequence Exercise (Guitar Tab)
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Chords
For clearance, this contribution is not a meant as a tab, but as a visual representation of the fretboard.
Though all the horizontal lines in this article correspont with the following principle:
G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Now lets's start:
First let's start of with a anatomical overview of the A minor Pentatonic scale on the fretboard:
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A minor Pentatonic Scale note-pattern (parallel of C Major Pentatonic)
-G-||---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|
-D-||---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|
-A-||---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|
-E-||---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|---|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|---|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
A minor Scale interval pattern (parallel of C Major)
-b7||---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|
-4-||---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|
-1-||---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|
-5-||---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
A minor Scale box-pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now let's begin with the exercises:
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EXERCISE 1 - Going up and down the scale pattern (keep a steady slow beat)
A minor Pentatonic (Box 1), up and down, this is how it looks like in tabs: G|-------------5-7--7-5------------- D|---------5-7----------7-5--------- A|-----5-7------------------7-5----- E|-5-8--------------------------8-5- A minor Pentatonic (Box 1), up and down, this is how it looks like in note names: G|-------------C-D--D-C------------- D|---------G-A----------A-G--------- A|-----D-E------------------E-D----- E|-A-C--------------------------C-A- A minor Pentatonic (Box 1), up and down, this is how it looks like in interval sequence: G|---------------b3-4--4-b3--------------- D|----------b7-1------------1-b7---------- A|------4-5----------------------5-4------ E|-1-b3------------------------------b3-1-
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EXERCISE 2 - In groups of 3 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b3 4, b3 4 5, 4 5 b7, 5 b7 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b7 5, b7 5 4, 5 4 b3, 4 b3 1, and so on
A minor Scale box-pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string) ---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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EXERCISE 3 - In groups of 4 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b3 4 5, b3 4 5 b7, 4 5 b7 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b7 5 4, b7 5 4 b3, 5 4 b3 1, and so on
A minor Scale box-pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string) ---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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EXERCISE 4 - 'Hopping' or 'Skipping' (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 4, b3 5, 4 b7, 5 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 5, b7 4, 5 b3, 4 1, and so on
A minor Scale box-pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string) ---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|---|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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Note: you can apply these 4 principles (straight up and down, groups of 3, groups of 4, hopping/skipping)
to any scale pattern you like. As long as you keep the interval pattern correct. But I would strongly
suggest you start mastering the basics first, that is: Pentatonics within only Box 1 figure like shown
above and then only explore more complex pentatonic fretboard patterns when you first are able to survive
a descent improvasation session by using only Box 1.