Lessons - Bass – C Major 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 C Major Pentatonic scale on the fretboard:
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C Major Pentatonic Scale note-pattern -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 C Major Pentatonic Scale interval pattern -5-||---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-| -2-||---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-| -6-||---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-| -3-||---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-| 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 C Major Pentatonic Scale box-pattern (root on 8th 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
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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)
C Major Pentatonic, up and down, this is how it looks like in tabs: G|----------------7-9--9-7---------------- D|-----------7-10----------10-7----------- A|------7-10--------------------10-7------ E|-8-10------------------------------10-8- C Major Pentatonic, up and down, this is how it looks like in note names: G|-------------D-E--E-D------------- D|---------A-C----------C-A--------- A|-----E-G------------------G-E----- E|-C-D--------------------------D-C- C Major Pentatonic, up and down, this is how it looks like in interval sequence: G|-------------2-3--3-2------------- D|---------6-1----------1-6--------- A|-----3-5------------------5-3----- E|-1-2--------------------------2-1-
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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 2 3, 2 3 5, 3 5 6, 5 6 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 6 5, 6 5 3, 5 3 2, 3 2 1, and so on
C Major Pentatonic Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 3 - In groups of 4 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 2 3 5, 2 3 5 6, 3 5 6 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 6 5 3, 6 5 3 2, 5 3 2 1, and so on
C Major Pentatonic Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 4 - 'Hopping' or 'Skipping' (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 3, 2 5, 3 6, 5 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 5, 6 3, 5 2, 3 1, and so on
C Major Pentatonic Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|---|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 the 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 the figure above.