Tag Archives: blues rock

Beginning with the major pentatonic

In the last post called Jamming I I introduced you all to a movable pentatonic minor blues box. It’s the foundation of most blues rock guitar and a really very highly versatile scale that will allow you to play licks, phrases and motifs across the neck.

BUT it’s definitely a scale with a dark and minor character: moody, doleful and chock full of midnight moonlight. What happens though if you manage to shake off those blues shackles and even crack a wry old grin into your sleeve every now and then?

So to complement the minor today I`m going to introduce the Major Pentatonic Box and this has a much more uplifting “major” character. If this sounds a litttle like GREEK to you then “DONT PANIC!” because it’s all about creating a mood, it’s all about discovering the way different sounds and intervals (the gaps between notes in terms of both pitch and space) create, enhance or combine to communicate emotion.