Pentatonic Scales

[Quadrochosis]

Hey all, I've been a guitar player for about 8 years now but I never really have been serious about it until recently. I know all my chords, and most of my scales.

However, recently I've been really really into just improvising on Pentatonic Scales (Am, Em, Dm mostly). I can literally set up a loop of 3 or 4 chords and just play over them for hours (literally) without getting bored.

My question is, is this good practice? Like will I get better by doing this, or is there any other things that I should be doing as I improvise on these scales in order to make my playing better? Or is what I'm doing fine?

Again, I've been playing guitar for a long time but I still consider myself a noob because I never really practiced seriously, but lately I've been really into improving my play style, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, before I start messing around I do have a warmup routine that involves me playing in time with a metronome so it's not like my entire practice sessions are just me jamming and messing around

Thanks for any and all advice, guys!

[jsem]

It does you no harm whatsoever to practice improvising using pentatonic scales. Try to think outside the box though - experiment with what notes sound good other than the pentatonic notes, you'll be amazed. Try using dorian, mixolydian and other modes to spice it up a little.

Seriously, it's really good to improvise - you learn phrasing. Also another good thing is to record yourself. Again: RECORD YOURSELF. You'll notice your fails... and DEFINITELY in the department of rhythm, if you're steady.


Practicing technique would be a good thing. And if you wanna improve chord-wise, pick up a real book and play the chords (then when you get better chords/melody simultaneously) to some jazz standards - find the smartest positionings.. etc.

Also, try doing in other keys as well - it shouldn't be hard at all, the same shapes... but just to get the fluency going over the fretboard.



A lot of random advice to ya.. hope it helps

[carl320]

Seriously, it's really good to improvise - you learn phrasing. Also another good thing is to record yourself. Again: RECORD YOURSELF. You'll notice your fails... and DEFINITELY in the department of rhythm, if you're steady.

That's always a good idea.  In the middle of an improv, you might not be thinking about what you're playing and then come up with a phrase you really want to remember.

Another idea is to learn the different patterns of the pentatonic scale (if you haven't).  The will help when you want to move up and down the neck to different positions.

[Quadrochosis]

Yea what I've been doing is learning like five or so positions for each Pentatonic and I have been practicing transferring from one position to the next so that I can get those down seamlessly. I'm totally in love with improvising and I'd say it takes up like 80% of my practice time. There's honestly not much I like to do more than just improv on guitar. (I could do it all day long)

And since I've been getting into this more and more, as I listen to music I am beginning to realize that a shitload of stuff is written with Pentatonic scales. It's pretty interesting actually.

I'll definitely take your advice on the recording though, I haven't really done that too much yet.

[brakkum]

Pentatonic scales are godly. I'm currently taking a class at my school on improvisation, with a large emphasis on using pentatonic scales as platforms for improvisation. For example say you have a tune that goes from C7 to Bb7 the whole time. Normally people think just move with each chord and go from there. Instead you could just use G minor pentathlon over the whole thing and would sound great, since G minor is found in both of those chords' diatonic keys. Gets much more intense too.
Anyways! Pentatonics rock, keep up the practice!

[Marvellous G]

I'd actually say improvisation is the best 'practice' anyway, as the more you do it you'll naturally start thinking outside the box just by virtue of having used up everything you can in the confines of the pentatonic scales. I remember when I first realised that scales were the way to actually be able to improv at first, and I did the exact same as you, I just messed around for hours at a time.  And to be honest, since I'm not interested in technicality in terms of soloing (although I love my thrash riffs) improv still takes up about 90% of my electric guitar time, I've just got a lot better at it (I hope). I'd say stick with it, as it's the most fun and rewarding thing I've found on guitar.

[kirbywelch92]

I like to go a step further and learn the Blues Minor scale, which is just two more notes but it really opens up a lot of tonal possibilities in the blues department, especially with 7th chords.

[jsem]

I'd go a little bit further and give you this

Epicness.

[Quadrochosis]

I'd go a little bit further and give you this

Epicness.

That goes way above my ability, considering I don't know almost any of those chords.

[brakkum]

I'd go a little bit further and give you this

Epicness.

[jsem]

I'd go a little bit further and give you this

Epicness.

That goes way above my ability, considering I don't know almost any of those chords.

As long as you learn how chords are structured, it's fairly straight forward.

[Quadrochosis]

I'd go a little bit further and give you this

Epicness.

That goes way above my ability, considering I don't know almost any of those chords.

As long as you learn how chords are structured, it's fairly straight forward.

Yea after I posted that I went back and looked a second time and realized that it wasn't as complicated as it looked originally. Still a bit above my level, but a good goal to strive for, nonetheless.