sunvalleylaw

Originally Posted by sunvalleylaw

I brought this over from my thread regarding my new jamming project I am involved in. http://www.thefret.net/showthread.ph...372#post200372

In that project, I am called to play fills and leads over a variety of songs, a lot of which are not blues or blues rock songs in minor keys. Thus, I can't just camp out on the minor pentatonic shapes. Having to learn new things.

One technique I have been trying is using the pentatonic shapes, which I have learned up and down the fretboard, but shifting so that I can use the major pentatonic shape. I learned this from some tutorials I found in iTunes. You just shift the standard shape we all think about so that the normal root note is on the right, and not the left. So then it is the note that extends 4 frets above the lowest note in the pattern on the low E string. Then I can expand the pentatonic shapes from there. Obviously you have to remember that the roots are in different places than when you are playing this shape as a minor pattern.

This is easier for me at this point than knowing the full major scales, though I am trying to learn those too. Also, I think it is more flexible for me as it is simple shape based so it gives me a map, but doesn't lock me in as much, and I can experiment and find other tones I can use, such as chord tones that are not in the basic shape.

Ideally, I could just have the fretboard be my canvas and find notes by ear, but being a mid life newbie, having a road map to get started helps. Anyone else use this approach or try this?