Stage Zero Five: Advanced Pentatonics & Blues Ideas for 6 and 7 String Guitar.

By popular demand of our Syndicate Members, in this lesson we’re going to be covering some really unorthodox, ways to play & map out pentatonic and blues scales. We’ll of course be covering these ideas on both 6 and 7 string guitars. If you’re observant you should be able to apply these to 8 string as well. Go Straight!

If you’ve been following us for a while now you’ll know we are massive fans of advanced pentatonic scales. Not just your typical box pentatonics, oh no, there’s nothing cool about single position 2nps pentatonic boxes. We’re all about progressing ideas on the instrument and discovering new ways to do things. So in this lesson we’ll be looking at unconventional uses of the pentatonic and blues scales. All these examples will use the minor pentatonic scale but if you understand the concepts you’ll be able to translate them to the major pentatonic too. Included in this guide is the dreaded three note per string pentatonics. Brace yourself.

We’ll be covering a ton of really cool ideas so get ready, you’ve never seen pentatonics like this before!

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Melodic Minor Modes for 8 String Guitar With ‘High A’ Tuning

Pentatonics, Scales & Modes - CJ

High A tuning? What is this mysterious extra high string you speak of? That’s not a proper 8 string guitar! An extra high string? We’ve heard it all. In this lesson we’re going to look at the Melodic Minor Modes using an alternative tuning for 8 string guitar. We’ll also touch on the Pentatonics of Melodic Minor and how to find them within each mode of this scale.

I have a fanned fret guitar with a 26 to 23 inch scale length so my guitar was specifically built for this tuning. While I like low F# 8 string music I’ve never been a fan of playing those guitars myself. For me, a low B or even drop A provides all the low end I could ever need, on top of this, I don’t have a really long scale length and fretboard to deal with.

Going one lower AND one HIGHER made much more sense. To me this unlocks many more possiblities than an additional low string. With a high A string we can now span 4 octaves in a single position, on top of this the chordal possiblities are amazing. Lets get into this lesson and check out the 8 string melodic minor modes.

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Scale Study: The Mysterious Pentatonics of Melodic Minor

Pentatonics, Scales & Modes - CJ

Welcome guitar fans, to yet another in depth scale study & theory lesson. This time we’re looking at the mysterious Pentatonics of Melodic Minor. The Major b6 Pentatonic & The Minor b5 Pentatonic.

These are scales that most players don’t know but will add a new arsenal of exotic possibility to your playing if you can nail them down. This lesson goes deep, so warm up, plug in, & get ready!

The basic format for the pentatonics of melodic minor are still two note per string, however the fingerings and intervals will feel unconventional if you’re used to the standard major and minor pentatonics. We’re going to look at these scales on a 7 string guitar however if you don’t have a 7 string, don’t worry! You can still learn these shapes but your root notes will change.

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Scale Study & Theory: Pentatonics for 7 String Guitar

Pentatonics, Scales & Modes - CJ

Welcome back to another scale study lesson! In this lesson we’re going to check out the 5 positions of the pentatonic scale and how they translate to the 7 string guitar! We’ll also look at some extended concepts for advanced pentatonic application. All these examples can be applied to 6 string as well but more players are looking to the extended range guitars to take their playing to the next level and expand their knowledge.

In this lesson we’ll not only learn the 5 positions of the Pentatonics for 7 String Guitar. We’ll also learn how they reference the corresponding modes of the major scale. If you have the ability to mix your pentatonic and modal playing this will massively help you visualise the neck. This will also help you create interesting melodies and new creative ideas. We’ll also include some advanced concepts that will help you break out of the standard ways of playing pentatonics.

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Scale Studies & Theory: The Dominant Pentatonic Scale

Pentatonics, Scales & Modes - CJ

Now the fun begins. If you have nailed down the standard major and minor pentatonic scales then these shapes will add an extra exotic flavour to your playing. The dominant pentatonic simply raises the minor third interval of the regular minor pentatonic to a major third interval to create a really exotic dominant sound.

In this lesson we’re going to look at five positions of the basic two-note-per string dominant pentatonic scales. Just like the standard pentatonic scale, there is going to be five different shapes. All of these will be built from from each note of the scale. If you’re ready to advance your pentatonics then check out this lesson.

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Pentatonic and Blues – Traditional Shapes

Pentatonics - CJ

In this lesson we’re going to look at the basic 2nps pentatonic and blues scales. There is going to be five different shapes of the pentatonic scale built from each note of the scale. However, unlike the major scale, the pentatonic scale only has 5 notes.

Penta meaning five. Each of these pentatonic and blues scales will begin from the second note of the previous scale. I’ve intentionally not given you fretboard numbers to force you to learn to connect the shapes all over the neck yourself! When you’re ready to take the next step in pentatonic playing check out this lesson! Lets go!

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