Major Pentatonic Scale

The major pentatonic scale takes five notes from the major scale: the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th. It leaves out the 4th and the 7th, the two notes that create tension, so what's left sounds bright, sweet and open. It's the sound of country leads, Southern rock, soul fills, and the happier side of blues.

This chapter is the compact reference for the scale, in G. The free first lesson gives you the formula, the five boxes as fretboard diagrams, where the scale fits and how to move it to any key. The second lesson adds drills: Box 1 in sixteenths, ascending groups of four, a string-skipping pattern and a line that climbs from Box 1 through Box 3. The third lesson puts it over a G to C country-rock vamp with two original licks, one with a bend from the 2nd to the 3rd, one that leans on the 6th and ends on a sweet double-stop.

If you already know the minor pentatonic, you know these shapes: G major pentatonic uses the same notes as E minor pentatonic.