THE PENTATONIC SCALE is a good friend to us guitarists, but there occasionally comes a time when we want to spread our wings a little and think outside ‘the box’. Many of us investigate harmony and theory books and websites, only to have our interest rebuffed with musical jargon and exercises that seem impossible to assimilate into our repertoire (that has taken many a long hour to acquire as it is). A good solution could be to start with a universal pattern (like the Pentatonic or ‘Blues scale’), then add in more informed note choices on a progressive basis. Taking a wellused fragment of chord progression (known in many circles as a II-V-I) we’ve arranged three scales or patterns in the same area of the fretboard to demonstrate how to subtly shift between chords - plus a couple of ‘deluxe’ added notes to really nail the specifics of the chord.