The shapes you need to know
The minor and major pentatonic scales are most guitarists’ first step into the world of soloing, but these five-note scales hold more power and possibilities than meets the ear – they’re far from just ‘beginner’s scales’! By looking at these essential shapes from a new perspective, such as playing on a single string, or in pairs or clusters of notes, you can build a more complete understanding of how pentatonic scales work, and helptowards every guitarist’s ultimate goal – to create music. Here, we’ve written 10 musical ideas for you to try out, each demonstrating a more versatile and expanded approach to pentatonic playing. It doesn’t even matter whether you master every riff and lick.