Video:

• The Power of Pentatonics #3: Phrasing in the Major Pentatonic

You might (or might not) know all 5 fingerings of the pentatonic scale, but I find that a lot of people don’t actually know how to work with some, or even most, of them. This lesson offers some thoughts on how to use the major pentatonic scale to generate some good melodic phrases using each of the 5 fingerings. By incorporating slides into the notes, wider intervallic leaps, and double-stops, you can come up with some surprisingly hip licks using nothing more than the major pentatonic.

Major pentatonic phrases work well in rock, folk, and country contexts (among others) when you are looking for a simple lick over a major chord. This lesson can get you started at developing a stockpile of these licks.

See the attached PDF (link above) for tabs to the licks played in this video.