Positional Pentatonic Playing - who doesn’t love alliteration?

This post focuses on using different patterns of the Minor Pentatonic scale to change keys without shifting to a different part of the fretboard.
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Let’s look at the backing track we’ll use to practice this concept.

A two-chord vamp, this track cycles between Am7 and Cm7. For the Am7 chord, we’ll improvise using the A minor pentatonic scale, specifically Pattern #1 starting at the 5th fret of the 6th string.

About the Solo
I remember discovering Per Nilsson’s solo on Zierler’s track “Aggrezzor” while I was in college, and it absolutely blew me away.
Nilsson’s precision is second to none. Like one of my other favorite guitarists, Vinnie Moore, Nilsson’s playing is incredibly melodic while tastefully incorporating blazing fast runs and arpeggios. This solo showcases all of those elements.
The Song
“Aggrezzor” is by Zierler, a group led by Danish keyboardist Finn Zierler. It’s a groovy progressive metal tune with lots of twists and turns, and Nilsson’s rhythm guitar work takes the song to another level.
After a clean break, we’re introduced to some of Nilsson’s melodies, followed by an awesome solo from Zierler (don’t sleep on his keyboard work!). Once Zierler wraps up, Nilsson launches into his solo. Even though it’s only 16 bars at 200 bpm, this solo is packed with great material.
The Solo
​While the key signature suggests C# major, that doesn’t tell the whole story. The chord progression Nilsson is soloing over looks like this:

Surprising to see a series of four major chords in a metal tune, right? If we dig a little deeper, we can start to unravel what makes this solo sound so interesting.
If it’s not obvious, there’s no single key that contains all four of these chords. To navigate this progression, Nilsson uses a technique called Modal Interchange. While the song’s overall harmony is set by the other instruments, Nilsson’s melodic choices add an extra layer of intrigue.
Anticipation
This is a fast tune, and the chord changes fly by. Nilsson is no stranger to this, and it’s evident in his use of anticipation.
Rather than waiting for the downbeat of each chord, Nilsson often anticipates the changes by playing notes from the upcoming chord before it arrives.
Just before measure 3 of the solo, you can see (and hear) him anticipate the major 3rd of the upcoming E major chord (G#).

Measure 4 has another example of anticipation as Nilsson lands on E#, the major 3rd of the upcoming C# chord, just before it hits.

Rhythm
Not only are these anticipations played ahead of the chord changes, they’re also played on upbeats. Notice how both of the examples above are on the “and” of beat 4. This creates a groove in the solo. In fact, after the first note of the solo, Nilsson doesn’t land on beat 1 again until measure 9! This gives the solo a floating quality, making it feel less anchored to the band’s rhythm.
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Harmony

​In the table above, I’ve mapped out the notes Nilsson uses in this solo over each chord in the progression. Notice how he doesn’t play every single note of the scale over every chord. For one, the chord changes are too quick for that. More importantly, he carefully chooses which notes he wants to highlight.
Nilsson isn’t afraid to omit some notes to focus on the ones that really matter. This is key—just because a scale “fits” doesn’t mean you have to use every note in it. Take what he does over the E chord, for example. He’s essentially playing a triad with an added 4th degree, and it sounds killer. As you work on your solos, explore different possibilities. For instance, does a ♭6th sound better over the C# chord, giving you a Mixolydian ♭6 vibe? There’s no right answer, just what sounds good to your ears.
Further driving this point home, the tapping section at the end of the solo is entirely triadic—and it’s badass!
Conclusion
A lot of players fall into the trap of overcomplicating their approach, searching for the most exotic scales to use in a solo. But as you can see, you can be just as effective—if not more—by playing fewer notes. This is the whole “less is more” idea applied to scales instead of the number of notes. Don’t get me wrong, Nilsson is playing a ton of notes in this solo! But there are fewer ingredients than you might think. These ingredients work so well together because they’re chosen with precision and intention.
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Here’s a video of me attempting to play Per Nilsson’s solo:

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While you can’t always account for everything that might happen when it comes to a live performance, there are many things you can do to ensure that you perform confidently and put on a great show. Being diligent about your preparation is a great start. Once the preparation is done, you do the best you can at the performance, rinse and repeat. If you trust in your preparation and process, you've done all you can to ensure a great performance. There are always going to be variables such as adrenaline, strings breaking, cables cutting out, or someone spilling beer on your pedalboard. These things are out of your control. All you can do is work on what you can control.
When it comes to nerves, you will grow more comfortable performing with time. However, I do think that for most people, adrenaline will always have at least some influence. This is part of the beauty of playing live. The spontaneity creates a sense of excitement.

I remember jamming with a friend of mine one day when I was at Berklee, and he showed me something he learned in class called the "Never Ending Scale." I was immediately intrigued.
He explained how it was a way of playing one-note-per-string scales, an unorthodox way of laying scales out on the neck. The reason for doing this is to have yourself jumping all over the neck trying to find these notes, thus increasing your fretboard fluency.
The "never-ending" element comes from the way that the notes seem to wrap around the neck in a seemingly infinite loop, as you'll see in the example laid out below.
This can be quite difficult to pull off, especially when played in time. At this point, I would consider this primarily a note location/fretboard knowledge exercise, as it doesn't really provide much melodic content. That being said, if you can do this successfully, there's a good chance you're pretty adept at finding the notes on the fretboard.