Positional Pentatonic Playing

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.

Instead of shifting this shape up to C at the 8th fret of the 6th string (a valid approach), let’s find a C minor pentatonic pattern that keeps us close to Pattern #1 of A Minor Pentatonic. Here's a look at Pattern #5 of C Minor Pentatonic.

Utilizing Pattern #5 when playing the Cm7 chord keeps us in the 5th position for both chords. Practice switching between patterns while playing over the backing track. Here’s a visual representation of the scale shapes to use while practicing over the jam track:

Once you become comfortable with switching back and forth between these scale patterns, try targeting the red and blue chord tones to emphasize the chord changes.

Here is an example solo over these chord changes.  Notice the notes I chose to land on as each chord goes by.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson and I encourage you to explore more ways over playing over this jam track.  Try utilizing the other patterns of the Minor Pentatonic or venture deeper into modes like Dorian!

I hope you found this lesson helpful.  If you’re interested in going into topics like this more, please contact me to schedule a free 30-min Zoom lesson!
​Interested in learning or writing guitar tablature like the ones in this lesson?  Check out Guitar Pro 8: www.guitar-pro.com/#ae898