E major pentatonic is relative to A minor, meaning that its scale shapes can be used across both keys. This makes learning the scale easier for beginners who might otherwise struggle to remember different formations of scales.
In this article we will be studying E minor pentatonic using pattern 1, which includes all the notes found within an Em chord shape (shown in gray). You can use this same approach to construct G major pentatonic.
Open Position
Pentatonic scales are among the most essential tools for guitarists. Used across various genres and musical situations, pentatonic scales provide guitarists with invaluable tools for melodies creation and improvisation. One particularly popular pentatonic is E major pentatonic, as its versatility and ease of playing make it extremely useful in many different settings.
When starting to learn E major pentatonic scale, the open position will be your initial fretted pattern. It utilizes all five notes found within this scale and starts on low E string – starting here can help ensure success!
For this scale to work effectively you will require your left hand to fret the strings with its fingers. In addition, palm muting strings is key if you intend on playing distortion guitar music as this allows longer note sustain.
Practice the open position of this scale using a scale chart or tablature. A chart will indicate where to position your fingers on the fretboard while tablature will tell you which notes to play; charts usually feature dots which show which strings should be played as well as which frets should be pressed down with fingers; in addition, tablatures usually contain numbers or letters representing each fret on every string.
Once you have mastered the open position of the E major pentatonic scale, you can move onto mastering its other four positions. To do this effectively, it will help if you can identify all intervals and have excellent picking technique; this will make playing your scales when improvising or jamming easier than before.
Each position of the E minor pentatonic will feature a different root note; however, all five positions share the same pattern of notes reiterating every octave up until 12th fret when they change again. By practicing each minor pentatonic scale pattern this way, familiarising yourself with their intervals and patterns.
The example below demonstrates how to play an E major pentatonic scale using pattern 1 in open position, followed by its extension down onto low E string using pattern 2.
CAGED Positions
When first starting to learn a scale, it can be useful to break it down into different positions on the fretboard so you can practice small bits at a time and connect them together into larger patterns – this technique is known as CAGED system and it’s an ideal way for beginning guitarists to master pentatonic scales like diatonic.
To use the CAGED method, start by strumming the low E string and placing your index finger at its second fret, stretching your middle finger up to its fourth fret – while simultaneously fretting notes with both middle and ring fingers as you go up each string in this scale.
This pattern represents the ascending form of the E Major Pentatonic Scale. You may recognize it from songs across genres, including Paramore’s punchy “Ain’t It Fun” and Green Day’s alt-punk classic “Basket Case.” To view how this scale sounds on the fretboard, refer to the chart below.
Once you’ve mastered the E major pentatonic scale in its open position, experiment by playing it alongside chord progressions to get an understanding of how this scale functions within music. When connected patterns appear on your fretboard, move up and down it in order to improvise over songs or backing tracks.
Practice changing the tone of the scale by playing it in minor, which will help familiarize yourself with both major and minor pentatonic scale shapes. Or take minor pentatonic licks from minor pentatonic scales and convert them to major for an added twist!
Another key point when progressing these patterns up the fretboard should be targeting your root note of each scale – this will make improvising and connecting different patterns much simpler. If you’re having difficulty with connecting these patterns, begin learning one at a time until all five have been linked up, after which start improvising over chord progressions in any key.
Arpeggios
The E major pentatonic scale is an easy way for guitarists to start learning the fretboard. With four sharps in its key signature, practicing its notes carefully will help cement this scale in your memory and develop muscle memory. Constructing arpeggios with scale shapes is another useful method of memorizing this scale and sticking it in your brain; you could also improvise over backing tracks; this will not only develop your thinking capabilities on the spot but will help understand chord structures as well as shifting keys when necessary.
Embedding patterns into your muscle memory is crucial when learning any new scale, especially pentatonic scales which can often be utilized in many different situations. The E Major Pentatonic Scale can be utilized both melodically and harmonically when played over any chord in E, so to get you started we will look at its first pattern from the open position and how it may be utilized both ways.
To achieve this, we will simply play the scale pattern up and down on all strings while changing chords progressively – doing this will allow you to understand more fully the role these notes can play both melodically and harmonically.
Once we’ve completed this, we will revisit the same pattern, this time incorporating both major and minor 7th arpeggios – created by adding natural 7ths (b7) one fret after each scale’s root note – into it. This creates two very distinctive sounding arpeggios which can be used to produce chords and melodies when played over particular chords.
These movable patterns provide excellent examples of how the E Major Pentatonic scale can be utilized in various situations; however, it’s important to keep in mind that each can also work when moved up or down by three frets for its respective minor key scale.
Chords
The E major pentatonic scale is an excellent way to play over chords because it can be played either in minor or major tones using similar finger patterns – only its starting note (called tonic) differs between minor and major versions. To practice it properly, try ascending and descending scales over a backing track as this will help you memorize them better while building an understanding of their relationships between one another.
The open position of the E major pentatonic scale begins at the second fret of the low E string. You can locate this fret using the scale diagram provided here, which depicts each fret on your guitar neck as dot in its diagram and shows which finger you should press on each fret. Furthermore, you can use the Start Fret option on the left side to highlight different finger patterns for specific scale positions.
There are a variety of E chord shapes that use similar fingering to that found in pentatonic scales, most notably Em and A shapes, which are both frequently found in songs; indeed, these two chords make up most of E major pentatonic scale.
The other two positions of a scale, known as “box” shapes, can also be used to play G major chords. This scale contains all of the notes for this popular chord in improvisation – you’ll probably see most guitarists improvising using these chords!
As with the open position, these patterns can be played using either major or minor tones. If you want to hear what they sound like, listen to songs which use these scales. James Honeyman-Scott famously employed E major pentatonic scale during his stunning solo on Kid as well as for an introduction song Another Girl Another Planet. G major pentatonic scale shares similar properties but with different root note.