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About the Author
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Dan McAvinchey is a composer/guitarist living in Raleigh, NC.
He believes every musician or composer has the power to release their own record.
His latest CD release on Guitar Nine Records is entitled "Guitar Haus".
Please direct all comments and suggestions for future columns to Dan McAvinchey.
© Dan McAvinchey
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Following are the five basic pentatonic scales every guitarist should know. They are notated in the key of C, making them C major pentatonics. They are also known as A minor pentatonics and can be used in the key of A minor quite easily.
The position 1 pentatonic scale can be repeated starting at fret 15 on the low E string; the position 2 scale can be repeated starting at fret 17 on the low E string, etc. Simply add 12 to the fret numbers shown to get the scale in the next octave.
Each scale can be played in any key by shifting the pattern a given number of frets. For example, to play the Ab major or G minor pentatonic scale, shift each of these scales two frets lower. So the position 1 scale would start at fret 1 of the low E string for Ab major or G minor pentatonics.
Position 1:
E |---------------------3-5----------------------------|
B |-----------------3-5--------------------------------|
G |-------------2-5------------------------------------|
D |---------2-5----------------------------------------|
A |-----3-5--------------------------------------------|
E |-3-5------------------------------------------------|
Position 2:
E |---------------------5-8----------------------------|
B |-----------------5-8--------------------------------|
G |-------------5-7------------------------------------|
D |---------5-7----------------------------------------|
A |-----5-7--------------------------------------------|
E |-5-8------------------------------------------------|
Position 3:
E |-------------------------8-10-------------------------------------------------------|
B |--------------------8-10------------------------------------------------------------|
G |----------------7-9-----------------------------------------------------------------|
D |-----------7-10---------------------------------------------------------------------|
A |------7-10--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-8-10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Position 4:
E |------------------------------10-12-------------------------------------------------|
B |------------------------10-13-------------------------------------------------------|
G |-------------------9-12-------------------------------------------------------------|
D |-------------10-12------------------------------------------------------------------|
A |-------10-12------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-10-12------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Position 5:
E |-------------------------------12-15------------------------------------------------|
B |-------------------------13-15------------------------------------------------------|
G |-------------------12-14------------------------------------------------------------|
D |-------------12-14------------------------------------------------------------------|
A |-------12-15------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-12-15------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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