Brief Summary
This video focuses on the importance of melodic patterns when playing guitar, particularly within the pentatonic scale. The presenter explains how these patterns enhance improvisation skills and make playing scales sound more melodic rather than just linear. He outlines three specific melodic patterns to practice, ensuring players go beyond simply ascending or descending scales.
- Melodic patterns improve soloing by adding variety and structure.
- Practicing these patterns helps players understand scales better and enhance creativity.
The video begins with a welcome message, indicating that the presenter will introduce three essential pentatonic scale patterns that every guitarist should master. He skips straight to the demonstration of melodic patterns that involve playing scale notes out of order. These patterns are designed to elevate a guitarist's playing beyond linear scale sequences.
A practical example of how these melodic patterns can sound is provided, showcasing the end result of applying the patterns during improvisation. This sets the stage for understanding the practical application of melodic structures in real musical contexts.
The presenter defines melodic patterns as sequences that involve playing scale notes in a non-linear fashion, which are often referred to as melodic sequences or tonal sequences. This definition emphasizes the difference between simple scale practice and playing in a way that creates a more musical sound.
He explains two main reasons why melodic patterns are vital for improving solos. First, they enhance the musicality of the performance, allowing improvisation to sound more interesting and less mechanical. Secondly, they help players develop a broader view of the scale by encouraging them to think in larger segments rather than just moving between adjacent notes, which the presenter refers to as the "map view."
The presenter discusses the most popular scale form for guitarists, which is the pentatonic scale. He mentions practicing it mainly in the fifth position, whether perceived as minor or major pentatonic. The focus here is on becoming comfortable with these sequences rather than worrying about the root note.
The first melodic pattern introduced is the "every other note" pattern, which should be practiced with every scale. This technique involves skipping every second note in the scale, which creates a unique sound that deviates from traditional linear play.
The second pattern, known as the "back neighbor pattern," incorporates moving back to the previous note after playing a current note. The presenter demonstrates this pattern starting from the lowest note of the scale and emphasizes the importance of mastering it across different scales.
The third pattern is a five-note descending pentatonic pattern, which is distinct to this scale and is often used as a descending lick. This pattern repeats five notes before jumping back up skipping one note, creating a flowing sequence that's effective in solos.
In closing, the presenter reiterates the significance of being able to apply these melodic patterns to any scale. He encourages viewers to integrate at least three different melodic patterns into their practice routine, urging them to move beyond just ascending and descending scales for effective learning and performance.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “Melodic Patterns for Pentatonic Scale Soloing”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 welcome in this video i'm going to show you what i think are the top three pentatonic scale guitar patterns that we should all be able to play when i say patterns i'm referring to melodic patterns playing scale notes out of order not just up and down but still in a logical sequence and you'll see what i mean melodic patterns can also be called melodic sequences or sometimes tonal sequences being able to play scales with melodic patterns is incredibly important in music for two main reasons reason number one is simply how it sounds if you've worked on scales before and then tried to improvise you probably noticed that your improvisation just sounded like a scale
0:52 using melodic patterns is one of the main tools improvisers and composers use to make the application of a scale sound like it's not just a scale it breaks up the boring sound of a scale makes it sound actually melodic reason number two is that it affects how we see and hear our note options within a scale or key so playing a scale perfectly up and down doesn't mean that we truly know the scale it just means that we know how to play it up and down at that point we've worked on one view of the
1:40 scale and that view is being able to see what note is next at any given time and that's it when we can only see or hear with the note that's next i call that the maze view breaking up the scale into patterns when we're jumping to areas that are beyond only that next note of the scale it forces us to look at bigger chunks of the scale seeing more of it at once when we can see the whole structure of the scale at once and we're able to jump to any note knowing exactly what that note is i call that the map view of course we want the map view and of course we want to sound like we're playing melodies not just scales which is why i'm making this video because practicing scales with melodic patterns is exactly how we achieve both
2:25 of those things the most popular scale form on the guitar is this pentatonic scale form here i'm playing in the fifth position and this would most commonly be viewed as either a minor pentatonic with this note as the root or c major pentatonic with this note as the root don't worry about what the root is when you're working on melodic patterns just make sure you can do the sequence properly so here are the top three melodic scale patterns to be able to play with this pentatonic scale form melodic pattern number one is just every other note
3:21 so the every other note pattern is a pattern you should strive to be able to do with every single scale you ever learn melodic pattern number two is the back neighbor pattern this is where you play a scale note and then you go back a note and then you play that first note again and that's one unit so after that you move to the next note of the scale and you do that same unit again repeating the pattern because we have to go back a note i'm going to start the pattern on the second lowest note of the scale form
4:17 do the back neighbor pattern is also a pattern that you should strive to be able to do with every single scale you ever learn melodic pattern number three is a five note pentatonic pattern this is just unique to the pentatonic scale and does not need to be applied to other types of scales this is most commonly used as a descending lick so i'll start on the high note to show it to you play
5:05 five notes in one direction one two three four five and that's one unit then you jump back up the same direction skipping a note so we'll skip this next note and we get to this one and we do that unit again one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four when you run out of room you're just done with it it's okay that it didn't have complete the five notes one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four and you're out of space you could go down if you wanted to this is often played starting on the second string you play this note and you actually make that the five notes so you go one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five notice now we completed the unit we completed
5:54 the sequence just on this lowest note so the two ways are one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four or one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five they are the same thing i'm just starting here and counting five instead of starting here counting five and then starting it adding this note on ascending it sounds like this and those are what i think are the top three pentatonic scale guitar patterns that we should all make sure that we're able to play you definitely do not need to master every
6:41 scale pattern that would be impossible but for every scale and scale form that you want to know and use effectively i highly recommend that you go beyond just being able to play it up and down and that you make sure you're able to play it with at least three different melodic patterns both directions that's it for this lesson i'm experimenting with how to bring you the most value on this channel so let me know was this helpful or inspiring if so give me just a simple yes in the comments and hit that like button to help me out thanks so much make sure you're subscribed and i'll see you next time
