"Javier" <rojasj@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:28fd3464-a76f-4b35-b3c4-d52a8abc08a4@x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 4, 12:14 am, "Tony Done" <tonyd...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> "Javier" <roj...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:cac79afe-4731-406d-83df-8c32419af8bf@m44g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>
> > I'm a beginner (been playing for a few months now) and really like
> > playing the blues. Could I get some recommendations on easy blues
> > songs I can play on my guitar? I'm not opposed to buying sheet music
> > but I'm on a tight budget so some recommendations would really help
> > pointy me in the right direction.
>
> What Vamp said. If you are interested in electric blues of the kind played
> by Eric Clapton, BB King and very many others, do some studying up on
> pentatonic minor boxes and scales. Most of what they do can be explained
> in
> terms of these, and their patterns will certainly help you to play the
> improvisational style that characterises electric blues and related
> genres.
>
> Tony D
I've searched for the pentatonic minor scale on the Internet and all I
keep running into is a form of tabs. Where the heck can I downlaod the
scales in standard notation?
Javier
Most blues of this style is played by a pattern method, that is the melody
is visualised as groups of notes that can be played anywhere on the
fretboard to achieve different keys. This means that they are usually
learned as boxes, a group of notes that covers all six strings and no more
than four frets. Each pentatonic scale has four such boxes, and even if you
read standard notation, I think you would likely benefit by seeing how these
relate to the boxes. This illustrates what I mean:
http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html
In the scales table on the right hand side, choose "C" and "pentatonic
minor". The boxes cover nut to 4th fret, 3rd to 6th fret, 5th to 8th fret
and 8th to 11th fret, after which they repeat. It you change the key to,
say, D, the boxes just shift up the fretboard but the patterns remain the
same. I think it is these patterns that most blues players learn. The major
pentatonics are exactly the same patterns as the minors in a different
position, that is the Cmaj pent boxes are three frets down from the Cmin
boxes. I also find it easy to visualise other scales in the context of these
boxes, by adding notes (in the 3-semitone intervals) to get the Cmaj
diatonic scale or C dorian mode, for example.
Tony D
VampX
Javier
