Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

C Major pentatonic fingering


enuenu

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

I am learning the CAGED system. How should I finger a C Major pentatonic scale in D fingering (starting from 10th fret on low E string)? Here are the strings & frets I am playing;

 

E string

  • Members
Posted

Edit: never mind me. I was thinking "what is D doing in C major pentatonic?". I had no idea that the composition of a major pentatonic scale (1 2 3 5 6) was completely different to the composition of a minor pentatonic (which I know is 1 3 4 5 7).

 

Pfff - just when you think you know something, you discover you know less...

 

... and yet how obvious: when you sit and look at the patterns, and start from the relative major of a minor root and use the pentatonic pattern, indeed you get 1 2 3 5 6 ... blow me down.

 

 

GaJ

  • Moderators
Posted

For the C pentatonic scale in 9th position, the fingering I use is: (string: fret / finger (note))

 

1: 10 / 1 (D) , 12 / 3 (E)

2: 10 / 1 (A) , 13 / 4 ©

3: - 9 / 1 (E) , 12 / 4 (G)

4: 10 / 2 © , 12 / 4 (D)

5: 10 / 2 (G) , 12 / 4 (A)

6: 10 / 2 (D) , 12 / 4 (E)

 

There's a position shift (1 fret) between the G and B strings. The common pentatonic fingerings are two notes per string. There are other less common fingerings but the standard pentatonic fingerings are two notes per string (Ask me why I don't like the CAGED fingerings for heptatonic scales.)

 

For the C major scale in 9th position, I use

 

1: - 8 / 1s © , 10 / 2 (D) , 12 / 4 (E)

2: 10 / 2 (A) , 12 / 4 (B)

3: - 9 / 1 (E) , 10 / 2 (F) , 12 / 4 (G)

4: - 9 / 1 (B) , 10 / 2 © , 12 / 4 (D)

5: - 8 / 1s (F) , 10 / 2 (G) , 12 / 4 (A)

6: - 8 / 1s © , 10 / 2 (D) , 12 / 4 (E)

 

For the C major scale in 10th position, I use

 

1: 10 / 1 (D) , 12 / 3 (E) , 13 / 4 (F)

2: 10 / 1 (A) , 12 / 3 (B) , 13 / 4 ©

3: 10 / 1 (F) , 12 / 3 (G)

4: 10 / 1 © , 12 / 3 (D) , 14 / 4s (E)

5: 10 / 1 (G) , 12 / 3 (A) , 14 / 4s (B)

6: 10 / 1 (D) , 12 / 3 (E) , 13 / 4 (F)

 

Hopefully some of this will make sense

  • Moderators
Posted
... and yet how obvious: when you sit and look at the patterns, and start from the relative major of a minor root and use the pentatonic pattern, indeed you get 1 2 3 5 6 ... blow me down.



GaJ - You've gotta get out of the house more often :wave:

  • Members
Posted

I haven't bumped into a reason to really think about "major pentatonic" and it's ins and outs.

 

Where does this crop up, in playing?

 

Ta,

 

GaJ

 

(On the topic of "out of the house", I've been away camping for the last 2 weeks, along with 15,000 scouts and leaders, at the Australian Jamboree. My photos are

here :D Now... remind me, which end of this paddle shaped thing do I hold onto? )

  • Moderators
Posted

major pent is the backbone of every major chord. Just because the major pent and it's relative minor use the same notes and the same fingerings doesn't mean that they are the same thing.

 

In my world we improvise relative to the chord and chord type - so major pentatonics are as common as minor pentatonics. YMMV

  • Members
Posted

Thanks for such a detailed response Jed, I will give it a try.

I was wondering what the terms "9th position" and "10th position" mean. Maybe this explains it, showing positions 1 through 11 (all possible "positions"?)

  • Moderators
Posted

 

I was wondering what the terms "9th position" and "10th position" mean. Maybe
this
explains it, showing positions 1 through 11 (all possible "positions"?)

 

 

"Position" in terms of the guitar refers to a location along the fretboard defined by the fret location that the index finger would play. There are nearly as many positions on the guitar as there are frets. (actual total = number of frets - number of fingers)

 

The Berklee definition of "position":

 

Position is determined by the fret on which the first finger plays. It is indicated by a Roman numeral. Strictly speaking, a position on the fingerboard occupies four adjacent frets. Some scales have one or more notes that fall outside this four-fret area, and these notes are to be played by reaching out with the first or fourth finger without shifting the entire hand,

 

If you want to read the article, follow this link:

 

http://www.berkleeshares.com/guitar/position_playing_for_guitar

 

cheers,

  • Members
Posted
I haven't bumped into a reason to really think about "major pentatonic" and it's ins and outs.


Where does this crop up, in playing?


Ta,


GaJ


(On the topic of "out of the house", I've been away camping for the last 2 weeks, along with 15,000 scouts and leaders, at the Australian Jamboree. My photos are

here
:D
Now... remind me, which end of this paddle shaped thing do I hold onto? )



Two words: Keith Richards

  • Members
Posted

"Position" in terms of the guitar refers to a location along the fretboard defined by the fret location that the index finger would play. There are nearly as many positions on the guitar as there are frets. (actual total = number of frets - number of fingers)


The Berklee definition of "position":


Position is determined by the fret on which the first finger plays. It is indicated by a Roman numeral. Strictly speaking, a position on the fingerboard occupies four adjacent frets. Some scales have one or more notes that fall outside this four-fret area, and these notes are to be played by reaching out with the first or fourth finger without shifting the entire hand,


If you want to read the article, follow this link:




cheers,

 

 

That's awesome. But there's more to that story. Bill's definition of "position" you refer to appears in Modern Method Vol. 1.

 

In Volume 3, he redefines "position" as "spanning a six-fret range where 1st and 4th fingers cover two frets each. The position number is indicated as one fret below your 2nd finger. Ex. If your 2nd finger sits at the 6th fret, you're in 5th position, and your finger span is from the 4th to 9th fret." I'm para-phrasing based on several conversations I had with him about this (my quote is not his words). In volume 1, he felt that the simpler definition was sufficient for the level, so he left it at that.

 

He told me that his biggest mistake was to call them Volume 1, 2 and 3 because very few people actually get to volume 3. When he wrote the books, he wrote volume 3 first, then worked backwards. Volume 3 is where all the "real stuff" is. But Volume 1 outsells it 100 times over.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...