Linkage Part I
Ok, here is the condensed verion of pattern 1.
E|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
B|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|
G|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|---|
D|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|---|
A|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
If you have also learned the “Extended” version of this scale written above, then that’s great! We will use that to link this scale to the next position. So now let’s link patterns 1 and 2 together.... There are a couple different ways for linking these two.
This is a modified version of the Extended Position 1 pattern to show how it can be easily morphed into Position 2. The colors represent notes that are either added or removed from the Extended Position 1 pattern.
* The
red notes that were removed from the Extended Position 1
* The
Blue notes are notes that were added to complete Position 2.
E|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
B|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
G|---|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
D|---|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
A|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
So if you know the extended version to Pattern 1, then you already know the first two patterns just by changing 3 notes.
Now for the second way of linking the two patterns: This is where the Minor Pentatonic comes into play. Since most guitarists know this scale inside and out (and tend to gravitate to it more often than not! lol), I figured this would be a great way to start out playing after moving to a new position. So basically, instead of having to think about which pattern you are moving to next, you just need to know what fret to start playing the pentatonic scale. Then from there, you can start adding in the notes from the position you are currently in.
Here is the Minor Pentatonic scale (notes in Black) on top of the Position 2 pattern (notes in
Red).
E|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
B|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
G|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
D|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|
A|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|
So now when you are improvising you can jump to Position 2 and start playing the minor pentatonic scale, but instead of just staying within those 5 notes... You can see that you have two notes on the same fret for both the E and B strings that you can play with your ring finger (if you are playing the two high notes with your pinky). Then you have another two notes on the same fret for the G and D strings that you can
slide down and play with your index finger. These notes are easy to remember, because they are in doubles right next to each other on the same fret. The low E string is the same as the high E string, so you also have that note that you can play with your ring finger.
The start for this pattern (and the minor pentatonic) starts two frets above the root note for the Position 1. For example, if you are playing in the key of G major. The G note is on the 3rd fret then you could start playing the minor pentatonic at the 5th fret (and add in the notes from Pattern 2).
So there are two possibilities for using Position 2, either think of it as an extension to Position 1 OR you can start off with the minor pentatonic (two frets above the root note) and start working in the other notes from the pattern.