Root Positions
Question: I would like to understand "positions" better. Pretty much everywhere I read it's different. I learned positions with a regular ole pentatonic scale. There are 5 notes in the scale and 5 positions, pretty easy to understand. I thought! For awhile I thought positions were just sections of the fretboard named as such, like open -> 3rd fret is "first position" 3rd -> 5th fret "second position". That turned out to be wrong(?). Then I thought positions were based off the notes, like say A minor pentatonic, first position would be starting on 5th fret (6th string), second position starting on 8th fret, third positions starting on 10th fret, and so on up to the 17th fret (back to 1st position). This also going backward, still using the A minor pentatonic, starting on the 3rd fret would be the 5th position as it is on the 15th fret.
I was all excited, I thought I "got it". Then as I was reading through Peter Fischer's book, I see the major scale in only 5 positions. That's 2 missing or is it? The same with each of the modes, 7 notes, but only 5 positions? I'm lost, and confused.
Answer: The positions aren't related to the pattern of the "scales" because when you get into blues scales and other odd scales, you won't have those same patterns. The positions are related to the pattern of the root notes, which will be the same no matter what scale you use. So maybe it'd be more helpful to call them "Root Positions", this will probably cause less confusion when you're relating it to people also...
Root Position I:
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-0-|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
Root Position II:
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-0-|
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
Root Position III:
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-0-|---|
|---|---|---|---|
Root Position IV:
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-0-|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
Root Position V:
|---|---|---|-0-|
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-0-|
Now using your example with the root positions in bold...
Position 1
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
5th fret
Position 2
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
7th fret
Position 3
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
9th fret
Position 4
||-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
||---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
||-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
||-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
||-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
||-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
0 <- (open)
Position 5
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
2nd fret
So if you line up whatever scale you're playing to those root notes, you'll be playing in one of the root positions. And the root positions match up with the scale patterns from your examples, so these patterns are correct.
Now for the tricky part... The same root position for A minor and C major (for example: Root Position I) will
NOT have the same scale pattern.
Root Position I:
|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-0-|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|---|
A Minor Pentatonic - Root Position I
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
C Major Pentatonic - Root Position I
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|----
|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|----
As you can see, they have a different scale pattern for the same root position, and this is why you can't tell the position just by the scale pattern...
So now when you're jammin' and you say, "Play an A minor pentatonic in root position 3". They'll know you're
NOT talking about fret numbers, scale patterns, finger numbers, or anything else... and you'll be able to explain it to them if they just give you a blank stare.
