Pentatonic scale

Uh, it started out, actually, I- I started posting on my door, uh, these little sheets called Be An Instant Expert On.

And so I would, I would just write up all these topics, like Be An Instant Expert On, uh, Pentatonic Scales, for example, uh, it, which is a five-note scale.

And so students would pick these up and say, "Wow, this is really cool." And they would, they would read my, uh, read my little Be An Instant Expert sheet.

And a- after a while, I had about 15 or 20 of them and I thought, "Hey, I've actually, I think I've got a book here." So [laughs], uh, so I put all of those together, kinda cleaned them up and made them a little bit more formal, and, uh, that became this, uh, this textbook, which, uh, uh, which has been around for quite a while.

... port for headphones.

[laughs] Because n- n- we did not have Pentatonix version-

Mm-hmm

...

Grab your guitar.

We're gonna talk about five principles about this topic, CAGED system, pentatonic scales, um, that are great to know, and then we're gonna look at five tips so you can start working it into your playing today, this week.

All right? So let's look at principle one.

The five boxes and the five chord shapes live in the same five neighborhoods, right? Like, so that's what I was just trying to describe.

I teach you how to analyze songs, get to know your way around the fretboard, and play with purpose.

Today, I'll be answering some listener questions about how to finger pentatonic scales, how to choose the right scales to play over a chord progression, how to build and maintain calluses on your fretting hand fingers, and whether it's better to play lead guitar with a pick or with your fingers.

I'm also going to discuss some recent updates to my best-selling Fretboard Theory book series, including the new cover designs and a little history of the books.

It's going to be a great discussion, but before we dive in, I want to invite you to visit my website, guitarmusictheory.com. Answer the question I ask you about your playing, and I'll send you free custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

He's been playing for years, and he was mainly an acoustic finger style player.

And he's used to using a thumb pick and finger picks, and he's very comfortable and proficient with them.

But now he's working through some of my instruction and learning the pentatonic scales because he wants to learn how to play lead and riffs and that sort of thing.

And so his question is, well, should I ditch the finger picking and use a regular pick? And then he also asked about my course, Guitar Picking Mechanics, where I talk about picking technique.