Pentatonic Lead Patterns and Major Soloing Scales

[DesiSerna]

I have learned the pentatonic scales up and down and connect them well but always revert to patterns 1 and a bit of 2 and 5 when guitar soloing. Any tips to ensure I don’t always fall into this trap?

There is nothing wrong with favoring certain patterns. In fact, you really need to simplify things and get good at phrasing in one position at a time before you try to fly all over the whole fretboard. So it sounds like you're on the right track. And many accomplished players favor the same lead pattern you have put together.

How essential is the major scale? Could I not get by soloing with just the pentatonic scale?

Yes, but about half of popular guitar melodies, riffs, lead solos and bass lines are played in major scale patterns. Just take a look at all the song references in Fretboard Theory Chapter 5: The Major Scale. Do you really want to miss out on all that? And music theory in general stems from the major scale and its structure. So you definitely want to know and play it well. But don't get ahead of yourself. I recommend focusing on the easier pentatonic scale patterns first. Be sure to learn lots of pentatonic scale songs while you're at it. Give yourself plenty of time to get comfortable with using the patterns and develop good technique. Then move onto the major scale patterns and repeat the whole process.

[jakeah1175]

ok great, thanks Desi - I understand the importance now of the major scale and will master pents shapes before moving on. I understand enough about the major scale to move on to chord progressions chapter in the meantime.

One song I have been jamming with is Down By The River by Neil Young - I'm currently learning the solo I love its simplicity but most of all the feeling he gets into it which is ultimately - all technicality issues aside - exactly how I want to play. I like Young's repeated use of the same note without getting boring. However, on top of learning the actual solo I want to 'go off on one' using the pentatonic scale. This is fine for the Em section that song starts with but I think it changes key later in the song as it doesn't seem to work too well over the chorus (which starts of a C chord I think). I don't want to give up on this song so wondered if you could confirm if the key changes and to what (so I can quickly shift pent positions).

cheers
Jake