Major Scales

Now we’ll expand the five-note major pentatonic scales to the full seven-note major scales.

Pattern 2 (A-form)

Pattern 4 (E-form)

Trinity Routine

This practice pattern has three parts – arpeggio, major pentatonic, and major scale. Play them as follows:

1. Starting at the lowest root note, ascend the arpeggio to the highest note in the fingering
2. Descend the major pentatonic to the lowest note in the fingering
3. Ascend the major scale to the highest note in the fingering
4. Descend the arpeggio to the lowest note in the fingering
5. Ascend the major pentatonic to the highest note in the fingering
6. Descend the major scale to the lowest note in the fingering
7. Jump directly to the lowest root note in the fingering

That may seem like a lot, but it’s simple if you break it down (chunk it):

• Play the trinity – arpeggio, maj pent, maj scale and then play it again (arpeggio, maj pent, maj scale)
• Play each in only one direction (ascend or descend), then reverse direction for the next part

Note the backing track is in D major.

Jam!

This backing track is similar to Jessica by The Allman Brothers. Here’s an outline:

[A] Section:
A | D  (32 bars)

[B] Section:
G | A | G | A | G | A | G | E

• Over the [A] section, play A major (arpeggios, maj pent, and maj scale)
• Over the [B] section, play D major (arpeggios, maj pent, and maj scale)
• Over the final E chord, return to A major and emphasize the note G#