Does anyone know any good licks or improvisations for Minor pentatonic positions one and two.
Martin, there are a series of licks taught in grade 4 and also an app that you can get to practice the licks. To really learn to improvise you need to listen to a lot of blues.
When I am trying to improvise with Am pentatonic
What is the best backing track to use.
What is the difference between:
The major scale
Maker Pentatonic scale
The A natural minor scale, is the A the key of this minor scale?The blues scale
Do you have diagrams please and do you know any riffs I could use to improvise.
I can do string bends but I have to stop the riff completely for a few seconds to do it, can any nite be used to string bend?
1 Like
Martin, I don’t know how much guitar experience you have, but I think you would benefit from at least going through all the grade 2 lessons on the website. While A minor pentatonic is used a lot in beginning blues lessons, you should also learn the E minor pentatonic scale explained on the Justin Guitar website in Grade 2, module 8. The A minor pentatonic is explained in grade 2, module 11. Here is the diagram that is used for that lesson:
This is a general minor pentatonic scale pattern. The A minor pentatonic scale would start at the 5th fret and the red 1 note would be on the 5th fret and be the A root note of the scale. You would also benefit from looking a the C major scale lesson in module 9 and used in module 10 for improvisation, since A minor scale uses the same notes, but usually in a different place in the fretboard. The A minor pentatonic, just leaves out 2 of the notes.
Look at grade 2 module 12 for lessons on using the A minor pentatonic scale for improvisation. For more questions on the scales, you can look at the theory course on the website. More advance topics are covered in grade 4 in the blues lead lessons.
1 Like
Steve
The red notes on the fretboard diagram are all F#: how are they the root note fror an A minor pentatonic scale? Also why is F# in there at all: if A minor ‘shares’ C major’s notes, F# is not in C major scale.
I might well be missing something: any clarification much appreciated.
Brian
Hi Brian,
The diagram does not show a precise position on the fretboard as the pattern is moveable. The red dots indicate the root notes. So if you moved the pattern up such that the red dot on the e string was on the 5th fret that would be the Am pentatonic pattern 1 and if you moved it to the 3rd fret that would be the Gm pentatonic pattern 1.
3 Likes
Start with Pattern 1 only.
If you cannot use Pattern 1 for music and don’t know any licks or phrases to improvise, set Pattern 2 aside until Pattern 1 is something you can use.
There are so many online.
Justin’s Blues Lead lessons concentrate on major blues in the key of A so search online for that:
Blues Backing Tracks in A.
You’re asking about minor pentatonic in this topic.
Major scale and major pentatonic scale take you down a different path.
Focus on one at a time.
The short answer.
Major and minor scales are seven note scales.
Pentatonic scales are five note scales, each being a subset of the major or minor scale.
Natural minor = minor. The name is shortened and by convention, if you read or hear someone use the name ‘minor scale’ they will mean ‘natural minor scale’.
The blues scale is something different.
It is the minor pentatonic plus one note that can be used occasionally in passing to add a bluesy flavour. Just learn the minor pentatonic to start.
Justin has a whole module on Blues Lead here: https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/essential-blues-lead-guitar
He teaches licks in the lessons. And if you want additional guidance try this topic I wrote: First Steps in Blues Improvisation using Minor Pentatonic Scale Pattern 1
In that case, you need to practice the string bends in isolation and get the technique really learned well. https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/bending-technique-in-blues-bl-403
No. In the minor pentatonic there are notes that are great to bend and others you avoid bending. Justin’s lessons explain this.
3 Likes
@beejay56 Brian, I copied this picture from Justins Grade 2 lesson on the A minor pentatonic scale. I was aware from the lesson discussion that others had been confused by this picture, since, yes, it is a pattern for an F# minor pentatonic scale 
I said that you should start this pattern on the 5th fret to be the pattern for the A minor pentatonic, but I might not have been clear enough, so I made an edit to my post. I guess Justin was trying to emphasize early on that this is a movable pattern.
1 Like
Hi Martin, go through the info Richard has given you, it is fabulous and includes a backing track.
search through the Justin site for Blues and do every lesson you find then by summer this year you’ll be ready to join BLIM 3. That is the pinnacle and you’ll love it.
Remember to take your time to learn each lesson, they feed into each other and need to be mastered fully.
Good luck and have fun on the journey
Absolutely! A classic lick to try is a bluesy bend and pull-off in position one:
Bend the G string (3rd string) at the 7th fret up a whole step.
Play the high E string (1st string) at the 5th fret immediately after.
Follow with a pull-off from 8th to 5th fret on the B string (2nd string).
Resolve back to the 7th fret of the G string.
For position two, try sliding from the 7th to the 10th fret on the B string, then work in descending pull-offs on the high E and B strings for a fluid, melodic sound. Mixing in some double stops and vibrato will also add more character.
1 Like