Sure. Just know that you will lose musicality by just zipping up and down the highway as he does in the above lesson, he’s really just showing how it all flows together across the fretboard. The secret sauce is to break it up and dabble in various sections, to build & release tension, explore melody and provide space.
Lastly, most of those great lead chops where the guitar player slides up or down to a new spot on the fret board, they most likely took the pentatonic highway. Would love to see @JustinGuitar do a lesson on this. Something tells me he could open up some things about it that I never even considered.
Clint, I’ve not yet had time to take a look at the video, but possibly this lesson from the Blues Lead 2 course in Grade 6 Linking Patterns: Licks & Concepts | JustinGuitar.com may be exploring a similar concept, be the launch point for a similar exploration?
I like this one a lot! Not exactly the same thing as the highway, as he isn’t linking this to the key of the progression (which isn’t that hard to suss out on your own) and is focused on the “lick library” concept. Play a note, play a note, slide is interesting among other ideas and cool stuff in there that I want to explore further. Great gems in there for sure!
@DavidP@CT
I’ve looked at both the Brewster pentatonic highway & Justin Licks & patterns videos and to me they look as if they are very similar, if not identical, techniques. Both good info.
FYI I’m actually starting to learn scales with the notion of being able to play anywhere along the neck. It’s where I was hoping my learning would take me. So it’s not a surprise to me to hear about the videos mentioned. I just feel I want the basic patterns down before I start to try to move from one to the other. Baby steps .And in truth I’m not aiming high with where I want to go with it.
I hear you. Both are examples of how the positions can be linked together, and neither really provides useful musical context for improvisation or for developing lead lines. It’s sort of implied that you can. So yeah, these sorts of things are just ways into wrapping your head around the fretboard and making sense of it in a useful way. By all means, find your own way in.
For me 1st position minor pentatonic is home base. There are actually two different pentatonic highways in each key and both were discussed in great detail on the old message board. I don’t think they gained much traction there, and would assume the same here. They are bedrock for me. YMMV.
@Willsie01
John, I have a similar aim. Baby steps are key and knowing that getting to grips with this is not an over night thing.
In the long run I think knowing the five patterns and being able to play musically in each pattern is one part and being able to transition horizontally between patterns is the other. Obviously a lot more to learn than just that, but it is a milestone along the way.
The Layla-inspired noodles and study of a couple of lessons is helping me to learn the theory and develop technique in the context of a song. The acoustic intro solo that Justin teaches in Layla (Unplugged) [1/3] by Eric Clapton | JustinGuitar.com is a great example of a lick in pattern 4 followed by lick(s) that pass through 5 to reach 2. Then a line in 2, before moving back to 4. This uses D minor pentatonic, which I’ve found beneficial. It’s a good exercise to be playing in a different key.
I don’t like to reference out to other online teachers, even though there’s nothing wrong with using everything at your disposal, this being a JustinGuitar Community, but I think this particular lesson is a helpful supplement to this idea of playing in a single position as well as moving horizontally up and down. He explores some of the concepts/ideas that are used in the solo but in just position 1.
I think these two lessons plus the linking licks and highway ideas provide sufficient material to study, practice, and apply that can keep one busy for quite some while and would lead to significant progress down the path to the goal you described.
Have fun and at the right moment it’s a good idea to post recordings for all the usual good reasons.
@CT
Thanks for sharing Clint. I liked the way he played over a drone. I think that is a great idea that simplifies things when getting started. Perhaps add a drum beat to provide a sense of rhythm.
I’m pleased to be able to see the patterns - 5, 1, 2 and a note from 3 - in how these SFs are formed.
As I said to @Willsie01 I think putting together the patterns to play in particular position and these techniques to traverse up and down the neck equips one to play solos.
Slow and steady, we can get to grips with this and rock 'n roll.
Been following the latter part of this thread with interest, as Im in a similar ballpark to you guys, except you Clint, of course😃. Lots of gold information for me to get into there mate.
Came across this highway idea a couple of months back, when I was looking into extensions, and its really helping to open things up after bedding down and playing around a bit within the standard patterns. Makes doing slides , hammers more fluent, and is often more musical and free flowing. Whats also been very beneficial is improvising on single strings, then on 2 strings, then on 3. I feel its really helped to focus on the intervals/sounds, rather than just the patterns, and you sort of start to sometimes ‘hear’ the note before you play it. Its like moving across all the patterns in smaller threads, so is less intimidating as I try to develop this. Its also helped to just move around a lot more freely.
Lots of flubs and errors, trial and error, experimentation, missing the chord tones etc, but its all part of it. Also, I’ve found investing alot of time into triads at this stage of my learning has heIped enormously with improvising, as well as general fretboard navigation.
I realise this stuff is years of development, but its very engaging, and with guys like Clint around, I think we’re in good hands.
Cheers Shane.
All this is very new to me but Is it the case that playing these forms vertically and horizontally on the fretboard both have their place? We’re not saying that a diagonal path should replace anything are we? Perhaps showing my ignorance here.
@DavidP
I have watched the Layla 1/3 video before but felt it a little overwhelming. Tried again last night but I’m going to struggle a lot with the complexity.
One approach I’m focusing on when learning these patterns (the pentatonic positions and the highway shapes) is to learn the interval of each note - so I’m saying to myself “root, flat 3, four, five, flat seven, root” as I learn the patterns.
This then helps me see other shapes emerging, like how the root is adjacent to the four, and the five is two frets higher…and the five is adjacent to the next root. It all shifts at the B string, of course.
Learning the intervals is also something I can do away from the guitar - thinking through each pattern and using the fingers on my fretting hand to go through them.
I feel like this approach is establishing fundamental understanding of each pattern, rather than just a shape I’ve memorized.
I’ve just come across this topic today. That’s a brilliant diagram John. It’s the sort of thing that used to send me into a tailspin. Having spent time with ‘Layla’ I can understand it and I like the way it shows how all the patterns interlink up the neck.
If I ignore the fret numbers I could use it for any key I think.
The diagonal path is just something that will occur naturally linking the patterns by the root of the octave but once you get down to the e string, you would either have to go “up” the pattern you are on to find a root that allows you to move up the neck again. Example A on the 10th fret B string only one string below e, so go down back towards the E until you hit the root A string at the 12th fret. Then you are off side ways again.
None of it is mandatory its all mix and match depending on what you are trying to express or where you want to finish. And its likely to be a lot easier to “walk” down or up musically to a target note than trying to jump 15 frets. But you could stay in position if that’s what you want to do but understanding how the scales are linked opens up the whole fretboard.
BTW are you following any set tutorials on the subject and/or following Justin Blues Lead and Impro lessons ?
John, the way I understand it is that these patterns, ‘the highway’, are just a way of moving horizontally from one pattern to another pattern. The ‘highway’ is diagonal in that you start on the 6 string and finish up the neck on the 1 string.
If you watch the Layla intro solo, you’ll see after the first couple of licks in position 4, he uses a repeating motif to move horizontally up to position 1. But it is a ‘straighter’ path since mostly played on string 2.
Both are moving horizontally in my mind, the crux being the position.
I felt the same, John, and later surprised myself a little. If you are interested I’d just focus on the first portion in position 4. Lots of value in just getting that sounding OK. Then maybe look at the next bit. Try and avoid thinking about it in its entirety.
You may also find you get more mileage initially by looking at the other video and just playing in position 1 over the backing track, exploring some of those musical ideas that are used by Clapton in the two solos.
@Willsie01 use the Stealing From Layla to get familiar playing in position to start with. Once you feel more comfortable with that go back to the lesson but when you do take it just a bar or two at a time. Get that right then add another bar, build it slowly.
