Some of you may have seen my recent post about Michael Pillitiere's excellent (and cheap!

) eBook,
"Building the Better Guitar Scale". This short, concise manual outlines a logical pattern-based approach
for improvising through 3-note-per-string scale patterns by breaking down each string's fingering into a
3-note "chunk". The author then shows how each 3-note chunk actually appears in a repetitive sequence
that is infinite - same chunks, same sequence, all the time, forever.
Reading this blew my mind, so I immediately wanted to see if it would work outside of the 3-note-perstring world. The first thing I looked at was the basic 2-note per string pentatonic box.
Below is an image of the basic 5 pentatonic box shapes that we all learn. Everyone who's been playing
guitar for any amount of time will have seen this diagram a million times. But it wasn't until I started
looking with a different focus that I realized how ingenious these shapes - well, actually, thesepatterns really are.

Now, I won't go into the basics - how each shape is essentially based around a chord shape, and is made
up of 5 tones from the scale, yadda-yadda-yadda... that's stuff that can be found in any "Lead Guitar
101" book or video or blog post on the internet.
What I want to do is move beyond the traditional thinking, into a steamlined approach to visualizing
these shapes that I found is probably 1,000 times easier to understand.
Breakthrough 1 - "Chunking" the Fingering Pattern
Chunking is an age-old system for taking a large group of information and grouping it so it's easier to
remember or understand. For example, when I type out the telephone number 3138494957, it's
tremendously difficult to remember as a whole. However, if I chunk it - (313) 849-4957, not only is it
easier to read, but it's also easier to memorize.
Another form of chunking is the use of abbreviation. This is we type words like Dr., Mrs., Mr., etc., (see
what I did there?), we shorten the scope of information into universally understood meanings.

Finally, a third form of chunking is the use of labels. When you read a manual that says "Insert cable A
into jack 2", the author is using a label (the letter or number) to describe a component (the cable or
jack). Not only does it save time, but it also gives us a visual aid without the need to memorize a proper
name or term (so instead of calling it the 6-foot coaxial cable, we say "Oh yeah, cable A).
This third form of chunking is what we're going to use in our pentatonic scale system.
In the image below, you'll notice that I've added either the letter U or V under each string. This letter is
our label for which notes intervals are played on that string. And yes... there are only 2 patterns:
U symbolizes a 3-fret span (or, minor 3rd interval, for those so inclined). This is typically played with
fingers 1 and 4.
V symbolizes a 2-fret span (or, major 2nd interval, for those so inclined). This can either be played with
fingers 1 and 3, or 2 and 4.
Now let's look at the diagrams again:

What you will notice is that, no matter what box you play out of, or what string you're playing, there can
only be either an U interval, or a V interval. That's it - nothing more, nothing less.
Pretty easy, right? Wait - it gets better.
Breakthrough 2 - Locating the Root Note
One common obstacle I see (and also had, at one time), was knowing which box to play for each note on
the guitar. But once I cracked the code of the U and V patterns, 3 other patterns became very evident:
1) Each box can be labeled by placing the "root note" on one of the strings between low E and high B
(or, 6 and 2)

2) Major boxes always have a root note on the pinky finger, and
3) Minor boxes always have a root note on the index finger
If you look again at the diagram, you'll see that I've labeled the root notes in each box using this
appraoch
-

Box
Box
Box
Box
Box

1
2
3
4
5

(labeled
(labeled
(labeled
(labeled
(labeled

"Pattern
"Pattern
"Pattern
"Pattern
"Pattern

1")
2")
3")
4")
5")

has
has
has
has
has

it's
it's
it's
it's
it's

root,
root,
root,
root,
root,

either
either
either
either
either

major
major
major
major
major

or
or
or
or
or

minor,
minor,
minor,
minor,
minor,

on the 6th string

on the 4th string
on the 2nd string
on the 5th string
on the 3rd string

So without going into a bunch of theory, just know this - if you can locate the root note on one of the
strings, you can continue on...
Breakthrough 3 - The Pattern
Okay folks, so we know that there are only U and V intervals, and we know how to find a root note. So
here's the third leg of the stool.
When you look at the diagram again, you see that, even if we know these things, there doesn't seem to
be a rhyme or reason to how this is all going to help us get through the scale. But that's because you're
looking at the fretboard.
Instead, I want you to look first at the U and V labels at the bottom of each diagram.

What you'll find is that, no matter what, U and V always fall into a consistant, universal, and infinate
sequential pattern, as follows:
U U - V V V - U U - V V V - U U - V V V...

U for 2, then V for 3, rinse and repeat, always, no matter what.

Eureka, right! But wait - it can't be that easy, because we have two wild cards that are going to come
into play. Fortunately, they're easy to tackle with 2 easy rules:
- Wild Card 1: When switching from the V to the U pattern, your index finger will always move down 1
fret (trust me)
- Wild Card 2: When switching from the D to the B string (or, from 3 to 2), the whole pattern will always
move up 1 fret (again, trust me)

Fucking insane...
Breakthrough 4 - Tying the Root to the Pattern
So the 4th and final piece of this puzzle is tying the root note to the pattern. Sure enough, there's a
simple rule for this, too:
1) The root note string is always interval U
2) The next string up in pitch from the root note string is always interval V, and
If we know this, we can always, always, ALWAYS lock into our pattern.
Bringing it 'round Town
So let's look at our diagram again in a new light:

We'll start with Pattern 2 (you'll see why in a second). With my new-found knowledge, I can now see
that if I want to play the A minor pentatonic:

- The root note is on the 4th string (index finger, because we're in minor)
- If I want to ascend from the root, I will play the U interval once on the 4th string, followed by...
- Playing the V interval on each of the next 3 strings, and...
- I will move the whole pattern up 1 fret when I switch from strings D to B (or 3 to 2).
Now, let's say I wanted to move the other way, playing down the A minor pentatonic:

- If I want to decend from my root note, I can reverse the pattern by...
- Playing the root note on the 4th string (index finger, because we're in minor)
- Playing the U interval on the 5th string, followed by...
- Shifting my index finger up 1 fret (because we're in reverse), and...
- Playing the V interval on the 6th string
You getting it yet? Good. Now let's try one that's a little more tricky - the grand-daddy of them all, the
infamous Pattern 1. This time, we'll play the C major pentatonic

- My root note on the 6th string (pinky finger, because we're in major)
- Ascending, I will play the root note on the 6th string, followed by...
- Shifting my index finger up 1 fret, and...
- Playing the V interval on each of the next 3 strings, followed by...
Now here's where it gets tricky. But not really. Remember, we said there are 2 wild cards:
- Wild Card 1: When switching from the V to the U pattern, your index finger will always move down 1
fret.
- Wild Card 2: When switching from the D to the B string (or, from 3 to 2), the whole pattern will always
move up 1 fret.
So here's the trick - if wild cards 1 and 2 come in the same step, they cancel each other out (up 1 fret
+ down 1 fret = don't change anything!)

Knowing this, let's continue from above:

- Playing the V interval on each of the next 3 strings, followed by...

- Playing the U interval on the next 2 strings, keeping the index finger on the same fret as the D string,
because our wild cards have cancelled each other out.
CONCLUSION
Okay, so you're probably still confused. So grab your guitar, start on the 6th string, either major or
minor, and work through the boxes, keeping your pattern and your wild card rules in mind as you ascend
and descend the strings. In 2-3 reps of each box shape, I almost guarantee that you'll get it like I did.
With that, I'll make this the end of Pentatonics, My way, Pt. 1. Please feel free to leave comments to tell
me how insane I am, and stay tuned for Pt. 2, where we'll start to use this same logic to move around
the fretboard.

-Pappy H-