If you’ve played guitar long enough, you’re probably pretty savvy at detecting licks created from the minor pentatonic scale, thanks to the tell-tale quality of the intervals of the notes contained within the scale.
But what if you could use the minor pentatonic scale in fresh ways to create licks that sound uncharacteristic of it?
In this video, David Wallimann teaches you five new, unconventional pentatonic licks in the key of A minor. While the licks use the pentatonic scale, they feature techniques that help to disguise the scale and bring your pentatonic licks to life with fresh and unexpected sounds.
This video uses the five musical concepts David explains in his popular video “Five Minor Pentatonic Hacks Every Player Should Know,” which you can watch here.
“In that video, I shared with you five simple concept that you can apply to the minor pentatonic scale, or really any other scale, and make music out of it,” David explains. “These concept are meant to inspire you
“In this video, I’m going to give you five actual licks that use these different concepts—one lick per concept. To make things easy, we’re going to work in the key of A minor.”
David kindly provides the TAB and backing track for this lesson right here. So take a look, and let’s get started.
When you’re finished, be sure to check out David’s other informative and useful investigations into guitar at his YouTube channel.
Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.
