https://youtu.be/vdLIB935tQc?si=Mf7mq77hD9wAnsl4 After one of my lessons with Christian, I learned about applying minor and major scales to the pentatonic shapes to be able to learn a live performance version of a favorite song. This performance came out a while back when tabs for small artists like this wasn’t much of thing, where learning by ear was pretty crucial (probably). But now after watching how Eric Rachmany (singer/guitar player) moves up and down the fretboard and getting great tips from Christian about the minor scale, I was able to figure out how to play the “mix up” in between the main riff that Eric plays in this video. So cool. The song suffering is in a key of Bm! Blows my mind thinking of how simple yet genius Eric is when coming up with mixing up his songs.

Since I finally got all the shapes down inside of the pentatonic super shape, I decided to make it a warm up to travel up and down the fretboard using a metronome. So far this is only going down the fretboard.

Some decent practice playing over a C major to G major backing track. Using the C major pentatonic scale to come up with interesting stuff. Before I was looking at my pentatonic sheet with the pentatonic notes mapped out so I can look at it playing. But after practicing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shape I’m able to play use shapes without needing to look at a sheet. Practice practice practice.

D major to A major chord progression but in a reggae style, using the SUPER SHAPE in key of D. Trying to nail done the first and second shape while emphasizing the major notes.

Last week I posted homework studying how one of my favorite song’s, Pawn Shop by Sublime, iconic riff is composed using the super pentatonic shape. This week I’m practicing figuring out how to jam over the same songs I like but with my own twist by using the pentatonic shapes. This is me messing around with it, it’s definitely a faster tempo than the normal song. I like to use a similar playing style I hear from a reggae band called Rebelution when they do live performances (especially acoustic) when adding more twists to their own songs. I can definitely use some teachings of coming up with different styles using the pentatonic shapes and also being able to “connect it” with the rhythm of the backing track of the song. Im starting to realize the “safety” of playing the appropriate notes that the pentatonic shapes offer when playing something over a backing track. I’ve been working on also hearing what I want to play in my head and using the shapes to find it. It takes time, but I think I’m getting there. I will continue to practice with some other songs! This is a rebelution live acoustic performance. Pretty neat. I’m curious if I can learn this by ear now with the super pentatonic shape. https://youtu.be/vdLIB935tQc?si=wdNirk8sKfjyP_5H