What you’ll learn
- Memorize a five-note scale pattern.
- Locate the root notes.
- Create short phrases with rests.
Before you practice
The minor pentatonic omits two notes from the natural minor scale. It is widely used in rock, blues and pop, and its first position is a useful starting point for improvising.
Find the roots within the pattern and listen to how phrases resolve when they reach one.
Build musical ideas with short phrases, repeated motifs and silence.
Lesson exercise
- Play the pattern slowly up and down.
- Pause on each root and listen to the resolution.
- Create a four-note phrase and repeat it with a small variation.