help with pentatonic

[BrokenJera]

im working my way through a book on pentatonic scales and im keep getting confused. i get the part about how a pattern might move up and down the neck for the root note starting on the low E. that part i understand. where im getting stuck the most i think is in the other patterns here is pattern 1 and 2 in a minor pentatonic:
||-----------------------5-8-------------------------|
||-------------------5-8-----------------------------|
||---------------5-7---------------------------------|
||----------5-7--------------------------------------|
||------5-7------------------------------------------|
||--5-8----------------------------------------------|

||--------------------------8-10---------------------|
||---------------------8-10--------------------------|
||-----------------7-9-------------------------------|
||------------7-10-----------------------------------|
||-------7-10----------------------------------------|
||--8-10---------------------------------------------|

how and when do i use them? are they just continuations of the first pattern because in the book i have it has 5 different patterns.

please help me.

[CSchlegel]

how and when do i use them? are they just continuations of the first pattern because in the book i have it has 5 different patterns.
They are the patterns that the pentatonic scale forms as you stay in one key (the same root note) but move to different positions on the fretboard.

Have you looked at this?
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=296
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=185

[BrokenJera]

no i didnt see those thanks. this really helps alot.

and just to be clear, if i was trying to improv a lead in A minor pentatonic, and wanted to raises the pitch higher than the first position notes, i would move to the second 'shape' then the third, but i would still be in A minor?

[light487]

If you were to replicate the shape but starting on a fret higher, for example:
||-----------------------6-9-------------------------|
||-------------------6-9-----------------------------|
||---------------6-8---------------------------------|
||----------6-8--------------------------------------|
||------6-8------------------------------------------|
||--6-9----------------------------------------------|

Then you would now be playing A# pentatonic minor. Is that what you meant?

[CSchlegel]

no i didnt see those thanks. this really helps alot.
Welcome. I think the biggest problem with many books I've seen on pentatonic exercises is they don't focus on the scale degrees: the circled numbers in my diagrams. And those are the essential component! They are why the scale is shaped as it is, why the scale sounds as it does, and how a guitarist eventually can understand how to use pentatonic box shapes to understand more music theory (how to target chord tones inside scales, etc.)

and just to be clear, if i was trying to improv a lead in A minor pentatonic, and wanted to raises the pitch higher than the first position notes, i would move to the second 'shape' then the third, but i would still be in A minor?
Yes! Good observation. As long as you are true to the shapes that interconnect you are in the same key. The idea is that the pentatonic minor scale has a specific formula:
1 - min3 - 4 - 5 - min7

If you consistently apply that formula to the guitar fretboard, then those interconnecting shapes are what you get. So you memorize those shapes, then (and don't forget this part!) you start to memorize the location of the circled numbers (the scale degrees) in each shape.

In the long run, this is true of any scale (or chord). Each has it's own unique formula, that translates to a unique shape on the fretboard. Which results in being able to see the scale degrees as numbers forming an interconnected pattern (or "framework" or "grid").

[BrokenJera]

i need a little more help from you gurus

after trying to learn the patterns and understand where all the notes fall in them i am getting stuck on one idea. if i was going to play Aminor pentatonic on just the 6th string i would follow the patterns from 1 through 5 up the neck and still make the scale?

[light487]

I no longer have the full subscriber access but yeh I think you are correct.. starting at the 5th fret it would go:

(0, 3,) 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 20 etc

0 and 3 are the notes proceeding the 5th fret but are still within the same scale. It's all about the intervals... knowing the intervals between the notes (or between the frets if it makes it easier to understand) makes all the difference.

[CSchlegel]

if i was going to play Aminor pentatonic on just the 6th string i would follow the patterns from 1 through 5 up the neck and still make the scale?
Yes. In fact on either E string (low or high) you can see the entire series of scale formula in intervals spread out on one string much easier than when it is spread across many strings.

scale degrees: 1 - min3 - 4 - 5 min7 - 1
fret numbers: 5 - 8 - 10 - 12 - 15 - 17
note names - A - C - D - E - G - A