Hi there, from Argentina

Hi people and Guitar Tricks staff, I'm Ugo L, a member since february, and this site, the instructors and all the people in here helped me a lote in my guitar repertory, well, I play guitar since I hace 16 years old, and now I'm 23.

I wish I can play more than I actually can, but in that time I was a little lazy to took classes with a particular teacher, now I'm on the line, practicing with the stuff here and my personal teacher once a week. I need to practica and want to practice because now my band is conformed by 3 members, the drums, the bass and me in the lead guitar and vocals, i need to expand my knowledge with the part of soloing, make licks, etc to my songs, because the 4th member is gone.

So well, I'm glad to be part of this community.

Greetings from Argentina!!

PS: Sorry if there are a little semantic errors, too much time I don't speak in English.

Welcome to the site Ugo!

I really think combining what you learn here with the input from a personal teacher is the perfect way to do it! I'm sure you'll learn a lot.

What kind of music does your band play?

/Ben

Hi Ben, I'm practicing some of your lessons at this moment, really really usefull, most of all the shreds lessons and the building speed.

About my band, we do Rock, Rock/Pop music, some songs are a little more calm than others, it's sometimes a soft-rock and sometimes we have songs that are like rock and roll things, with some sticky riffs, but now I'm whit some troubles about how to mix Modes with pentatonics to make some solos and arrenges to my songs.

By the way, you play really really good man.

Originally Posted by: ugoleandroHi Ben, I'm practicing some of your lessons at this moment, really really usefull, most of all the shreds lessons and the building speed.[/QUOTE]
That's awesome!
[QUOTE=ugoleandro]
but now I'm whit some troubles about how to mix Modes with pentatonics to make some solos and arrenges to my songs.

You can just think of the modes as the "pentatonic scale with flavor". The natural minor scale (Aeolian) is just the minor pentatonic scale with two notes added, and so is the Dorian scale, Phrygian too for that matter. Just try to listen for what those extra notes add to the scale, what sounds, what feelings. Then you can think of the pentatonic scale as the shell, or frame, and the other notes as spices or little extras :).

Originally Posted by: Ben LindholmThat's awesome!

You can just think of the modes as the "pentatonic scale with flavor". The natural minor scale (Aeolian) is just the minor pentatonic scale with two notes added, and so is the Dorian scale, Phrygian too for that matter. Just try to listen for what those extra notes add to the scale, what sounds, what feelings. Then you can think of the pentatonic scale as the shell, or frame, and the other notes as spices or little extras :).

That's awesome Ben, I didn't think in scales that way, it's a great way to see it and to start to play with that concept, I'm going to sit with my guitar and start to apply what you just told me and latter I post in here to keep this thread alive, no one told me that of mixing the scales with modes that way, so I'm on it now!!!

Really thanks Ben!! It's awesome to see how musicians in other parts of the world are so humble and well disposed, thanks a lot Ben!

It's always good to find the relationships between each scale, chord, arpeggio etc. A lot of players focus so much on patterns, dots on the fretboard (including myself in the beginning). This is of course helpful at first, trying to remember where to put your fingers, but it's important not to get stuck there and just run scales up and down.

You can break it down even further like this:

Let's take the note A.

• An A minor arpeggio is just the note A with two more notes added.
• The A minor pentatonic scale is just the A minor arpeggio, with two extra notes.
• The A natural minor scale is just the A minor pentatonic scale with two extra notes.

So you can say that the A minor arpeggio "lives" inside the A minor pentatonic scale, and also inside the A natural minor scale.

And the A minor pentatonic scale "lives" inside the A natural minor scale (and A dorian, Phrygian...)

This took me a LONG time to fully understand, and I wish I had learned it earlier instead of mostly focusing on playing scales up and down really fast :D. That's fun too of course, but getting deeper understanding develops your playing A LOT!

It's always good to find the relationships between each scale, chord, arpeggio etc. A lot of players focus so much on patterns, dots on the fretboard (including myself in the beginning). This is of course helpful at first, trying to remember to put your fingers, but it's important not to get stuck there and just run scales up and down.

You can break it down even further like this:

Let's take the note A.

• An A minor arpeggio is just the note A with two more notes added.
• The A minor pentatonic scale is just the A minor arpeggio, with two extra notes.
• The A natural minor scale is just the A minor pentatonic scale with two extra notes

So you can say that the A minor arpeggio "lives" inside the A minor pentatonic scale, and also inside the A natural minor scale.

And the A minor pentatonic scale "lives" inside the A natural minor scale (and A dorian, Phrygian...)

This took me a LONG time to fully understand, and I wish I had learned it earlier instead of mostly focusing on playing scales up and down really fast :D. That's fun too of course, but getting deeper understanding develops your playing A LOT!