Truefire Jeff McErlain's On Location: Pentatonic Deep Dive TUTORiAL

The first scale that most guitarists learn is the pentatonic scale, which is very commonly associated with the blues and rightfully so. Yet, as we explore other styles and develop our soloing and improvisational skills, we discover how far-reaching and powerful those five notes can be in virtually any style.

Shot on location at Jeff McErlain’s Brooklyn studio, this Pentatonic Deep Dive course explores a much wider and “deeper” range of creative pentatonic applications. As you play your way through Jeff’s hands-on Deep Dive curriculum, you’ll learn how players like Hendrix, David Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Jimmy Page, and Joe Bonamassa infuse the pentatonic scale into their distinctive soloing approaches.

"We’ll start by exploring the scale one string at a time to help open up the fingerboard. Then, we’ll break it down into 4 note groupings to create connecting pathways across the neck, investigate the intervals and shapes within it, we’ll explore string skipping approaches, and even a few fast mixed grouping licks for getting extended pentatonic applications for both rhythm and soloing within rock, jazz, funk, and fusion contexts. I’m really excited to share these approaches with you here in this Pentatonic Deep Dive!"

In Performance Study 1, Jeff examines the Am pentatonic scale on one string at a time and in four-note groupings. Performance Study 2 focuses on connections between lines and what Jeff calls “the helix pattern” over a familiar progression similar to Stairway to Heaven.

In Performance Study 3, you'll change keys and look at the major pentatonic scale for a more funky chordal/double stop approach. Performance Study 4 uses one of Jeff’s favorite devices, chords built off of the pentatonic scale utilizing moody sounding open-string, spread-voicing applications.

Performance Study 5 takes you to the key of D Dorian, for a more extended, mixed pentatonic approach that you can use to get more melodic sounding solos. In the 6th and final Performance Study, you’ll work on some of those cool Eric Johnson/Joe Bonamassa style rapid pentatonic licks with mixed groupings - a ton of fun to play.

Jeff will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let’s take a deep pentatonic dive with Jeff Mcerlain



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