Licks and Tricks

In the previous lesson of this series, we learned the 5th position of the G major pentatonic scale and I showed you how to apply this scale to a basic country and bluegrass chord progression. In this lesson, we’re going to start breaking out of the pentatonic scale box using five additional major scale notes. Adding these extra notes is the first step towards making your fill riffs sound more country and bluegrass. I’ll give you some pointers on how you can use the G major scale to create riffs and we’ll also have a tablature download below the video with several nice major scale riffs to get you started!

• Lesson Video
• Scale Charts

The 5th position of the G major pentatonic scale is the most important scale position in country and bluegrass. It’s used all the time to play flatpicking licks and open chord rhythm embellishments. In this guitar lesson video, I’ll show you how to learn and practice the 5th position G major pentatonic scale. Then we’ll go over an easy way you can apply this scale to a basic country and bluegrass chord progression.

• Lesson Video
• Scale Charts