I actually wrote this book as a practice guide for myself because I wanted a way to get different and outside sounds using pentatonic scales, as well as to improve my chops and have a huge variety of new sounds at my fingertips to play over the chords you see 90% of the time such as major/major7, minor/minor7, and dominant chords, among others. As well as being a scales book Alternative Pentatonics is also a method to practice improvising over common chords using uncommon groups of five notes. Five notes are somewhere between an arpeggio and a scale, as well as being the ideal number of notes to craft some really nice phrasing (in my opinion), as I’m sure you realized when you first learned your minor pentatonic scale and started jamming over a 12-bar blues. This book contains 28 new pentatonic scales divided into chord types so that you’ll know exactly what chords you can use them over. For the intermediate player: this book will give you plenty of new and interesting options for playing over common chords and force you out of standard pentatonic scales and/or the major scale modes. For the more advanced player: this book could be more about exploring possibilities than learning scale patterns; in fact, I would suggest that advanced players avoid even remembering the patterns in this book. Instead, they can be used to explore the improvisational terrain and find new sounds, then filed away in your subconscious and allowed to seep into your playing while you’re in the throes of improvisation. So, if you’re stuck in a soloing rut or are looking for new sounds, outside sounds, exotic sounds, or even a few downright weird sounds, this is the book for you.

A lot of students ask me how they can take their improvisation skills to the next level and move beyond pentatonic scales and into modes and arpeggios. My response is to tell them not to abandon pentatonic scales in favor of modes and other soloing devices, but to use them as a springboard and a solid foundation from which to expand their harmonic awareness. If you play rock, blues and even jazz, you’ll be using pentatonic scales for the rest of your life, so there’s no need to discard them! In this book, we’ll be using the much-loved minor pentatonic scale as the basis for learning and having a quick way to access the modes of the major scale, as well as the basic seventh chord arpeggios. This means that when you go to improvise, you'll have a vast array of options with which to go beyond pentatonic soloing. Work through this book daily and I guarantee you a smooth and painless transition from pentatonics to incorporating modes and arpeggios into your playing.

3NPS (three-note-per-string) scales, as used by legions of guitarists but popularized mainly by Joe Satriani, are one of the most efficient ways to navigate the fretboard and get your scales down IF you follow the guidelines in this book. As the name suggests, a 3NPS scale is any scale that contains three notes on each string, and as you'll see in this eBook, this makes for a very consistent way to map out scales on the guitar fretboard. What we’ve done here is revamped the 3NPS scale system and turned it into an incredibly effective means to learn a wide variety of scales all over the fretboard by streamlining the number of patterns, as well as the picking system. This is not a scale theory book, and contains no pentatonic scales. This is a quick and dirty (and very effective) method for learning 3NPS scales all over the fretboard; something to work on in the woodshed. It will improve your picking technique and speed. It does not require a great amount of thinking as you only need to learn two picking patterns, which is really one in two directions, and only three scale patterns instead of the usual seven per scale.

If you ask anyone who's been playing guitar for a while how to turn scales into solos, you'll likely get a variety of answers. They'll tell you to learn licks, work on your arpeggios, even learn your favorite players' solos note for note. While this is all good advice, I've had some particularly stubborn students that wanted to go beyond that; they wanted to be able to improvise using any scale up and down the fretboard, but at the same time break free from those deeply-ingrained scalar lines and patterns. It was then that I suggested the zonal approach to improvisation; by working in reduced areas of the neck with specifically designed patterns, they were soon able to create melodic, flowing lines that didn't sound at all like scales--they sounded like real music! This is the approach you'll find in this book. We dissect 15 of the most common scales, beyond the pentatonics, and break them down into zones which can be practiced either by scale, or for any particular scale across the fretboard. The objective of this book then is to provide a structured reference to make the transition from playing scales to playing, improvising and creating musical lines when soloing. It’s aimed at the intermediate to advanced guitarist looking to be able to improvise confidently and freely on the instrument in a wide variety of styles. It is also aimed at guitarists that want to move beyond rote pentatonic/blues soloing and incorporate other scales and modes into their playing, as well as building up a vocabulary to solo fluently over chord changes.

This book provides a master source for building agility, flexibility and speed while playing with a flatpick, as well as a repertoire source for the plectrum-style guitarist. the studies are designed to build reading ability and clarity of sound in a variety of styles, as well as agility in cross-picking and the playing of rapid linear passages. Includes over 100 original and jazz etudes, fiddle tunes, and a great number of classical guitar pieces transcribed for plectrum guitar. Written in standard notation and tablature.

Serious about jamming, understanding, and creating guitar-driven music? Easy. With an approachable and engaging style, Guitar Theory For Dummies goes beyond guitar basics, presenting the guidance intermediate to advanced players need to improve their improvisational and compositional skills. Plus, with access to audio tracks and video instruction online you can master the concepts and techniques covered in the book. Key content coverage includes: pentatonic and major scale patterns; the CAGED chord system, chord progressions, and playing by numbers; roots, keys, and applying scales, plus modes and modal scales; intervals and chord extensions; popular song references and theory applications that help you understand how to play popular music and contemporary guitar styles, and create music of your own. This title also features companion audio tracks and video content hosted online at Dummies.com The expert instruction and easy-to-digest information provides comprehensive guidance on how to apply music theory concepts to fretted instruments If you already have a handle on the basics and want to know more about the building blocks and theory behind guitar music, Guitar Theory For Dummies has you covered.