I have some guitar questions.
I know a few scales. Unfortunately, I find myself confined to a 4 fret area when I solo on a scale. I would like to open up the fret board more when I solo. I am torn between two philosophies when it comes to doing this.
Philosophy #1 Tying finger patterns together:
Let?s say I am doing a major pentatonic scale in the key of C (I will include all notes in a particular scale in my diagrams?not just from the root to the next octave):
---------------------------------5--8------ --------------------------5--8------------- --------------------5--7------------------- -------------5--7-------------------------- -------5--7-------------------------------- -5--8--------------------------------------
This pattern covers frets 5,6,7, and 8.
The notes in the major pentatonic scale in the key of C are C, D, E, G, A. I can move up, down, and sideways on this first fingering pattern very quickly all day long.
Now if I move three frets down so that I am ?tied in? by one fret to the original scale, the finger pattern for the pentatonic major in the key of C is:
----------------------------------3--5 ----------------------------3--5------ ---------------------2--5------------- --------------2--5-------------------- --------3--5-------------------------- -3--5---------------------------------
This pattern covers frets 2,3,4, and 5.
If I move up two frets from my original pentatonic major scale fingering pattern I have this fingering pattern for the pentatonic major in C:
---------------------------------------8--10-- -------------------------------8--10---------- -------------------------7--9----------------- -----------------7--10------------------------ ----------7--10------------------------------- --8--10---------------------------------------
This pattern covers frets 7,8,9, 10.
As you can see it is quite easy to make fingering patterns that fit together and that manage to hit all of the notes in a scale. It is not too much of a challenge to make enough finger patterns to cover twelve frets, which means that every note in that scale everywhere on the fret board can be played.
My only worry with this technique is that it will ?box me in?. I am worried that I will only use those fingering patterns and be incapable of going in between those patterns. For example, I would be able to play the pentatonic major in C if I started on fret 5 or fret 2, but what if I wanted to jump around on frets 3,4,5, and 6? Would me being used to the 2,3,4,5 and the 5,6,7,8 patterns confuse my brain when I was playing if I tried to play outside of those finger patterns?
Philosophy #2 Knowing all of the notes in the key of the scale that I am playing:
This concept is pretty easy in theory. It would require that I learn the fret board very well(by looking at a fret and a string I would immediately know which note it was?as of now I have to sit there and think about it for a second). I would then decide what scale to play and in what key. I would have to memorize all of the notes of the scale in that key. The amount of memorization required for this technique would be massive. Imagine learning all of the notes for 10 different scales in every key. That would be 120 different variations I would have to remember. It doesn?t sound terribly efficient.
So basically, I am wondering if I should memorize finger patterns or the particular notes in a scale. I need to pursue the one that will be most amiable to improvisation and habit. I don?t want to have to stop and think about where I need to go next. I?m thinking that philosophy #1 is the better one. Because I could just see myself hesitating while I was thinking, ?ok?I am playing the major pentatonic in this key so I have to only play these notes and where is that note..? etc?To me it seems as if the finger patterns would allow for easier learning and quicker playing. ?There would be no thinking involved with the finger patterns I think.
Any help on how I should progress in my learning would be greatly appreciated.
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