Bendable notes in pentatonic scales

Depends on how big you bend, amigo.

I'll number the notes to match your diagram...

R...........b3
5...........b7
b3......4....
b7......R....
4.......5....
R...........b3


R's don't bend well, unless you have one HECK of a hand - you need a 3 fret bend to get in range of the next note

b3s are great for bends. 1/4 tone bends make them 'blue notes', just out of key, and 1/2 step bends (one fret worth) moves them up to the major scale note in key

4s are good for bends too - 1/2 step bends make them b5s, which is a note in the blues scale

5s don't bend well (same reason as Rs)

b7s can be ok... a 1/2 step bend puts it in the key of the major scale (and makes it a leading tone to the tonic note)

So you can bend more than half of 'em :)

Great Lesson NoteBoat

Being self taught, I have always tended to look at the patterns or boxes. It is better to know the notes at NoteBoat showed.

But when you examine the patterns, you will find that each position of the Pentatonic scale is exactly the same. And you are not restricted to bends on the top three strings, you can do them anywhere.

What I have done here is label the three bends you showed as A, B, and C. These same exact bends can be played in every position on any string.


Minor Pentatonic
Position 1 Key of A

8a 10c
8b 10
7c 9
7 10b
8a 10c


Hope you understand what I'm getting at here. But it is the very same notes in each position.

One other trick you can use... any time you have two notes that are two frets apart (b3-4, 4-5, b7-R) you can use the note in between as a passing tone or an auxilliary note.

If you go 3b-3-4 it's a passing tone; if you go b3-3-b3 it's an auxilliary note.

Either way makes your playing more chromatic so it sounds like you're taking risks. You're not. But that'll be our secret :)

When I'm going through my warm up exercises I practice Bends, Vibratos, and Slides as I'm doing scales and chords. Sure there are idolized bends to create certain licks but sometimes you need to think outside the box and make things even more interesting by pushing or pulling to a different pitch. Not just scales but chords also. Example would be if I was doing a bar chord I shake my hand in away that has the every note in the chord raising and lowering in pitch.

Yes it takes practice, for me thats what practicing is all about. Being able to do that something special to enhance my playing style. I get asked on numerous occasions how I got a certain note and chord to sound like I do. Its the little things like I explained. Thats what definds my style.

Joe

This is great guys.

I too, just like wes was looking at the scale as boxes.
I will spend some time and learn then as intervals as well.

Thanks
Vic

Vic

Yeah, NoteBoats lesson was great. It is good to see the boxes, but it is even better when you can identify each note and it's interval relationship to the Root note.

NoteBoat's lesson applied to the Minor Pentatonic. The Major Pentatonic boxes are exactly the same shape, and the classic bends are exactly the same and in the same position relative to the box, although you would shift down 3 frets or 1 1/2 steps.

But the intervals will be different.

6....................R
3....................5
R..............2
5..............6
2..............3
6...................R

In the Major Pentatonic, the bends will be your Root up to the 2nd, the 2nd up to the 3rd, and the 5th up to the 6th.

But as Joe said, you can do anything you want. I like to make very big bends, sometimes raising a pitch two whole steps or more. It is all about expression.

Minor addition to the great advice above: remember you can bend to notes not beloning to your pentatonic scale.