Technique VI - Pentatonic Scales; Alternate E/B♭ Major - Two Strings
This month’s technical exercise further restricts the use of guitar strings, from three to only two. I mentioned last month that ‘turning around’ on a string is the most demanding part of these exercises for my right hand. Well, by restricting myself to playing on only two strings, I am forcing myself to ‘turn around’ on every string I play.
Playing one pair of strings at a time also considerably shortens the exercise and so my performance, which you can view here, and transcription, which you can download here, include examples starting on a few different strings.
The rules for this exercise are:
Using three notes per string, play an E pentatonic scale starting on the guitar’s second string or the lowest sounding string of any pair of adjacent strings.
When you switch strings, repeat the last note of the previous string (B-C♯-E, switch strings, E-F♯-G♯).
Every two strings switch to the pentatonic scale a tritone away and change direction (the first switch will be from E to B♭ pentatonic).
When you exhaust the strings of the guitar in one direction, add one more note on that string in the direction you want to travel along the fretboard.