You can never have enough of the E minor pentatonic scale. So here is another practice track, built around an E boogie power chord. There is just one chord! The organ comes in over the top with an E7 #9, while the bass line features sliding or bending between minor and major third. So hit those bends in your solo, especially the minor third!
Bass Practice Track – E Minor Pentatonic
I thought it would be cool for my bass students to play along with a track that I am working on for an album by “The Robert Bloodwood Experience”, which is the name of my blues and groove band. So I have taken out the bass and the vocals, leaving just the drums and guitars.
It is predominantly an E minor groove, occasionally changing to G and then to A. See if you can figure out where by listening. Play along using the E minor Pentatonic scale. Remember that simple with a good feel is often the best option for bass.
practicetrackversionNoBassNoVocals
Practice Track: Groove Bass
Here is a practice track for bass players. It is in the key of G minor, at a medium tempo. There is only one chord – a G minor played throughout, but interest is created by interspersing rhythm accompaniments and lead tracks using various guitar sounds and organ styles. This track is ideal for sharpening up the G minor pentatonic chops. The minor pentatonic scale is great for all kinds of groove based music, and is also useful for rock and blues as well. There is no bass line recorded on this track, so see if you can play along, and create some bass lines using the G minor Pentatonic scale. A good rule of thumb to start with is to play the root note on beat one of each bar. Have fun exploring!
If you are not familiar with the G minor pentatonic scale, here is a fret board diagram. It shows two scale shapes that you can play with just fingers 1 and 3, which is easiest for less experienced players. In each case, start with your third finger on a G, and use your first finger to slide between fret one and fret 3 on the A string, or fret 8 and 10 on the D string.
Practice Track – E minor Pentatonic
Here is another practice track for beginning guitarists wanting to sharpen up their E minor pentatonic scale! It is a 16 bar pattern:
|Em | | | |
|Am | | | |
|Em | | | |
|B | | | : ||
It is at a pretty slow pace, around 55bpm, so you can relax and concentrate on getting the right notes sounding good. In case you need a reminder, here is the E minor pentatonic scale in open position:
And here is the practice track – have fun!
Rock Practice Track – A
Here is a rock practice track in the key of A. The chords are A, C, D and E – all power chords comprising the root and fifth. It is done at a slowish 100bpm, so you should have plenty of time to pick up what’s happening. See if you can work out which chords are where using your ear! The note G on the bottom string is used as a bend in between A chords and E chords – a standard rock and roll move!
Am Pentatonic Rock Practice Track
Practice your improvising using the A minor pentatonic scale, with the addition of a B on the E chords!
Enjoy,
Rob
Practice Track: E minor Pentatonic
One of the most important scales to learn for guitarists interested in rock and blues is the minor pentatonic scale. To help you polish up your licks using the E minor pentatonic scale, here is a practice track in a rock style to help you out. Here is the scale in first position: numbers indicate the fingers to use, and the squares show where the “E’s” are.
When you have memorised the scale, fire up the following practice track and see if you can play along!
Practice Track: Old Style Country
Here is a practice track with a simple folk strum and rock drum beat. There is a guitar line somewhat in the style of Johny Cash recordings to give it a country feel – with major pentatonic scale runs. This is suitable for beginning to intermediate players to practice their melodic invention (lead breaks). Use a D major scale.
||:D | |G | |D | |A7 | : ||
Free MP3 download: Country Style D major progression
Enjoy!
Practice Track: E Minor Pentatonic
One of the songs I teach my beginning students is known affectionately as “Em Pentatonic on the First Two strings”. It uses only four notes, B, D, E and G, and three simple two finger chords, Em, G6 and Amin9 (really A5 add2). Here I have recorded the tune with the melody, and also without the melody so that you can (1) practice playing the melody yourself, and (2) practice making up your own tune (improvising) using the notes B,D, E and G from the E minor pentatonic scale. Of course if you know the entire E minor pentatonic scale, feel free to use it!
Here it is with the melody. Try and play along, reading the melody from your music (the music is printed in Rob’s Guitar Method, Book 1, on page 16).
Em pentatonic practice track – with melody.
When you have played along with the recorded melody above, try the next MP3, which has only the accompaniment. Try to play the melody along with the accompaniment. Then try making up your own tune using notes from the E minor pentatonic scale!
Em pentatonic practice track – no melody.
Have fun!
Practice Track: Country G major
Here is a practice track for practicing a basic country strumming pattern and basic country lead scale. It is just one chord, G major. The first track has a basic melody, running up and down the G major pentatonic scale, which is widely used in many forms of country music. See if you can play along. Once you have mastered the scale, use the second track with rhythm only to make up your own melodic lines using the scale. Try using some hammer ons and pull-offs to get that country picking sound. The track is quite slow, at 80 bpm, but you need to play slow before you can play fast! Enjoy!
Practice Track: Em Pentatonic on First Two Strings
This tune is great fun to play, and sounds good played in many different ways, from fast to slow. Most of my beginning students will spend some time on this tune, as it is a great introduction to jammimg and improvisation using the pentatonic scale, the foundation of much rock and roll, blues and jazz playing. There are only four notes in the tune, so it is perfect to learn for those in the first stages of learning. Listen to my track with the recorded melody, and try to play along as you read the music. Then try to play the melody using the track without the melody recorded. Then practice making up your own tunes, using the same four notes, or adding other notes from the E minor pentatonic scale.
Em Pentatonic on First Two Strings – with Melody
