As you play through the backing tracks. Keep in mind where your root notes are, and try to call them out quietly while you play. Reinforcing where these root notes are in each Pentatonic box will go a long way to helping you memorize the fretboard.

Here is your first backing track to practice to. Each backing track is about 10 minutes long. Play as many of them as you like, as many times as you like. Each person’s pace of learning and previous ability coming into this course will be different. The point here is to enjoy using your newfound skill and learn while you have fun making music!

At first, you will probably find yourself playing up and down the scales more than being musical. This is completely normal. But once you commit the box to memory, start to branch out, holding on particular notes that sound sweet to you, experimenting with bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and playing multiple notes from the boxes together to make small chords.

As you learn to riff, and not just play through scales, use the power of the pause. This means to pause on the root notes when soloing. Those root notes will always sound really sweet, and they’re a safe place to land when you start to sound like you’re just noodling through your scales.

In this module we cover how everything repeats on the fretboard every 12 frets, because there are 12 notes in the chromatic scale. We also begin to explore tips to sound more musical and less like playing scales when you’re soloing. In the second half of the video, I include some fun licks to help you sound musical and have fun learning these pentatonic shapes!

In these backing tracks, start to experiment with playing both octaves of the key you’re working with in the pentatonic scale. Just play one box for a few measures, even up to a minute or more, then switch either up or down the fretboard to a different octave. As you play, pay special attention to where the root notes are for your key.

In this track, start experimenting with string bending, and try out the string bending riffs we covered in Module 3.

In these backing tracks, continue to focus on finding your root notes for each minor key you’re playing in. Also, keep in mind where your minor root note lines up with your index finger on the minor and pinky on the major root notes. In this particular backing track, try moving from one base box to the other, work on your bending riffs, and experiment with the 2 note “short chords.”

In this module we introduce Box 2 of the pentatonic scale. Use your root notes in position 1 to find your root notes on either the low or high “E” string. Notice that from here on out, I will start labeling the major key root notes in green.

Spend time weaving between boxes 1 and 2. Pause on the root notes, calling them out loud. You want to see them and hear your voice calling them out. This will aid in faster memorization!

Continue to weave between the boxes and use the power of the pause on your root notes! Try to play with some hammer-ons and pull-offs using two note chords on the 3rd and 2nd strings in Box 2.

Now that you’re in Pentatonic Box 3, you’re more than halfway to memorizing all five shapes and having mastery of the fretboard from the minor perspective. Notice the minor/major pair on the 2nd “B” string. This will be a convenient place to start improvising if you want to start from position 3.

Start to get comfortable with Box 3, paying special attention to the minor root note on the 2nd “B” string. This will be your Major/minor root note pair in Box 3. When you’re looking to play a riff in Box 3, the root is the best reference point.

Practice weaving between the boxes, bending, pausing on “sweet notes,” and skipping strings. You’re now well on your way to improvising up and down the fretboard!

Continue practicing Box 3 using the correct finger positions while you memorize the box while paying special attention to the minor/major index/pinky root pair on the 2nd “B” string. Then weave between the boxes and try out the string bending riff from the lesson.

Continue weaving through the boxes to build comfort with the patterns. Use the power of the pause on your root notes, then try to begin soloing phrases from each individual box. Use your minor/major root pairs as reference points to begin working from each box.

When I first learned this method of finding my minor and major root notes, I primarily used Boxes 1 and 4 as my entry points. While each box has it’s own minor/major pairs, box 1 and 4 are spaced evenly apart from each other on the fretboard, and most people are most comfortable with their knowledge of the notes on the “E” and “A” strings.

Boxes 1 and 4 are my personal favorites to play in, and I hope you will enjoy the musical opportunities that Box 4 creates as much as I do. Pay special attention to the index finger root note on the 5th “A” string. This makes Box 4 the “A string Base Box” and here on the “A” string is where you’ll have your major/minor pair for Box 4.

I really enjoy hammering on and pulling off two note chords in Box 4. Play around with it and see if you can make some riffs of your own.

As you become more comfortable with box 4, get back to your string skipping and tempo variation exercises. If you’re feeling comfortable, try to work with the Box 4 riffs introduced in this module.

As you continue to memorize Box 4, work on musicality. Practice the riffs introduced in this module, and try to make subtle changes to the riffs. Notice that different backing tracks will inspire different changes to the riff. This is what improvising and finding your own sound are all about!

You’re about to put the last piece together in the minor pentatonic scale. Look at the fretboard on the right. Once you have the five boxes memorized from the minor perspective, learning the pentatonic from the major perspective is easy. As you change keys on the fretboard, the minor and major pentatonic scales use the same shape, they just represent different keys and they start from a different note.

While you play along in this backing track and get comfortable with box 5, take time just focusing on box 5. The minor/major entry point to the box is on the 3rd “G” string. Find the root note for the C# minor key using the 3rd string, and you’re automatically in box 5. Use the power of the pause and look for 2 note chords in box 5 to add musicality to the scale.

In this backing track, focus on finding the Box 5 major/minor root pair on the 3rd string, then weaving between boxes 4, 5, and 1. Take a pause every 30 seconds or so and re-start your playing from your “E” root note. Alternate between finding the root note in boxes 4, 5, and 1 each time you stop and keep weaving between the boxes. This will really help you memorize where your root notes are and how Box 5 fits between boxes 4 and 1.

Congrats! You’ve completed the entire course from the minor perspective. From here, we’ll just be focusing on the same pentatonic patterns from the major perspective. Enjoy playing through this backing track, and see how the suggested box 5 riffs from the Module 7 video can fit or be modified to fit into this backing track. Make them your own!

As we begin this module, it’s time to really focus on the minor/major PAIRS that are found in each Pentatonic Box. The key of C Major/A minor on the right is unique in that it has two minor/major pairs. Each of the other 4 boxes only have one minor/major pair.

In this module backing track, practice on locating your root notes. Try the riff from Module 8. Practice the riff and see if you can make your own variations of that riff over the next two backing tracks.

Practice finding your E minor root notes in both octaves. Use the power of the pause and continue playing with the example riff or variations of it from Module 8 to expand your musicality from the major perspective.

Call out your root notes as you weave between boxes 1 and 2. Box 2 has a minor/major pair on the “D” string. So, the “D” string is the best place to locate your root note when you want to start playing from Box 2.

Practice Box 2 with correct finger position, then practice slowly weaving between both boxes and practice recovering correct finger position when you switch positions. Alternate between calling out your major and minor root notes.

Look for inspiration by playing the box 1 and 2 riffs we’ve gone over in the Major modules. Experiment with changing them up little by little and making them your own.

There lots of opportunities for bluesy sounding 2 note “short chords,” or intervals that sound good together. In box 2, for example, put your 2nd finger on 2nd string 3rd fret, your first finger on 3rd string 2nd fret, and hammer on and pull off of 3rd string 4th fret with your 3rd finger. Play around with hammer-s and pull-offs in box 2.

In this module, we cover the third position of the pentatonic scale with a focus on the major perspective. Look out for your root notes on the 4th “D” string, but especially to your minor/major pair on the 2nd “B” string. We also work on a new lick to use in box 3.

With this backing track, focus first on position 3 of the pentatonic. Be mindful of your major root notes on the 4th and 2nd string, with a particular focus on the minor/major pair on the 2nd string. Practice calling out your root notes an string skipping. Use the power of the pause as you play to build musicality.

Now that you’re hopefully feeling a little more comfortable with box 3, start to weave between boxes 1, 2, and 3. Challenge yourself to call out your major (and minor) root notes as you play, and, for an extra challenge, see how well you can call out the major and minor root notes while string skipping.

Practice weaving between the boxes with this backing track. Try out the new riff we introduced in the module, and have fun making it your own. At this point, hopefully you’ve taken some of the previous riffs and made them your own as well. Also, it’s always a good idea to seek out other music to play with. Find they key of the some of your favorite songs, and practice playing along with them.

In this module we revisit position 4 from a major perspective. In the video, I talk about the two most popular entry points, Box 1 and Box 4. But remember, there are entry points from all five boxes, and it’s a good idea to practice entering your jams from all five boxes. It will really help with your fretboard memorization.

Revisit Box 4 from the major perspective. In this backing track, focus on correct finger position in Box 4.

This is a nice, slow backing track to practice weaving between the boxes, calling out your major (and minor) root notes as you go. Focus on regaining correct finger position as you weave into new boxes.

The riff introduced in this module uses slides between two note “short chords” or parallel intervals to get its sound. Focus on sliding between different nearby two note parallel intervals in different positions around the fretboard. You may come up with some new “go to” riffs.

In this last module, we cover position 5 from the major perspective, then go over each of the minor/major pair entry points on each string. Knowing your entry points on each string is crucial to mastering the next part of the module.

At around the 6:40 mark, we start to get into how to combine the major and minor pentatonic scales to add new layers and feeling to your playing.

In this first track for Module 12, focus on position 5 and entering the position from its minor/major entry point on the 2nd “B” string. Once you feel comfortable with the box, start to employ string skipping to turn up the difficulty.

We’re really going to focus on our minor/major entry points over the next two backing tracks. We need to be as comfortable as possible with them to prepare for blending the major/minor pentatonic scales together at the end of the course. The work you do now will go really far in increasing your fretboard knowledge and confidence.

Before we dive into blending major and minor pentatonic scales, focus once more on the minor/major entry points. This practice will go a long way in prepare for blending the major/minor pentatonic scales together at the end of the course.

Now, the final challenges begin! Exercise your knowledge of your minor and major roots to work between Box 1 from the Major perspective and Box 5 from the minor perspective. Pay attention to how the boxes overlap one another, and practice using the major roots of Box 1 and the minor roots of Box 5 as your entry points.

Now, we begin to move down the fretboard to boxes 5 and 4. Box 5 from a Major perspective overlaps nicely with Box 4 from the minor perspective. Practice switching between the two, using the minor/major pairs from each box as your entry points.

In this backing track, practice the overlapping boxes of E Major in position 4, and E minor in position 3. Again, use the minor/major pairs as your entry points. Use the power of the pause and look for 2 note parallel intervals, or “short chords,” to make new riffs.

In this backing track, move down the neck to Major position 3, and its overlapping minor position 2. Switch between the boxes using your minor/Major pairs, look for parallel intervals, and use hammer-pull-offs to add variety to your playing.

In the last E7 backing track, practice switching between E Major position 2 and E minor position 1.

Use the minor/Major root note pairs when you switch boxes, and notice that while it’s not highlighted, there are major roots and most of an E Major Box 2 down near the nut of the guitar neck.

Over the next several backing tracks, we will shift to blending between G Major and G minor pentatonic scales. Start with Box 1 in G Major and Box 5 in G minor.

If you feel comfortable, experiment with using some of the methods we’ve covered to improve musicality; string bends, power of the pause, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and 2 note parallel intervals, or “short chords.

In this backing track, practice switching between the G Major perspective in Box 5 and the G minor perspective in Box 4. Try picking specific times to make your change between Major and minor. For example, you could make your change every 4 or 8 measures. Getting used to changing on the first beat of a measure will help you in the challenge of the final two backing tracks.

In this backing track, we alternate between G Major position 4 and G minor position 3. Remember to use the minor/major pairs in each box when making your switch and switch on the first beat of the measure.

Hopefully, at this point, you have some favorite, or “go to” riffs in your arsenal. Try to mix your riffs into this practice and always keep your mind open, experimenting and looking for new riffs.

G Major Box 3 and G minor Box 2 are the focus of this backing track. Most people find the transitions between certain boxes easier than others. The transition between boxes 2 and 3 is often one of the more difficult ones for many people, so repeat any of these backing tracks as many times as you need.

Here we wrap up our Major/minor switching practice over the G7 chord. Practice making changes using your minor/Major pairs on the first beat of the measure between G Major Box 2 and G minor Box 1. The final, and most difficult challenge awaits in the last two backing tracks!

In this final challenge, you will play a Major pentatonic box over all E7 chords, and then you’ll switch to a minor pentatonic box over everything else. In this case, you’ll be playing minor pentatonic over A7 and B7 chords.

In this final challenge, you will play a Major pentatonic box over all G7 chords, and then you’ll switch to a minor pentatonic box over everything else. In this case, you’ll be playing minor pentatonic over D7 and E7 chords.