Pentatonic Rock Songs

[WorldWithoutE]

Hi all,

I wanna ask if you guys have any minor pentatonic rock songs to recommend practicing to get a better hold of riffing and solo-ing. Been learning through tabs for too long.:???: And I know that a huge majority of classic rock songs are in minor pentatonic, but I wanna know what most people would learn first if they take this route.

Currently I am looking to learn Back in Black, with its familiar riff and solo. But I can't really confirm anywhere on the web that says its really in minor pentatonic, and from what I see, there are actually some notes played out of the scale. Any way to find out the scales that songs use at one glance, rather than taking the time to look at the notes?

Thanks!

 

[dudelove]

There are MANY rock songs that have minor pentatonic solos actually.

Stairway to heaven is a really famous one in the key of A minor.

 

[MusicPebbles]

Sweet Child Of Mine - Guns & Roses

 

[kimura]

Good stuff to learn brutha, Back in Black. You should take a listen to Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb, esp from the Pulse 'live' tour gig.

Kick back& enjoy. Be awed by the music& be blown away by the solo. Inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJZYG5qwHHI

 

[WorldWithoutE]

But is Back in Black in minor pentatonic?

 

[dudelove]

But is Back in Black in minor pentatonic?

Yes. Everything is. The intro itself has a minor pentatonic lick. The solos are all based around the minor pentatonic with a few extra notes here and there.

 

[firdaus]

Sir i would recommend that you learn deep purple smoke on the water the main riff is in g min pentatonic good song to know

 

[WorldWithoutE]

Thanks for all the nice replies , really appreciate them all. I was expecting some negative comments about being a newbie and all. I will go practice to Back in Black and Smoke on the Water then:twisted: time to rip it! Anyway, how do you identify which scale a song uses? I go through it one note at a time and see which scale in conforms to, but is this the fastest way? Thanks again people!

 

[Valentinoz]

Sir i would recommend that you learn deep purple smoke on the water the main riff is in g min pentatonic good song to know

agreed. smoke on the water, you can try knocking on heavens door. see whether anyone opens.

 

[firdaus]

Sir to know what scale to use you have to first identify what key the song is in .To do so ,you can see at the score sheet on the the top left hand corner something like this # this indicates the number of sharp there is in a particular song.

-For exaple if there is no # then the key of the song is in c because c is the only scale without any sharp or flat.

- 1 # is in the key of g
- 2 # is in the key of d
- 3 # is in the key of a
- 4 # is in the key of e
- 5 # is in the key of b

and lastly 1 b is in the key of f

What you can do now is to memorize the number of sharp and flat in all of the natural keys meaning, c,d,e,f,g,a,b

Next depending on what key the song is in you can use the maj scale for example key of the song is in g you can use g maj scale ,g maj pentatonic or even the relative minor scale in this case e min scale or e min pentatonic

hope this helps................

 

[WorldWithoutE]

Ah, the key thing I know from my little knowledge of theory, but what if it's in TAB? From what I see, it's prolly experience that helps to identify since certain scales sound a certain way. Am I right?

 

[dudelove]

Anyway, how do you identify which scale a song uses? I go through it one note at a time and see which scale in conforms to, but is this the fastest way? Thanks again people!

I knew nuts about theory when I first started out too..

Give yourself a bit of time. For me, I began to recognise certain patterns and scales after learning MANY songs, using tabs and guitar pro. After learning so many songs, they all seem to have certain licks that are similiar and they only differ by a few notes. These sorta got stuck in my muscle memory. I would say I got to identify scales not through drilling of theory, but through experience and time. Now, I learn songs by hearing, because these licks are all recognisable. However, if I want to learn a song, for example, with shredding I probably can't learn by ear because I'm not familiar with the scales involved.

 

[firdaus]

ok sir if the song is in tab format than what you can do is probably to analyze what chord is in the song.Go and find a music teacher or a friend that knows about diatonic chord harmonization or the other way is to see what chord is being used in the song it could be high chance that that is the key of that song .Example on the tab you see c, amin, g, d min ,c than c would be the key of that song and you could use either a c maj pentatonic or a a min pentatonic chanes of going to sound bad in your soloing is quite low .......hope this helps