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Plan · Week 4 of 8

Major pentatonic

The drill

A major pentatonic at fret 2 and around fret 10 (the BB King box, C shape). Mix major and minor 3rd. Minor over the IV.

You pass when

One chorus: major-ish over I, minor over IV, and it sounds deliberate

Ex. 3

A major pentatonic, same shape at fret 2

Same shape, fret 2
eBGDAE6R35R256236R123456
  • Root
  • Scale
Tab
e|---------------------------2-5-|  F# A
B|-----------------------2-5-----|  C# E
G|-----------------2-4-----------|  A  B
D|-------------2-4---------------|  E  F#
A|---------2-4-------------------|  B  C#
E|-2-5---------------------------|  F# A

Same fingering as Ex. 1, three frets down. The root A is now the second note on the low E string (fret 5), not the first.

Ex. 4

The BB King box (fret 10)

Tab
e|---------------------10-12-----|  D  E
B|------------10-12-13-----------|  A  B  C
G|-9-11-12-----------------------|  E  F# G
D|-------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|

The move that defines this box, on the B string: 12b14-13-10. That is the major 3rd (C#, bent), the minor 3rd (C), then the root (A). The whole blues in three notes.

Ex. 16

C shape with box 3 on top (frets 9 to 13, the BB King box lives here)

C shape · box 3 on top
eBGDAE345Rb35b7b334b7R458910111213
  • Root
  • 3rd
  • 5th
  • b7
  • Scale

The BB box adds two major pentatonic notes here: B (B string 12, bend it up to the 3rd) and F# (G string 11). The root under your index finger on the B string is what makes this box feel like home.

Listen this week