Am Pentatonic Scales in 4 Note Groupings

Feeling a little stale? Stuck in the same old pentatonic positions? Here is a cool rut buster for you. It is an Am pentatonic scale in 4 note groupings on 2 adjacent strings. Let's take a look.

The notes of Am pentatonic are A C D E G. If we start in example #1 we can see that I start on my lowest available note in Am pentatonic available on the 2nd string which would be a C. I then play the rest of the available notes in that position, D E and G. So I have C D E G. As I move up I have the next group of 4 notes from the scale E G A C and so on as I go through the different positions. What we are really doing here is playing the top 4 notes of each pentatonic position.

These 4 note groupings are very useful for moving around the fingerboard. Take a look at these exercises and then we can get to some licks using the concept.