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Posted by: montecristo May 29 2008, 07:01 PM

Hey, I was hoping someone can help clear up this issue for me b/c I am a bit confused :-(

1) Can the E minor scale (E aeolian) be played anywhere on the fretboard as long as the key of the tune is Em ?
2) If this is the case, it is different than the pentatonic scale in the sense that we can play it anywhere as long as the fingering is correct?

Thanks for any input!

Posted by: Mark. May 29 2008, 07:20 PM

1) As long as the key remains Em; you can play the Eminor scale all over the neck just as long as you keep using the Em notes which are E F# G A B C D.

2) I dont really get that question, but you can also play the Eminor scale all over the neck, just as long as the music remains in the key of Em and you keep Using the Eminor pentatonic scale notes : E G A B D

The only difference between the pentatonic minor scale and the regular minor scale is that with the pentatonic scale 2nd and the 6th note are left away.

Notes from the regular E minor scale
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
E | F# | G | A | B | C | D | E |

Notes from the E minor pentatonic scale:
1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
E | G | A | B | D | E |

Just as long as the backing tracks stays in E minor and you play the notes from Regular E minor or the E minorpentatonic scale, it should sound alright. It doesn't matter on what place of the neck you play these notes, as long as it are the correct ones.

If you wanna learn soloing all over the neck you should learn all the scale boxes, which goes much faster then looking op all the notes on the neck.

Hope this helps a bit, ask if anything is unclear; it's really difficult to explain this kinda stuff in EnglishxD

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 29 2008, 07:41 PM

1. Yes
2. I didn't understand what your question was. Could you rephrase please?

Posted by: Juan M. Valero May 29 2008, 07:46 PM

Em pentatonic is the same without the 2nd and the 6th. Those notes are called TRITONE (or something like this, I don't know the exact translation) and are very unstable so when we delete it we would say that we play in easier way
We should take care with this 2 notes 'cos sometimes they can sound "wrong" if we use them for a long time...

yeah, it's hard to explain it in English

Posted by: Mark. May 29 2008, 07:59 PM

Yeah, the 2nd and 6th note only sound good wenn a diatonic backing track is used I guess, because then all the chords and notes fit to getter I'm no expert on this either, I would love to see an comment from Andrew

Posted by: montecristo May 30 2008, 01:21 AM

Thanks for the help. I
As for my 2nd question, just void it...it makes no sense as I re-read it :-)

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn May 30 2008, 02:17 AM

You got it down pretty well I think Mark The pentatonic is interesting because of that sparsity of notes, it gives you more options to fit scales as there are less potential clashes. The Tritone Juan is talking about is also known as an Augmented 4th, Flattened 5th, or even the Devil's interval - because it is dissonant and unstable.

Posted by: Gerardo Siere May 31 2008, 01:52 AM

What really gets the modes tasty is their use over harmonic time, you should ask Andrew about this, but can try this, take a Em vamp over a slow 4/4 beat. Play the scale as ever over beats 1, 2, and 3, on beat 4 play your fingering a fret higher and come back to normal again on beat 1.
The theory is that 4/4 has stress point on beats 1 and 3, and weak points on 2 and 4 (especially 4) so you can take the stress point as places to play chord notes, and weak points to play non chord and even non diatonical notes. It seems prety mechanic and lifeless first but it will get you new ideas.