Rock Out with Creative Metal Bends – Take Your Pentatonic Scales to the Next Level

Hey,

This is Steve Stine from Guitar Zoom, and today I want to talk to you about how you can take your pentatonic scales and expand them to include more creative elements.

When you’re in a situation where you need to solo over hard rock or metal, you need to think of ways to expand your pentatonic to include things that may not necessarily make sense in the music theory world. This is something I explore in great detail in a course I have about guitar soloing.

The idea is to think of it from a bird’s eye view. You need to figure out what the best thing to use is when you don’t have a lot of time to figure out the right scale. In metal and hard rock, we predominantly use the minor scale, so minor pentatonic or aeolian scale.

One thing you can do to have some fun with this is to expand your pentatonic by adding in some unusual bending. You can bend from just about any note in your pentatonic by a half step down. This will give it an exotic sound.

For example, if you’re in E minor pentatonic, go up to the 14th fret of the third string. Normally we would bend it up a whole step, but you can also try bending it down a half step. This will give you a unique sound that will stand out from the traditional rock sound.

You can also try adding in some extra notes to your pentatonic. If you were in D minor pentatonic, for example, you could add in the 6th and 7th notes of the scale. This will give you a wider range of notes to play with and will give your soloing a more interesting sound.

Finally, you can also try adding in some chromatic notes. This means adding notes that don’t really fit into the scale, but still sound good. If you were in A minor pentatonic, for example, you could add in the 9th and 10th notes of the scale. Again, this will give your soloing a more interesting sound.

So there you have it! These are just a few ideas of how you can expand your pentatonic scales to make your solos more interesting and creative. Experiment with these ideas and see what kind of unique sounds you can come up with. Good luck!

If you’re looking to take your guitar skills to the next level, check out what other guitar players are saying about their experiences at GuitarZoom.com. From learning the basics and fundamentals of guitar playing to mastering chord progressions, fingerstyle guitar, improvisation, and learning songs, you’ll find the resources you need to hone your craft. For those looking to get more into advanced techniques such as strumming and picking, music theory and notation, and soloing, Steve Stine’s website has plenty of helpful resources to get you started.