Legato Patterns with Pentatonics (Guitar Lesson SC-025) How to play

Hi, how are you doing? Justin here.

In today's lesson we are going to be
talking about a thing called

Legato Patterns.

What these are little ways of using
hammer-ons and flick-offs

to give you really nice, fairly easy
to make fast, repeatable figures.

All of the ones we are going to be
looking at to start off with

have got eight notes in them.

It's two beats, with each beat divided
into four notes - 16 notes.

We are going to look at
one pattern to start off with

and then we are going
to apply that pattern

and use it both horizontally,
to move up and down the neck,

and vertically, to move across patterns.

It's really important that you understand

that this one little idea here
works in both directions.

It works through any pattern,

any pentatonic shape.

Sometimes they are a bit harder
than others to use.

Some patterns work good on one shape,
not so well on another.

It's up to you to explore that a bit.

I'm not going to show you
every way of playing the patterns.

If I give you a bit of a demo
of one of them.

One of the patterns
we are going to look at,

is pattern 2 on my tab sheet,

if you go to the website
and download that.

The actual pattern is this -

But slowed down a little bit is -

That's the pattern, just eight notes.

It's important to realise that
that pattern can be used to go

up the neck or across the neck.

If we start here,
move the same pattern again...

It's the same shape, if you like,

of pick, flick-off,

pick, pick,

hammer-on,

pick, pick,

flick-off.

That's the pattern.

Same pattern as here.

But we could move that one
over the string.

And we've got a pretty cool lick.

We could also use that same shape,
same pattern to move up the neck

by moving it from say...

In this example I'm going to use

box 2, box 3, box 4, box 5
of the pentatonic.

So you end up with -

I've just taken that little pattern

and moved it up through each
of the minor pentatonic shapes.

Let's get a close up and check out
that particular pattern,

make sure you are doing it right
and then I'll explain

how to move it round
between the different boxes.

Let's have a look at that
little pattern now, nice and slow.

This is pattern 2 on my tab sheet.

So literally pick,

flick, kick,

pick, hammer-on,

pick, pick,

flick-off.

You really have to practice that
really slowly for a while first.

But slowly and smoothly so you can
repeat it over again.

You don't want to go -

That would be really bad.

Doesn't matter the speed,
it can be -

Doesn't really matter.

It's just about
getting it right and smooth.

Eventually, of course...

It's important to realise here
that this is part of...

..that minor pentatonic.

But the pattern is what
you want to be learning.

The pick,

flick, pick,

pick, hammer-on,

pick, pick,

flick-off.

If we just take it down, for example,

it's quite easy to move it now
into box 1.

Minor pentatonic.

I chose that one because it's simple

and the fingers are not stretched out.

But here, the same pattern just works.

Pick, flick,

pick, pick,

hammer-on, pick,

pick, flick-off.

That works really, really well.

There would be no harm in
moving from one to the next.

You can muck around with it.

If you are familiar with box 3
minor pentatonic...

..you could apply it here.

This one is 13, 10,

12, 10,

13,10

13,10.

The next one moved up here will be

15, 13

14, 13

15, 12,

15,13.

A little bit harder because
the first finger needs to shift back

but again it's just...

..from that minor pentatonic shape.

Again moves up into box 5.

And of course, the same pattern...

If you are going to do that last bend

it needs to be tone and a half -
it's a tough one.

But hopefully you get the idea.

The next thing you want to do

is take that one pattern
I have shown you

and apply it all over the fingerboard.

Learn it really slowly,
let it become instinctive.

Get it comfortable under your fingers,

then try moving it horizontally
up and down the fingerboard,

changing between the different boxes
and get that under your fingers.

Maybe try and use it vertically

and stay within the one box shape
or the one position

and explore how you can use it there.

Then try and mix it up a little bit
and move maybe

one position over, toward the ground

and then one position up and then over

and then up or whatever.

Your creativity is the limit here.

You should be experimenting
as much as you can.

Next stop, we've got a whole bunch
of different legato patterns.

You don't have to just use
that one I've shown you.

There are probably an infinite number.

I've got six together
that I think work real well.

You can download the tab from the website,

which you will probably find
pretty helpful to check that out.

I am going to do a close-up now
of each pattern.

This is pattern 1.

Here is pattern 3.

Pattern 4.

Pattern 5.

And lastly, pattern 6,
which is in groups of 6.

This one, of course.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Now you have got loads
and loads of patterns

to be getting on with.

Remember, you don't have to stick
to using the one pattern.

You can mix them up,
use a bit of one pattern,

a bit of the next one
and a bit of the next one.

Finding which patterns work well
within what boxes

of the pentatonic scale
is probably a good idea.

As I mentioned earlier,

you can also apply this to scales
that are not pentatonic.

You can muck around
with bits of the major scale.

It's really the pattern
that you try to get to grips with.

You being the creative force now

to find loads and loads
of different ways of using it.

There are infinite possibilities here.

Hope you have a bit of fun with that

and exploring this concept.

It should keep you busy for some time.

It's something I still play about with
because I find it really interesting

to find and make up new patterns

and see what other ways I can apply them.

Hope you have a bit of fun with that
and I'll see you for another lesson

sometime real soon.

Take care of yourselves, bye-bye.