Every successful musician has a bag of tricks – playing techniques that sound more impressive than they are difficult to play. In this latest video, I demonstrate one of my tricks – a pentatonic scale pattern. It’s versatile and really easy to learn.

To start, you need to know: 1) the key of the song you’re playing, and 2) the major scale for that key. The pentatonic scale is a major scale minus the 4th and 7th notes. We’re left with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the major scale (five notes total).

Because the pentatonic scale leaves out the 4th and 7th, it works with any chord within the key – you can use this pattern pretty much any time you want to.

The scale pattern can start on any pentatonic note. Watch the video for a quick demonstration of this pattern.

To build a strong foundation for improvising, you’ll want to dig into Fluent Piano Melodic.  Thanks for watching!