Gibson

Learning to ‘Overlap’ Scales

The combination of shapes and scales on the guitar is probably the single most important tool to the improviser. Even when I first taught myself these kinds of positions, I was not yet truly aware of the fact that I was essentially creating a “double-exposure” of scale positions that could be easily taught.

As I got more into actually teaching these kinds of concepts it became more and more obvious that these could be taught in a very clear and easy to understand manner. This “overlapping” of scales will help you to find some others on your own, and develop some of your own improvisational ideas.

In the case of this lesson, we will be working with two very closely-related positions of the minor and major pentatonic scales, one of which I hardly ever use except in this particular combination due to its closeness of proximity to the other.

This is a great concept to work with, and you’ll quickly be on your way to seeing how the real improvisers perfect their craft! - Arlen Roth