Analyzing What You Play
With any scale you learn, it is important to know how each note of the scale relates to the root note or key note, in order to make sense of licks within the key you are in. This can be achieved by learning to identify scale degrees by ear, and analyzing them. It is worth comparing the notes and scale degrees of the C major scale with the C minor pentatonic scale. The following diagrams are the note names and scale degrees of both scales in the key of C.
Notice that the minor pentatonic scale does not contain the degrees 2 or 6, and that the 3rd and 7th degrees are flattened. Play through the C minor pentatonic scale several times, naming the scale degrees as you play each one. When you can do this from memory, transpose it to other keys by moving it up or down the fretboard. Notice that the scale degrees remain the same regardless of what key you are playing in.
Here is a lick created from the C minor pentatonic scale. The scale degrees are written above the notes. This is a useful way of analyzing a lick to see what notes were used to create it.
It is a good idea to analyze many licks using a particular scale. This will help you become thoroughly familiar with the sounds available from that scale so you can re-create those sounds at will. Let’s look at example 338. It begins with the b7 degree being bent up to the root note (1). The root note is then played again, followed by the b7. A pull-off is then used to get to the 5th degree, which is then followed by the 4th degree being bent up to the 5th degree. This is followed by the 4th and b3rd degrees, and in the last bar the 4th degree is followed by the root (1) an octave lower than at the beginning of the lick.
Analyzing licks in this manner may seem dull at first, but the more you know about exactly what you are playing, the more control you have over what you play, and the more you can interact with other musicians. Stick with it, in time you will instantly know what you or anyone else is playing as soon as you hear it. In fact, to be a good player it is important to be able to hear in your head what you want to play and then produce that sound with your hands. A good way to practice this is to sing a lick and then play what you sang. The following example is also derived from the minor pentatonic scale, this time in the key of G. Learn to play it and then analyze it using the method just described.
