the root note of any scale is the name of that scale. for example, the e minor pentatonic scales root note is "E". this is quite important. anytime you will be soloing in the e minor pentatonic scale (at least for now) the music you will be soloing over will be in the key of "E". the root note is the one that "goes best" or "sounds best" in the scale with the music you aare playing it with, so if you start or stop on the note "E" you are most likely going to have it fit well with the music. th reason that you have multiple root notes in a scale is that they are an "octave" apart from each other, but are the same note name and sound. if you pluck the open Low E string, and then put your finger on the 12th fret of the same string, you are once again making the note "E", only it is an "octave" higher......... thats the basis.... and im shivvering from having slightly too much caffeine, i hope you can understand a single word of what i said... it probably sounds like garble to you........... oh man... i hope someone comes on and explains it more in depth than me, but i just cant right now......lol

Well SATAN, you did pretty good.

Knowing the root note(s) of your scale box is the first step towards knowing ALL the notes on the fretboard which should be the goal. Knowing them then makes it easy to figure out where you are playing or where you should be playing. It makes the blending of chords and solos easier because it makes finding the notes of your key easier.

PS. if the kid can play all 5 shapes of the E minor pentatonic, he can actually play ANY minor pentatonic on any root and ANY major pentatonic too. I'm not sure if you want me to go there though...

SATAN's explaination was good. Can I make a suggestion? If you don't like it you can get a refund!

If he's 7, unless he's an amazing self-motivated self-starter for a 7 year old, I recommend having him stay with a teacher that he's comfortable with for a while. I have a 6 year old and I teach a 10 year old. At that developmental stage in their life, kids pretty much need someone to give them direction on a regular bases.

I personnally don't worry about ALL of the root notes in each pattern. This is probably a drawback that makes my style less efficient. I do however need to know where the root note falls on the E string to keep my bearings and not get lost on the fretboard. From there I just know from experience how the patterns fit together in order to play in various areas of the fretboard rather than just use one pattern of the scale for that key. I'm glad you posted this question because I may learn something from this thread as well.

Knowing all the root notes in all the positions of the scales can save you from getting lost. Say you're just wailing away on the guitar and you begin to take a few chances and you venture into uncharted territory, you know where you can land to get yourself out of a jam.

Plus, you can do a very nice study on arpeggios all over the neck. (this is a very valuable study IMHO) I highly recommend knowing how to do major and minor arpeggios anywhere on the neck. Once you can do that, and you know all your root notes, you've just added some valuable tools to your musical toolbox. Though I'm not a jazz player, I understand jazz guys often don't approach improvisation in a diatonic manner, but they approach improvisation as playing over chords. Knowing arpeggios anywhere on the neck applies very well to this approach.

--PS. if the kid can play all 5 shapes of the E minor pentatonic, he can actually play ANY minor pentatonic on any root and ANY major pentatonic too. I'm not sure if you want me to go there though--



I have no idea what this means but I will tell him when he gets home from school. He will be gloating for days!

We really enjoy having something big to work on together like the E-minor scales. We have taken our time and worked steady for months on this. His previous instructor insists I keep him inline on finger position and for practice wants him picking the strings downward through the scale and then upward on the return.

I just want to make sure I am guiding him in the right direction on all of this. He will probably start lessons again soon.


Thanks very much for all the help.

Jim

LOL... Once you know a scale. Pentatonic, Lydian, Dorian, it doesn't matter. The scale itself is just specific intervals between tones. SO.... If you start on an E in any of the above scales, or any others I haven't mentioned, then you will play it exactly the same when you start on F, or F#, or G, etc.

The intervals remain the same and only the ROOT changes, so your son knows 12 different scales in effect, (A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G & G#,) just by knowing the pentatonic intervals.

excellent info here.

Wow, what a great lesson! It took a while to really sink in but I believe I’ve got it and so does the kid. We’ve been working the scales with root note identification most every day and I can really see improvement.

Here is our typical 20 min. exercise:

E-Minor scales pos 1 through pos 1 at the 12th fret... That’s six scales! He plays through each scale fast but clean and accurate with a pause at each of the root notes allowing them to ring-out for proper identification.

I don’t know who he gets it from but this kid really digs boasting about his own accomplishments so we made a chart for timing. We time the scales picking down and up, top to bottom and then reverse. We have a total of six different combininations that we are tracking. Any mistakes and he doesn’t get to record the new time. This seems to be a great exercise because he practices a lot just to show me that he can break a new record of some sort.

Then we just jam out together and work on some Sweet Home Alabama or what ever he wants.

We greatly appreciate everyone’s help.

Jim

I am glad to see he is enjoying it. I have some students that are gifted as well.

I wouldn't concern yourself with the boasting, that is the way kids validate their acceptance. I would continue to challenge him and watch as he grows...

sounds like the kid is doing pretty good to be 7. maybe he can give me some lessons soon.........