I’ve been teaching guitar for more than ten years. I often try, (especially when I work with advanced level students) to explain how to use 3/4 voices chord positions and particular voicings, triads and different kind of harmonic substitutions. I give particular regard to right hand techniques, fingerstyle and picking techniques as well. About soloing, I work on tonal and modal approach (scales and chords, tonality and scales), arpeggios and phrasing in general. So improvisation, lines, patterns, chromatic passingtones etc...

Although I believe the right way to learn is based on best musicians albums (and especially great guitarists albums!), more than executing guitar methods exercises.

But nowadays everybody knows it…

Nevertheless I built by myself an unfailing method to study a little, simple, typically guitarist’s scale: the pentatonic scale. I love it! So, even if this site wasn’t born to write about didactics, I’d like to talk a little about my dear scale….

Pentatonic scale

Some kind of guitarists usually share 2 things.
Those guitarists are: the 70’s one (who loves, for example, Jimmi Page or Angus Young), the blues, or the soul funk guitarist (who likes “black” way of playing), the pop one, who likes refined sounds and plays melodically, the country guitarist, and others…

All of them share: 1. a pentatonic sound in soloing; 2. other kind of players ironies.

Their enemies are: the most radical jazz players, some virtuous guitarists (80’s nostalgics), neoclassic style musicians, and, above all, our strongest enemies, KEYBOARDISTS!!
Some of them (some!!) decry giants like Eric Clapton, or Jimi Hendrix, or Steavie Ray Vaughan, undervalue Pat Metheny, etc… laugh about our dear 5 notes scale!
I fight this way of thinking! So, here’s a simple 2/5/1 (C major)

This were only pentatonics. Enemies, did you recognize them?

Obviously, it was a joke, and I usually have fun with some friends who belong to “the opposite team” talking about this burning issue, but this could encourage opening our musical horizons, keeping using and loving one of the most comfortable scales a guitarist can play, the pentatonic one!