 Hey, Freddie DeMarco here for Blackstar, the Blackstar Potential series of lessons in this one is dedicated to intermediate players on using pentatonic licks for soloing and runs in rock music. So first we're going to learn the pentatonic scale. We'll just probably review it most of you know it. We're going to be in the key of A for right now, fifth position, and it's simply two notes per string, and it ascends like this from the low E string up. Okay, so we're going to do a series of licks off that. We will go into form two and form three, but right now just this form one. So the first thing I want to get down are just some basic rock licks that started way back in the early rock and roll days, and you're going to be bending and then rolling into other notes. On this bend, notice I use, especially in the rock and blue styles, I'll use the fingers behind the main note to help the bend, because what happens behind the fingers are relevant to the pitch, it's just helping the pressure get to the pitch real well. So in other words, I'm bending using these two fingers on the third string, and then just my first finger may index going over the top two, an old style rock lick. Now we can elaborate on that lick, and this is an old traditional lick as well. You do that bend, but we string skip up to the top string, but I'm still going to bar these top two, because I'm not going to go to the second string with my fourth finger on the eighth fret, pull that off to the first finger on the second string. So I don't want to be motioning from here like this. You want to employ economy emotion, which means the less you move the better. So if I bar it, I move less, the lick will sound smoother. So using that bend, string skipping, and then the repeater lick. So then I can also pick all those. Then I can rifle them off with hammer-ons as well. Okay. We're going to learn a few symmetrical patterns. So these patterns can be used like in the middle of a run, and the thing I like about the symmetry of it is it will connect, like a thicket, a thicket, a thicket, a thicket, a thicket, a musical phrase that repeats on other notes is essentially called a sequence. So these are sequences, but with these patterns sequences, they help tie in more random things you'll do throughout your solo. So here's one descending down the scale. We're gonna go three notes straight down the scale, start on the second note, go down three notes, start on the third note, go down three notes, so on and so forth. So it'll actually just flow down with the same sequence. Here's the actual pattern. Four, one, four. Then I start on the index finger and go down three notes from there. I start on the fourth finger, second string, go down three notes from there. I start on the first finger, second string, three notes down from there. You can see the pattern starting. This is it. You can really rifle those off using alternate picking. I'm down up stroking. Now there's an ascending pattern. It's very similar to that. Another three note group that keeps repeating. And in this pattern, the first string you play, you're gonna have three notes on one string. The next lick that you play plays between two strings. Then the third lick is like the first. It's on one string, then the next one's between two strings and this plays all the way up in a sequence. So it's like this, starting on the fourth finger. I also employ alternate picking on this lick as well and you can rifle this lick down as well. So the two can go together. Now there's one more I wanna show you that's kinda like that. It's like the descending one, but it goes down in sex tuplets. So these are all triplets. One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. When I combine two triplets, but only accent after every sixth note, the two triplets, that becomes a sex tuplet. One, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Rather than one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. So it's still a triple feel, but you're going after every six notes a new accent. And the pattern's very easy. It's just simply go straight down the scale starting on your fourth finger, then start on the second string, go down three strings, start on the third string, go down three strings, and it goes like this in groups of sixes. And group them in sex tuplets. Now I'll practice combining that with one of the ascending runs. Remember to keep your fingers really close to the nut, not a lot of extra movement. Okay, now we're gonna go into form two and form three. We're gonna walk down the scale and after each lick on each form, I'm gonna just move to the next form and keep working my way down the strings, but up the forms. So we know form one, form two starts where form one leaves off. So where my fourth finger is, I put my second finger and then learn this pattern. Same notes, just higher up the neck. Then there's a form three where form two left off, put your index finger where that third finger was and form three fingers like this. Still in a minor pentatonic, same notes, just higher up the neck. So we'll have a pattern like this. Now, using those same three forms, we'll do a descending pattern. This sequence will actually be the same phrasing all the way down on the B string and the G string of each form. So the very first one starts with fourth finger on form three. It's a triplet plus one note, like a quad type thing. Then move down to the second position and do the same phrasing, but using the fingering from the second position. When I say second position, I really mean the second form. Now we move back to the first form and use that same type of phrasing and you'll notice it'll be the exact same fingering as what happened in form three. So this, just combine the other licks, and then just play random and keep in mind your phrasing. You wanna phrase, kinda like you're singing, but when you're playing flashier and faster, you're just doing everything faster. So you should be able to slow all your licks down and have them make sense, even though they're random. The other thing with these pentatonics is experiment with the different vibrados, you know. They have that nervous fast vibrato and then that slow, real feeling vibrato. Okay, we're gonna go into a more intense way of doing this. This is a little more advanced. We're going to combine two forms with a stretch. So the form one and the form two. I'm gonna bring it up to the 10th fret. So if some of you don't have big enough hands to do this down lower, you can do this up and it's more reasonable in the key of D minor pentatonics. So form one on 10th fret, and that means form two is gonna start with your second finger on 13th fret, putting you in 12th position. Your first finger would be lying on the 12th fret. So the two scales, again, would be this. And this pattern is simply gonna stretch between the two. So I'm going to go, the third string ends up a little bit different. Fourth string's a little bit different, yeah. Identical to the fifth string. And then the sixth string, same as the high E and the high B string was. Now I can make a pattern like this. And this is the pattern I want you to learn. Fourth finger pulls off to one, then play up and down the notes on that string. So, and you can rifle that. And go down all the strings that way. Hey, I really want to thank you for joining me for this Black Star lesson on using pentatonic riffs in rock.