back to main page of Patek style tenor banjo
Pentatonic scales on DGdg tenor banjo
When searching what tones should be played during the solo over some chord, many guitar books speak about pentatonic scale - so will I. My understanding of the major pentatonic scale is that it contains the three notes of major triad (G, B, D) plus two more notes - sixth and ninth apart from the root (E, A), all this sorted in scale: G-A-B-D-E.
All notes of G major pentatonic scale are in this fretboard (DGdg strings from bottom to top), while root G notes are bold:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
O ||---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|-
O ||---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-
O ||---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|-
O ||---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-
What left hand fingerings should be used? According to the scale length of tenor banjo which is between the guitar and the mandolin, one can choose between two approaches:
a) guitar approach with one finger for one chromatic note (it means for one fret)
b) mandolin approach with one finger for one scalar note (it means mostly for two frets)
I have chosen the guitar approach for most of the neck so I play in one position the notes within the four fret range. For left hand fingers there are used letters i=index, m=middle, r=ring, and l=little finger.
The G pentatonic scale starting from the root is here
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i m l
OK, this is not the complete scale, as there is no fifth note E. To play this note, I have to shift the position (here down the neck). I can then continue to go further in higher octave in the range of new position:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i r l
||---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i m l
If the scale is started from second note A (one can call it the second mode of major pentatonic scale), there is another pattern:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i m l
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i r (or m and l fingers)
Starting from third note B:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i r
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i l
Strating from fourth note D:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i l
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|-
i r (or m and l fingers)
And finally starting from fifth note E (this is also E minor pentatonic scale):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i r
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|-
i r l
Generally speaking, due to the big interval (fifth) between the inner strings G and d, one cannot stay all the time in one position (guitar players say "in one box") but one has to shift the position when going through these two strings. The above described way is only one of many possible ways - let us show some more, which stay in one position with exception of one or two notes played by position shift:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i m l
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-shift-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i l l
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
m l
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i m l
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|-O-|-shift-|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i m l
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
m l
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
i l
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|-O-|-shift-|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i m l
||---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-
i m l
You can also practice up-and-down scales using two neighbouring patterns from the first five shown above. Here is the normal tab instead of fretboard picture:
LH: m l i l i l i r l i l m r i r i
g||--------------2-4-|-7-4--------------||-
d||.---------2-5-----|-----7-5---------.||-
G||.-----4-7---------|---------9-7-----.||-
D||--5-7-------------|-------------9-7--||-
RH: T I T I T I T I T I T I T I T I
Now, try some pentatonic solo...
Also transpose the fingerings of the scale into another root (that is why I made root notes bold in above pictures - just match the bold circle with the actual root on your banjo fretboard). Start with D major pentatonic scale assuming that you will play in G or D without the capo and for the rest you take the capo (see the Capo-logy).