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diatonic harmony, essential, improvisation, modes, pentatonic, pentatonic scales, playing, practice, practice tips, scales, song, songwriting, steve vai, structure, Students, technique - January 17, 2023

The Pentatonic Scale

The pentatonic scale is a five-note scale that is commonly used in guitar playing, particularly in rock and blues music. The scale is made up of the root, second, third, fifth, and sixth notes of a major or minor scale. One of the most popular and widely used pentatonic scales for guitar playing is the minor pentatonic scale. This scale is made up of the root, minor third, fourth, fifth, and minor seventh notes of a natural minor scale. The minor pentatonic scale is often used in blues and rock music, and is a great scale for soloing and...

The Locking Tremolo

I grew up in the 70's & 80's, when the "Super Strat" was being born. Companies such as Charvel® & Jackson® were experimenting with all soughts of pickup configurations, compound neck radius and body shapes etc, while guitar players such as Edward Van Halen were beginning their massive tilt at the title of Guitar Freak.

As you would expect the tremolo unit took a beating, and in a quest to stabilise tuning, the locking tremolo unit was about to be invented.

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