Discover Josh De La Victoria’s secret for creating more angular guitar solos outside of constrictive scale shape boxes
Pentatonic box shapes represent an easy route into improvising and soloing. The problem is that many players feel restricted within them after a while. You can learn the same scale in different points on the neck, but so often guitarists find themselves returning to small clusters of notes on different spots on the neck as a matter of comfort. This limits their phrasing.
Josh De La Victoria, (Victoria, Sungazer, Portraits) was plagued with his problem. Pentatonic licks sound nice, but they also sound familiar and predictable.
On his quest to find more angular licks across his fretboard, he devised something called Super Positions of the minor pentatonic scale. He says it’s revolutionised his lead playing since. So, if you also feel like a prisoner in box shapes, it’s time to break loose.
The brilliant thing is that you don’t need to learn anything new here. All you have to do is look at scales from a different angle.
Super positions
The method involves creating bigger boxes from the pre-existing smaller boxes.
For instance, we can take the first shape scale of B minor, rooted on the 7th fret of the sixth string, and combine it with the second shape, which is rooted on the 10th fret of the sixth string. By mushing these shapes together, we get one larger singular box.
There will be repeating notes, of course, but there are repeat notes all over the fretboard, and there's even more if you play in DADGAD.
But what you get, more importantly, is a three-note per string scale shape that favours fast, flourishing runs and widens the scope of the fretboard have dominion over.
Victoria recommends players practice getting familiar with this merged hybrid scale, and emphasizes the importance of getting acquainted with it visually. Luckily, he has a few hacks to help with that.
Diagonal patterns
Instead of playing three notes per string, play one note per string going across the fretboard in a diagonal movement, much like you may play a sus2 chord.
So that's the first note in the set of three on the sixth string, the second from set of three, and then the third from the set of three respectively.
Now, repeat that concept, but start on the fifth string. When you reach the first string, reverse the motion, so play the first note from the set of three on the sixth string, followed by the second on the second string, and third on the third, so that you almost have a mirror image of the initial pattern.
“It forces you to visually see the scales, rather than rely on your ear to play the scale in order,” Victoria says. “I don't have to play a scale in order,” – and he's right. How often have you heard someone decry a solo because “they're just running scales”?
A solo shouldn't sound like an exercise, so don't make it into one.
Four notes per string
Once you're familiar with the three notes per string approach, you can expand this already expanded box by adding the scale position before the first. In this case, position five of the minor pentatonic scale in B minor, rooted on the fifth fret of the sixth string.
It's worth noting that in his run through of the triple box scale, there is some sliding between notes because the distance of the fretboard he's covering per string is huge. That's exactly what we want. Whereas a singular box shape merely covers a three or four-note distance that your hand can comfortably nail in one position, we are now looking at an eight of nine-fret expanse of rosewood, maple, or ebony (other fretboard materials are available) to explore. That requires more movement from your fretting hand, so tricks like sliding can help achieve that more fluently, and add greater embellishments to the way you play the notes.
So, when you're next in a position to improvise or write a face-melting solo in B minor, the 'box' that you are confined to is far larger, and by mastering the diagonal patterns, you'll be able to grab from far more interesting intervals and the flavours they offer.
Unlocking legato and hybrid licks
Because of the distance you can suddenly cover over each string, the Super Position scale lends itself to legato and hybrid picking techniques.
For the uninitiated: Legato means playing a sequence of notes via hammer ons, pulls offs and slides which don't need to be picked. Hybrid picking involves combining picked notes with finger-picked notes. If you are holding your pick with your thumb and first finger, then you have three fingers (second, ring, and pinky) to pluck notes on the next three strings beyond the string you are picking.
As Victoria says, using Super Positions “frees your phrasing,” with this larger playground making it far easier to slide between notes – Plini does this all the time and it's a huge part of his sound – or hybrid pick notes to introduce some unique phrasing ideas into your playing. Think of it as a different approach to string skipping. You don’t have to lock into small note clusters.
It’s an interesting approach, using existing knowledge but reframing it in this way. Suddenly, several separate boxes, each as limiting as the last, come together to create a super scale, opening up a whole new world of possibilities.
It’s like at the end of an episode of Power Rangers when they all join forces to create a giant mega robot and kick the daylights out of the bad guy. Together, scale boxes are far stronger, so break down those walls and let your phrasing soar.
Head over to the MMA blog page for more riff hacks and guitar playing advice.
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