The minor pentatonic scale is one of the first things most guitarists learn, and for good reason. It’s simple, it sounds good, and it works over a huge amount of music. The downside is that after a while it can start to feel a bit limited. A lot of players end up using the same shapes and the same licks over and over again.
One of the easiest ways to make pentatonic playing sound more emotional and more musical is to add one extra note: the 2nd, also known as the 9th.
This small change keeps the familiar pentatonic shape but gives you more colour, more melody, and more options when you’re improvising.
In this lesson I start with a recap of the pentatonic scale and then show you the added 2nd/9th in position 1. After that, I go through five practical ways you can actually use it:
- Targeting the 2nd/9th as a landing note
- Semitone bends into the extra note
- New triad ideas that become available
- Pull-off sequences and faster runs
- Sliding into a semitone bend
There’s also a backing track demonstration so you can hear how these ideas sit in a more musical context.
If you’ve been stuck in a pentatonic rut, this is one of the simplest ways to open things up without having to learn a completely new scale.
Watch the full video here:
Let me know if you already use this extra note in your playing.