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LESSON PLAN: Open Pentatonic Scales

Objective

Students will be able to play a pentatonic scale using open strings and notes in the first position to take solos and develop their understanding of the guitar.

Resources

Handout from Teacher Manual titled “Scales to Jam by”

Vocabulary and Terms

Procedures

Review the lesson plan on finger numbers and positions, using notes only in the 1st position as the example.

  1. Work out which fingers play the notes in the G Major/E minor pentatonic scale. Start with the 1st string and work your way toward the lower notes. Since guitar solos use mostly higher notes (so they can be heard over the bass notes and chord notes) it’s a good idea to teach kids the notes they will be using in their solos in this order. A lot of times we teach students how to play scales beginning with their lowest notes, but this can be problematic when they try to take a solo playing the notes in the order they learned them. If they’re familiar with the higher notes first, beginning soloists will gravitate toward using these more useful notes first.
  2. Proceed one string at a time from highest sounding to lowest sounding, strings 1 to 6. If you’re teaching them to relate finger numbers to fret numbers in positions this process will reinforce that. After adopting both the open and fretted note on each new string, review all of the strings learned thus far playing the down and back up over and over. Continue this process until the scale uses all 6 strings. Depending on the age and level of the students in your group this may take 1 lesson or several.

Extension

  1. Using one note at a time, have students repeat rhythmic phrases back to you. This is a good way to reinforce the concept of alternate picking (for more information check out the lesson plan “Alternate Picking”)
  2. Using both notes on the 1st string, make up a phrase that is both melodic and rhythmic

Fig AFig B

National Core Arts Standards (Music)

Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Example: General Music MU:Cr1.1.2 a. Improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns and musical ideas for a specific purpose. Example: Music Traditional and Emerging Ensembles MU:Cr1.1.E.5a (Novice) Compose and improvise melodic and rhythmic ideas or motives that reflect characteristic(s) of music or text(s) studied in rehearsal. Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Example: Music Composition and Theory MU:Cr2.1.C.Ia (High School Proficient) Assemble and organize sounds or short musical ideas to create initial expressions of selected experiences, moods, images, or storylines. Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. Example: Music Traditional and Emerging Ensembles MU:Re7.2.E.8a (Intermediate) Describe how understanding context and the way the elements of music are manipulated inform the response to music. Common Core Correlations: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

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