Customer Reviews

Practical Pentatonics: Compact Reference Library (Guitar)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Practical Pentatonics is an excellent introduction to the pentatonic scales. Mr. Buk diagrams the minor and major pentatonic scales in standard notation and tabulature up and down the fretboard. He additionally presents some nice little riffs along with each position. After introducing us to the pentatonics, he introduces some useful techniques such as string bending, combining patterns and scales, arpeggios, string skipping and more.

This little book is loaded with example riffs that are very playable and usable. This is an excellent value.

This is a useful book that allows the reader to dive into minor and major pentatonic scales in five positions for each key. Furthermore, the book provides excellent examples of how to use these scales in each of the positions. It also provide examples of various rock and blues artists with their favorite positions and style to play in. For under 5 bucks, the value of this book is immense, just buy it!

This would be the one. I am not an accomplished musician, considering myself of average music intelligence. For a long time, I tried to pick out lead patterns one note at time. One day I was talking to a friend of mine who used to play in a blues band. He mentioned the pentatonic scale (which I had never heard of) so I looked for a book on it. I chose this one because it looked real simple, was something I could carry around with me and the price was definately right. After reading and working through this book for several weeks, I can now play lead to any song there is. My lead playing is totally laughable compared to Eddie, Angus or SRV but I'm having a blast. I'm 42, have four children and playing the guitar (which I started learning to play about three years ago) is what I do to relax and have fun in the little spare time I have. This book teaches you all the basics you need to get started playing lead. Starts out with the pentatonic pattern in one of the major keys. Then shows the pattern in a minor key (just shifts the entire pattern along the fretboard). From this I could figure out the pattern in any key I've ever played in. Then takes you through various techniques of playing the pentatonic patter (bends, hammer on/off, slide, etc.) using examples from legends in the art. After this book, the figuring out lead frustration factor was buried forever and the guitar playing fun factor went up astronomically. I feel my lead playing is now only limited by my imagination and desire. After learning the material in this book, anyone with average music intelligence should definately be able to play some sort of lead (may not be the same as the artist but could be) to any song after just listening to it. I now just need to locate one note that goes with the song. Using that note as a base I figure out where I'm at in the pentatonic scale by finding other notes that go with the song. I guess you could also figure it out by knowing what key the song is in but I haven't sat down and thought about that to much. I just figure it out by trial or error and it doesn't take me long. What's way more important about this book is it will give you the basic skills and techniques you need to create your own style. I highly recommend this book to those wanting to or just learning to play lead.

I would pay no attention to some of the other reviews of this book. They seem to be based on the expectation that a book that costs as much as a magazine is going to do all the work for you.

There seems to be some fast food mentality that pervades today-this book is a great launching point but make no mistake you are going to have to do some hard work. I found the examples to be excellent references and I had no trouble with the tab. Yeah an A to C bend at the second fret is hard but that is what separates the men from boys. To be honest, stick a set of 9's or 8's on your guitar if you're having a real problem.

My advice, pick this book up if you want a serious starting point.

I think is a vital collection of licks. I only wish there was a cd or downloadable mp3 tracks on all the examples for those of us who are more musically challenged.

I bought this book on a whim and after looking through it, I stashed it on a book shelf. After about a year I pick It up and realized that I needed the instruction. What I like about the book most is that by learning the scales in the five different sections on the guitar neck, you actually learn where the notes are. That's what I like about the book the most.
You see, I'm an old school band geek and I appreciate rote practice. It's a start for me at my skill level. I'm satisfied with the booklet.

This is a succinct and serviceable--even useful--introduction to pentatonic scales for the beginning guitarist--especially the beginning rock or jazz guitarist. Its form has its inherent limitations, of course, and only anhematonic (that is, "major" or "minor") pentatonic scales are included. The beginning guitarist might do well to start with this and then go on to PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns. (He should not be intimidated by the title.)

You cannot get much from the size of this booklet. It can be used as a reference but not that commplete to be a good reference. It has some pictures showing the 5 patterns and that's it. Anything extension(or variation version) to them are describe in words or note on the staffs- not even clear enough to understand. What an odd mix!

When I first opened this book, I thought it would be really useful. In the end, its utility was very short-lived.

Good Points:
1. The author does a good job of mapping out the 5 fingering patterns that are common to the major and minor pentatonic scales in each of the stationary fingering positions.
2. The author maps out the use of "extended" fingering patterns formed by combining fingering patterns in two adjacent positions. This is a powerful tool.
3. The author discusses pentatonic substitutions including the Lydian, altered dominant, and hexatonic scales, but glosses over them, giving minimal attention to the most musically useful topics in the book.

Bad points:
1. The physical format of the book is *rediculously* inconvenient. It is 4.5 inches wide and 12 inches tall, and is perfect bound along the long edge. Evidently this book was designed to fit in a guitar case (behind the neck). While it fits in a case very well, you cannot make the open book lie flat on a table or a music stand without the assistance of a brick. As a result you are always trying to use one hand to hold the book open to the right page while you are trying to play. Although this shouldn't be too annoying for three-armed guitarists, most of us will find the format of the book very inconvenient and too frustrating to use.
2. A sound ability to read sheet music is an absolute prerequisite for this book. If you can't read sheet music as well as Beethoven, you will have difficulty imagining how the complex licks presented in the book are supposed to sound. This book would benefit tremendously from an accompanying CD.
3. All of the sheet music examples are also written in Tablature. The author assumes that the reader can read Tab and understands all of its abbreviations. The author makes no effort whatsoever to introduce the subject to readers unfamiliar with it.
4. Some sections of the book appear to have been written with a piano, rather than a guitar, in hand. In the section on string-bending, for example, the author expects readers to perform some tasks which are just not possible on the instrument. Although a bend from A to C looks good on paper, the author is utterly clueless that performing this bend at the second fret on the G string is physically impossible! This is just one example of how the author writes exercises that look good on paper but cannot be executed on the instrument.
5. The author likes to teach "licks that almost sound like famous licks you might even recognize" instead of just teaching recognizable licks from popular songs. It sounds like he's too cheap to pay royalties, so he can't actually transcribe the licks he's referencing. As a result, he expects you to read between the lines and guess what he's thinking. Well, guess again, Mr. Buk!

Fits in my guitar case..so probably is practical. Trouble is you still have to work hard at the pentatonics. Can they produce a little book called "Pentatonics..we do it all for you".

Now that really would be practical.