Presence - Volume 13
Inspiration For Guitarists
Welcome to my newsletter, Presence! My aim is simple: to share insights and techniques that have helped me grow as a musician, offering something valuable for players at every stage of their journey.
Floors and Ceilings
When my daughter was younger, she became fascinated by the idea that the floor of her bedroom was the ceiling of ours. She’d imagine cutting a hole in her floor and installing a slide straight down to our room. For weeks, she’d stand in different rooms, mapping out the house in her head—the floor of my office was the ceiling of the kitchen, the hallway ceiling was the bathroom floor, and so on. It was fun to watch, and I was amazed at how quickly she got good at visualizing the entire layout once she started thinking this way.
Around that same time, I was deep into exploring the connections between scale shapes on the guitar, and I started using this “Floors and Ceilings” metaphor in my teaching.
A lot of my students could play each of the five pentatonic positions well—as long as they stayed within a single shape.But the moment I asked them to move fluidly between two adjacent shapes, shifting back and forth string by string, they struggled.
That’s when I started creating diagrams and exercises to highlight the connections between scale shapes. I showed them how the ceiling of one shape—the highest notes on each string—was actually the floor of the next shape above it. Once my students started focusing on these shared notes, everything changed. They became more confident, more creative, and suddenly, navigating the neck felt effortless.
Floor & Ceiling Connections of the 5 Pentatonic Scale Shapes
Leaning how to visualize this connection between scale shapes is worth spending some time on. Playing to a backing track while shifting from shape to shape on all 6 strings will help you play musically all over the neck instead of being stuck in 5 separate boxes.
Here is an older video from my YouTube channel that explores these connections.
Click on image to see the video
While I introduce this idea with the pentatonic scale, the concept works with any scale. The highest notes of one shape are always the lowest notes of the next.
You might already know this in theory—but really leaning into these connecting notes unlocks new ways to move freely across the fretboard. Instead of running the same well-worn paths you’ve been playing for years, you’ll start forging new, more fluid ways to solo and express yourself.
Give it a try, and let me know if it changes the way you see the neck! - Dustin