PRESENCE - Volume 2
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.
The Lesson That Doubled My Guitar Vocabulary (Without Learning Any New Scale Shapes)
When I was 18 or 19, I had already been playing guitar for about five years, entirely self-taught. Back then, I didn’t take lessons because I thought instructors wouldn’t teach me how to play the songs I loved hearing on the radio. I figured I’d be stuck with boring exercises instead of learning the music that inspired me.
By that point, I knew the minor pentatonic scale pretty well—it was the foundation of so many of my favorite rock songs. But when it came to songs in a major key, I was clueless. I assumed I’d need to learn a whole new set of scale shapes to tackle major songs, and the idea felt overwhelming.
That’s when I had my first lesson with a guy named Tim Murray.
Tim opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking about the fretboard. He showed me how the pentatonic scale isn’t just one scale—it’s really two scales in one: the major pentatonic and the relative minor pentatonic.
That simple concept doubled my vocabulary on the guitar instantly, without having to learn a single new shape. Suddenly, I could navigate songs in both major and minor keys with ease, using the same patterns I’d already been practicing.
That lesson was a turning point for me—not just in my playing, but in how I saw the value of teaching. The clarity and excitement I felt from learning something so game-changing inspired me to make teaching guitar a fundamental part of my life as a musician.
This week, I encourage you to take a closer look at the pentatonic scale. It’s more versatile than most guitarists realize. If you’re not sure how it works in both major and minor contexts, it’s well worth digging into. And if you already know the concept, maybe this is your sign to explore it in greater depth—you might just discover something new!
Minor Pentatonic
Let’s say I have a song in the key of A minor. To get started I find the note A on the low E string (located at the 5th fret), put my index finger on that note and play this shape that is probably familiar to most of you.
Try improvising with this shape over the Backing Track below.
Major Pentatonic
If I have a song in the key of A Major I find the note A on the low E string (at the 5th fret), but now I place my pinky on that note and play the same shape. The scale shape is the exact same, just in a different place on the neck, but the sound of the scale is completely different when using it a a Major Pentatonic.
Try improvising with this shape over the Backing Track below.
Using Both Major Pentatonic & Minor Pentatonic
While that trick seems to double your vocabulary with the same shape, you can actually get even more out of it. We are usually taught that there are two types of keys, Major and minor. I like to think there is a third type of key, bluesy. Blues songs or songs that have a strong blues influence can straddle the line between Major and minor, allowing us to use both scales over the same song.
The backing track below has a bluesy feel so you can play both Major Pentatonic and Minor Pentatonic over it. Try switching back and forth between Major and minor pentatonic over this backing track, making sure not to stay on one shape for too long so that the change of sound isn’t too jarring.
To hear an example of this you can check out this short of mine -
As always, thank you for being a part of this journey with me. If you have questions or topics you'd love to see covered in future newsletters, reply to this email and let me know—I’d love to hear from you.
– Dustin
Click below to book a personalized one-on-one session to work on this or anything that you would like to explore.