Brewtality - 04/2002

By Zakk Wylde

The Basics of Pentatonic Hardcore - Part 4

The Pentatonic Hardcore Continues - Ascending and Descending the A Minor Pentatonic Scale, and Buliding Up Strength in Your Fret-Hand Pinkie Zakk Wylde here once again with Brewtality No. 4. Im writing this months column while on a plane to England. Theres a short break in Ozzys touring schedule so Im going over to Europe to promote the new Black Label Society album, 1919 Eternal, which hits the streets on March 5. Im really happy with this record; its more pissed-off, violent and hungry than any album Ive made so far. Its 110 percent pure Black Labelits dark, angry, hell-raising, beerdrinking, weight-lifting shit thats been handcrafted by a bunch of out -ofcontrol berserkers with a penchant for brewtality! Last month we learned how to seamlessly move up the neck from the third fret right up to the 20th fret using the five A minor pentatonic patterns on the high E and B strings. FIGURE 1 is an example of the types of runs we were checking out. You can also do this kind of run on any two strings you want to, providing you know the scale patterns. For example, FIGURE 2 shows a short A minor pentatonic run that climbs the neck from the 12th fret to the 19th fret on the D and G strings.

Figure 1 MP3

Figure 2 MP3 Another thing you can do with this idea is use it to go down the neck, too. FIGURE 3 is an example of what Im talking about here. Once again, were using the five A minor pentatonic shapes we learned in Brewtality No. 1, and the high E and B strings.

Figure 3 MP3 As I told you at the end of last months column, now that Ive shown you a couple of examples, you should try to experiment with these ideas on your own by finding a picking pattern you dig on different pairs of strings and then moving it up and down the neck through the five pentatonic scale shapes weve learned. Before you know it youll have probably come up with a shitload of cool runs of your own. Also, try combining runs that go up, across and down the neck, like the long, kick-ass A minor pentatonic deal shown in FIGURE 4. As you can see, this baby climbs the neck using the high E and B strings, then goes across it at the 17th fret before climbing back down on the low E and A strings. Once again, as long as you know those five scale patterns, this kinda brewtality aint that hard to come up with.

Figure 4 MP3 Next month well check out some three-note-per-string patterns.