brosblues
Verified buyer
01/14/26
Another appealing Angus Clark course!
I'm still traversing this course, but it offers useful info and great licks, per usual with an Angus Clark course!
Beyond Rock Pentatonics
Learn How To Expand and Enhance Your Pentatonic Palette
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About this course
Who doesn’t love the pentatonic scale?! For most of us, it's the first scale we learned that got us playing our first licks and solos. It’s the foundation on which so many riffs, songs, melodies, and solos are built to this day. It’s home base for many guitar players, across so many styles especially rock. At the same time, if there’s twelve notes to choose from, why limit ourselves to just five?
Angus Clark’s Beyond Rock Pentatonics will take what you already know and show you how to instantly add more color and dramatically more interesting melodic value to your solos — just by adding one or two notes.
” There’s a whole world of sound out there and it’s ours to explore when we go beyond the pentatonic scale. I’ve structured the course into 6 interactive study sets. Each set begins with a unique “Beyond Pentatonic” concept with powerful creative applications that we’ll explore together in various places on the neck.
We cap off each set with a series of performance studies that we’ll play over a series of rock jam tracks for real world musical context. I’ll break everything down for you in detail, and you’ll have all of TrueFire’s learning tools to work with as well.”
Angus will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your guitar and lets go beyond pentatonics with Angus Clark!
Angus Clark’s Beyond Rock Pentatonics will take what you already know and show you how to instantly add more color and dramatically more interesting melodic value to your solos — just by adding one or two notes.
” There’s a whole world of sound out there and it’s ours to explore when we go beyond the pentatonic scale. I’ve structured the course into 6 interactive study sets. Each set begins with a unique “Beyond Pentatonic” concept with powerful creative applications that we’ll explore together in various places on the neck.
We cap off each set with a series of performance studies that we’ll play over a series of rock jam tracks for real world musical context. I’ll break everything down for you in detail, and you’ll have all of TrueFire’s learning tools to work with as well.”
Angus will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your guitar and lets go beyond pentatonics with Angus Clark!
What you'll learn
- Play single-string triad arpeggios
- Apply Mixolydian mode over pedal tone vamps
- Create thematic solos by repeating material in different registers
- Switch between Mixolydian and blues scales for emotional intensity
- Learn to incorporate chromaticism into rock playing
Release date: 06/24/2021 • 1h 34m runtime
Sample lessons
C The Flat V
Concept 2
C The Flat V
Overview
C The Flat V
Performance
C The Flat V
Breakdown
What's included
26 lessons • 12 charts • 6 Jam Tracks
Beyond Rock Pentatonics
Hi, welcome to Beyond Rock Pentatonics. As a rock player, I love the pentatonic scale. It's the foundation on which so many riffs, songs, melodies, and solos are built. It's home base for many guitar players. It informs how we create musical phrases, how we resolve our licks, and how we map the neck.
At the same time, there's really twelve notes to choose from, so why limit ourselves to just five? In this course we're going to use the pentatonic scale as our home base, and then go beyond it just by adding one or two notes. We'll still be able to phrase and resolve in the same ways we do when we're playing our pentatonic licks, we'll just have a more varied tonal pallet.
Whether it's chromaticism, major and minor scales, or even modes, you'll see how easy, fun, and impactful it is to add these notes that lie just beyond the pentatonic scale to your playing.
At the same time, there's really twelve notes to choose from, so why limit ourselves to just five? In this course we're going to use the pentatonic scale as our home base, and then go beyond it just by adding one or two notes. We'll still be able to phrase and resolve in the same ways we do when we're playing our pentatonic licks, we'll just have a more varied tonal pallet.
Whether it's chromaticism, major and minor scales, or even modes, you'll see how easy, fun, and impactful it is to add these notes that lie just beyond the pentatonic scale to your playing.
Unlock The Dorian
This lesson demonstrates the approach of the entire course. We are accessing the Dorian mode from the minor pentatonic scale by adding the major 9th (or 2nd degree of the scale) and the major 6th. The first half of this concept is strictly how to find these notes and practicing the scale.
The second half is about how to recognize opportunities at playing the Dorian mode in rock. There is a tendency to rely on jazzy or fusion sounding "vamps" for students, and I find this to be misleading as it is uninspiring to rock enthusiasts. There are amazing examples of the use of the Dorian mode in hard rock, from Michael Schenker to Jimi Hendrix. I try to cover some of the more obvious chord motions that will help you identify when and where the Dorian mode is useful to you.
The second half is about how to recognize opportunities at playing the Dorian mode in rock. There is a tendency to rely on jazzy or fusion sounding "vamps" for students, and I find this to be misleading as it is uninspiring to rock enthusiasts. There are amazing examples of the use of the Dorian mode in hard rock, from Michael Schenker to Jimi Hendrix. I try to cover some of the more obvious chord motions that will help you identify when and where the Dorian mode is useful to you.
Unlock The Dorian
In this first example we're in D Dorian, the chords are D minor, F major, G major, and C major (add 9 but that's not gonna be on the test).
"Wait, there's gonna be a test?" - no.
To make sure the progression sounds Dorian, it needs to emphasize the tonic chord through rhythmic placement and repetition. The progression needs to sound resolved on the D minor chord. By placing the D minor at either the beginning or end of the vamp, on a strong beat in a strong measure, and being held for at least 2 full counts, we are putting the emphasis on the D minor chord.
"Wait, there's gonna be a test?" - no.
To make sure the progression sounds Dorian, it needs to emphasize the tonic chord through rhythmic placement and repetition. The progression needs to sound resolved on the D minor chord. By placing the D minor at either the beginning or end of the vamp, on a strong beat in a strong measure, and being held for at least 2 full counts, we are putting the emphasis on the D minor chord.
Unlock The Dorian
The Dorian mode has this slightly lifted quality versus plain old minor (or the Aeolian mode), and I like that about this solo. The solo here has sort of a low - high - low template. Start low, spending the whole first 8 in the lower octave. Move to the higher octave in the second 8. Then increase the subdivisions in the next 8, and then work my way back down to the bottom. Simple but effective, and it definitely covers the concept with a great deal of clarity. Enjoy.
Unlock The Dorian
First 8 Bars:
First lick - Pentatonic sliding shape (reference my Pentatonic Alchemy course for this) adding the 6th on the 4th string.
Second lick - motivic development from the first lick adding the 9th on the third string.
Third lick - Pentatonic lick plus a builder into the downbeat of the second 8.
Second 8 Bars:
First and second licks - two descending licks, each featuring a half-step bend to catch to Dorian tones.
Third lick - "The Fast Lick" - this is one of those relatively easy licks that allow you to build up some speed. Definitely get this under your fingers.
Last lick - take it right down to the bottom of the scale to close it out and you're done.
First lick - Pentatonic sliding shape (reference my Pentatonic Alchemy course for this) adding the 6th on the 4th string.
Second lick - motivic development from the first lick adding the 9th on the third string.
Third lick - Pentatonic lick plus a builder into the downbeat of the second 8.
Second 8 Bars:
First and second licks - two descending licks, each featuring a half-step bend to catch to Dorian tones.
Third lick - "The Fast Lick" - this is one of those relatively easy licks that allow you to build up some speed. Definitely get this under your fingers.
Last lick - take it right down to the bottom of the scale to close it out and you're done.
C The Flat V
We all play the blue note all the time. In this concept, I'm going to introduce the blue note all over the neck using this sliding fingering that I favor. We'll also play it in the basic pentatonic box, like you know and love it, so never fear.
C The Flat V
This is a vamp on a C chord for the most part. There is a quick turnaround that goes Ab - Eb - Bb - F and then you're back on the C. Please note my use of Blackmore-style "upside down" power chords (4ths) instead of Iommi-style power chords (5ths) during portions of the rhythm part.
+ 19 more lessons
Reviews
9 results
IamBenjamin
Verified buyer
05/15/23
Beyond Rock Pentertonics
This is a great course! Clear instruction and inspiring material!
rempelrt
Verified buyer
11/24/22
Angus is a very good teacher
AAA+ A Great lesson to get you thinking outside of the Box. Thanks Truefire
Ben
11/06/22
Great choise for Intermediate Rock guitar players
This course is very good, one of the best I watched here in True Fire. It is the perfect match for intermediate rock guitar players, who for whatever reason stuck relying on the pentatonic scale for a long time. In my case, I already knew the scales presented in this course, but I could never manage to really incorporate those in my playing. To me, minor and major scales always sounded more neo-classical metal or fusion rather than rock. The teacher's apprach helped me a lot in this sense, as he shows how you can incorporate additional notes to pentatonic-oriented licks in a way that they still sound right in a rock context. At the end of the course you should be able to add some flavours to your improvisations, while mantaining your rock attitude.
DavidMcN
Verified buyer
04/03/22
Great ideas from a great teacher
Angus has a really engaging teaching style, witty comments and good examples. He explains ideas very clearly and offers excellent tips on how to use the ideas in practical settings for your playing. Made a massive difference to my playing really quickly. Can't recommend it too highly.
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