Pop in C

Jam track · I–V–vi–IV · Pop · C major pentatonic

Now

C

Next

C
  1. C
  2. G
  3. Am
  4. F

C major pentatonic · box 1

Orange dots are C, the home note.

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The A minor pentatonic box is also C major pentatonic. Start and end on C to sound major.

100BPMJam tempo

Pop in C backing track

A i–v–vi–iv in C at 100 BPM, with a pop groove on drums, bass and rhythm guitar. The loop is 4 bars long and uses 4 chords: C, G, Am, F. Solo over it with the C major pentatonic box shown on the fretboard.

The chords

  1. C
  2. G
  3. Am
  4. F

What to play

The A minor pentatonic box is also C major pentatonic. Start and end on C to sound major.

The orange dots are C, the home note. While the band plays, the notes of the chord playing now light up. Ending a phrase on one of them sounds settled.

Learn the box firstScale drill

How to practise with it

  1. Play the box up and down once with the band, one note per beat, to hear how it fits.
  2. Make up a two-bar phrase and repeat it. Change one note each time round.
  3. Leave gaps. A phrase, then a bar of rest, sounds more like music than notes all the way through.
  4. Turn the guitar off and play the chords yourself, or slow the tempo down to learn the changes.

Drums: Sonic Pi sample library from freesound.org, CC0. Bass and guitar: MusyngKite soundfont by Benjamin Gleitzman, CC BY-SA 3.0.