
Don’t be a prisoner of the pentatonic box. Time to break out!
Beginner
Beginner
• Create blazing pentatonic licks that span the entire neck.
• Understand how to move a motif through the scale.
• Learn how to develop variations on simple licks.
Let’s start with a simple idea in Ex. 1. It consists of four sixteenth-notes from the A minor pentatonic scale (A–C–D–E–G) in the 5th position. Once you get this phrase under your fingers, the rest of the lesson will come together nicely. The picking I use for this lick is a downstroke followed by a pull-off, another downstroke, and then one upstroke. I’ve seen many people start with an upstroke and change it up. It’s your call.
Now that you have the idea let’s break out and head up the neck. In Ex. 2, we move to the 8th position. If you want to think in terms of the pentatonic scale, we are moving each note in the motif up to the next available scale tone, with the same picking pattern. Put the two ideas together and start playing them two times each. We are going to keep going up.
Ex. 3 is based out of the 10th position and begins with a C on the 2nd string. Experiment with fingerings on each one of these. It helps to have a few different ways to come in and out of each escape route.
For Ex. 4, Ex. 5, and Ex. 6 we continue up the pentatonic scale. Learn how to visualize the scale that surrounds each fragment—it will help considerably when putting these into practice. Also, notice that Ex. 6 feels very familiar. It’s our original motif transposed up an octave.
Now it’s time to put everything we’ve learned so far together. In Ex. 7, I’ve written out a longer lick that connects each of our previous examples. As you can hear in the audio, I’ve taken liberties with the phrasing by ghosting some notes and palm-muting others. These come out naturally in my playing, but find the ideas and concepts that pop out in your playing and lean into them. That’s a major step in finding your own sound.
You’ve now made it through five different escape routes moving through five positions of the A minor pentatonic scale. In the heat of a gig you can pull any one of these out as a “repeater” that works up the crowd (think of all those fast licks in “Freebird”) or as a way to seamlessly transition to a different pentatonic box.
I altered our original motivic pattern for Ex. 8. I took our exact phrase from Ex. 1 and expanded it on the second repeat by reaching up and grabbing the A with my pinky. Yes, it’s a stretch, but it allows you to squeeze yet another variation out of this lick. Don’t worry, when you try this out with the previous licks it’s a bit easier since the frets are closer together.
Now, imagine you’re stepping out front to rip a dozen or so choruses on an over-caffeinated version of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” when you bust out Ex. 9, which is simply a “repeater” version of Ex. 8. And the crowd goes wild.
These have been heard in everything from Southern rock to metal and nearly everything in between. Make sure to practice these evenly with a metronome and experiment with them on other string sets and in other keys. Escaping from the box is something we all need to do at various points in our journey. Use this newfound freedom for good. You’ll be glad you did!
Orange Amplification announces the arrival of its new Babies: the newly analogue designed Dual Baby, Tour Baby and Gain Baby guitar amps, plus the O Tone combo.
The Babies
Each lightweight, studio grade 100W, twin channel, Class A/B, solid state amp weighs only 3kg and is compact, reliable and tour ready. Watch the launch video here.
The 2-channel, Tour Baby guitar amp is incredibly versatile in a variety of playing situations. The onboard studio grade VCA compressor of Tour Baby’s refined clean channel, offers pristine clean tones with active or passive pickups. It provides a consistent dynamic range and low noise in extreme settings without the need for separate pedals. It includes precise bass and treble EQ controls.
The naturally voiced dirty channel of this tone machine allows players to easily get that sought after ‘point of breakup’ sound . A custom voiced presence control and powerful 3-band EQ control means the Tour Baby’s tone can be shaped to cut-through the mix. Add to that a footswitchable volume control, that provides a stage-friendly volume boost option for live applications. Watch the Tour Baby video here.
The Gain Baby clean channel is the same as that of the Tour Baby with its integrated VCA Compressor to alleviate the need for an additional stomp box and incorporates bass and treble EQ controls to dial in a desired frequency. The compressor provides smooth, transparent compression for dynamic control without compromising tone.
Four distinct stages are available on the high gain channel allowing players to dial in their preferred level of crunch and saturation. Like the Dual Baby, Gain Baby’s Tight Switch operates as a bright switch, boosting the upper mid at lower gain levels, to give shredding solos a little something extra. Volume control is footswitchable, the buffered FX allows effects from pedals to be patched in and the onboard 3-band EQ allows tone to be tweaked even further.
With multiple output options such as a balanced XLR output with no Cab Sim, as well as dual speaker outputs, the Gain Baby is equally comfortable on stage or in the studio. Watch the Gain Baby video here.
The Dual Baby is a powerhouse in a pint-sized package. It’s simple A and B channel design offers duelling tones and alternating rhythm opportunities. Channel A mimics the rich responsive tones of the Orange flagship Rockerverb amps in a reliable solid-state design. From clean to classic crunch to full-on saturation, there is no shortage of Orange mojo. The brand-new Tubby Switch, which boosts the bottom end early in the signal path, offers a much ‘rounder’ tone when playing clean or when searching for just the right ‘dirty-clean’ sound.
Channel B allows players to dial in the desired level of grit, with ample saturation and a valve-like high-gain tone, unheard of in any other solid-state unit. The ‘bright boost’ of the Tight Switch gives the amp spring and bounce and raises the top end at lower gain levels for players who want to tighten up, shred and play blistering solos with plenty of cut. The 3-band sweepable EQ presence control allows frequencies to be tweaked, shimmer added and mids that sit perfectly in the mix to be dialled in. Watch the Dual Baby video here.
Pack or rack any of the three Baby amps with included gig bag or an available rack ear kit. Each Baby is a mighty unit that delivers100-Watts into 8 ohms or 70-Watts into 16 ohms, to power any full-sized guitar amp with ease!
Check out the triplets, Dual Baby, Tour Baby and Gain Baby and all the other Orange products at
https://orangeamps.com/
The O Tone 40 Combo Amp
Watch the launch video here.
The single channel, 40-Watt Class A/B solid state combo has onboard tremolo and reverb controls, a buffered effects loop and plenty of punchy volume. With a distinctive clean tone, it is an ideal amp for any pedal set-up or a small venue workhorse for guitarists who are fond of warm, vintage tones.
The amp’s bias-wobbled, single-ended JFET tremolo circuit offers huge depth and breadth, delivering everything from grand sweeps to a staccato sonic character via insistent, whirling helicopter patterns. The effect is footswitchable, allowing for even more adaptability during performances.
Modelling a classic spring reverb, the O Tone 40 incorporates a digital reverb module to add a warm spaciousness to sounds, ranging from subtle shimmer to ethereal trails.
The combo’s fully buffered, low-impedance FX Loop allows for any number of effects and cables to be patched between the amp’s input and output sections without sacrificing tone, making it an excellent pedal platform.
The powerful volume of the 12” Voice of the World speaker, combined with the amazingly sweet tones and harmonic chimes of the new O Tone 40, makes it ideal for rock, country, blues and so many more music genres. A direct output is included to facilitate studio and live non-miked situations.
The amp is finished in trademark Orange Tolex with Orange’s signature basket- weave grill and Crest badge. Check out the O Tone 40 and all the other Orange products at https://orangeamps.com/
The Los Angeles League of Musicians—LA LOM for short—brought the vintage vibe with them on the road last year.
It wasn’t long ago that LA LOM—guitarist Zac Sokolow, bassist Jake Faulkner, and percussionist Nicholas Baker—were cutting their teeth together as the house band at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, playing poolside for guests. Now, with eight EPs and a full-length record (2024’s The Los Angeles League of Musicians) since 2021, they’re a full-blown sensation, celebrating and interpreting instrumental tropical guitar traditions.
The trio played Nashville’s The Basement back in December, where PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Sokolow and Faulkner to see what road rigs they use to bring their psychedelic cumbia and Peruvian chicha dreams to life.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Red Rider
This vintage National Val-Pro, circa 1960 to 1962, belongs to Faulkner, who received it as his very first electric. When he switched to bass, the Val-Pro took a backseat, so Sokolow had been more than happy to borrow it long-term. All the controls are disconnected except for the volume knob. Sokolow strings it with a .012–.052 gauge set of roundwounds, and he’s partial to D’Andrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm picks.
Leader of the Pack
Sokolow’s other sidekick is this Kay Style Leader from 1960. Each of the three pickups has a volume and tone control. The body’s been mostly routed out, so it lends the resonance and darkness of a semi-hollowbody.
Live and Loud
While he’ll often play through Fender Deluxe Reverbs at home, Sokolow trusts the Twin Reverb to get the job done in performance settings. The stage volume is loud enough that he and his bandmates often don’t need monitors: They can just listen to each other’s instruments onstage.
Zac Sokolow's Pedalboard
From his guitar, Sokolow’s signal runs through a spicy-red Voltage Cable Co. coil cable into his board. A TC Electronic Polytune 2 starts things off, followed by a Fulltone Full-Drive 3 for just a hint of dirt, then a Boss DM-3 delay, followed by a Catalinbread Topanga spring reverb. A TC Helicon VoiceTone handles some more echo work along with the DM-3.
Flight-Friendly Upright
Jake Faulkner’s traveling upright is thisJohnson bass, which has been modded by Tom at Fantastic Musical Instruments in Pasadena, California. Tom gave the upright a bolt-on neck that comes off easily, making it a perfect travel mate. For amplification, Faulkner uses pickups from Underwood, based in Palm Springs. On a tip from Tom, he glued a small piece of wood to the side of the pickups to reduce noise issues, and two sound posts have been installed inside the body to reduce feedback concerns.
Thumbin' Through
For electric needs, Faulkner uses this Fender Vintera II ’60s Precision Bass; he’ll switch between the two basses depending on what he feels best suits the song. He uses a thumb pick from time to time to accentuate certain rhythms.
Lightweight Low End
Faulkner’s been converted to this Ampeg Venture V12, a compact bass head weighing less than nine pounds—a godsend for sore-backed bassists. It’s set for a pretty neutral, SVT-style sound and runs into a Fender Bassman 410 Neo cabinet, which has four neodymium-loaded speakers.
Jake Faulkner's Pedalboard
Rather than at the start of his chain, his Korg Pitchblack Advance tuner goes at the end, with everything running out of it to the Venture V12. An Origin Effects Bassrig Super Vintage lends color and tone to the V12, then the Fire-Eye Development Red-Eye Twin acts as an A/B switch to maintain output and gain between the Johnson and the P-bass. An MXR Ten Band EQ helps balance out the upright’s tone.
100 watts of clean-to-dirty power in a slim, light, 2-channel, tour-ready design that's as easy on the billfold as your back.
The 2-channel, Tour Baby guitar amp is incredibly versatile in a variety of playing situations. The onboard studio grade VCA compressor of Tour Baby’s refined clean channel, offers pristine clean tones with active or passive pickups. It provides a consistent dynamic range and low noise in extreme settings without the need for separate pedals. It includes precise bass and treble EQ controls.
The naturally voiced dirty channel of this tone machine allows players to easily get that sought after ‘point of breakup’ sound . A custom voiced presence control and powerful 3-band EQ control means the Tour Baby’s tone can be shaped to cut-through the mix. Add to that a footswitchable volume control, that provides a stage-friendly volume boost option for live applications.