All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert has a monthly lesson column in Guitar World appropriately named “All or Nothing.” In this month’s edition, he demonstrates a variation of the common minor pentatonic we’re so familiar with – the Hirajoshi scale.
It helps to think about the Hirajoshi scale in relation to the natural minor and minor pentatonic scales we already know. So, just as we form a minor pentatonic from the natural minor scale by removing the 2 and b6 (spelled 1 b3 4 5 b7), the Hirajoshi scale is built by omitting the 4 and b7 (leaving 1 2 b3 5 b6). It’s actually a really simple modification, but its effect is drastically different from the “western” minor pentatonic. Pretty neato!
You can check out Oli’s first lesson on 4-note patterns and permutations right here. It should go without saying that learning some new guitar tricks is a surefire way into the heart (or pants) of that special someone. That’s just science, man – standard curriculum stuff. All That Remains are also dropping a new album very, very soon. Madness is set for release sometime this spring, so it’d be wise to stay in the loop.
Anyway, that’s enough. It’s shred time.
