Four Guitar Patterns That Break Pentatonic Ruts

Tired of solos that feel stuck in the same box? We dig into four compact shapes in E that instantly add color, movement, and melody—without burying you in theory. You’ll hear how each pattern sits over familiar E major pentatonic territory, then learn simple visual cues to find them fast anywhere on the neck. The goal is musical color you can use right now, not another scale you’ll forget tomorrow.

We start by explaining why outlining triads over the same chord can sound plain, then layer a fresh pattern over your core E major position. From there, we shift to a tight, melodic sequence anchored by the E on the fifth string, including a tasty major seven that resolves with a half‑step slide. Next, we duplicate the exact fingering higher on the neck using an easy landmark: spot the sixth‑string E, drop to the A beneath it, and run the same 2‑1‑2‑1‑2 layout for a new voice without new finger math. Finally, we travel left of the fifth‑string E toward the headstock for a wider, grittier shape that pairs beautifully with classic bends and vibrato.

Throughout, we show how to connect each idea back into trusty E major pentatonic so your lines resolve with confidence. Expect practical phrasing tips, clean transitions, and dynamics that make simple notes sing. Whether you’re soloing over pop, rock, or blues, these shapes help you escape autopilot, cover the neck, and tell stronger melodic stories—slow or fast, clean or dirty.

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Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Chapters

• 1:10 Why Triads Aren’t Enough
• 2:59 Pattern One Over E Reference
• 5:10 Connecting Shapes To Pentatonic
• 5:30 Pattern Two From Fifth-String E
• 6:35 Duplicating The Shape Up The Neck
• 7:51 Pattern Three To The Left Of E
• 9:00 Adding Color Beyond Arpeggios
• 9:50 Invitation To Guitar Zoom Academy

Transcript

Steve: 0:35

Hey Steve Stine from Guitar Zoom Academy here. And if you struggle with trying to make your solo sound a little more creative and interesting, what I'd like to give you today are four different patterns or sequences that you can use to try and break up the monotony of the way that you play. Now we're going to be doing these in the key of E major. You can move these wherever you want. You just need some reference points to be able to find them quickly when you move to other keys. And I'm going to show you that as well. So the first thing we're going to do is let's just look at this from an E major pentatonic perspective as a reference, and then we're going to expand out from there. So let's say I was doing E major right here. Okay, the four patterns I want to show you, the first pattern is going to exist right over the top of what we just played. Let me show you what it looks like. And please understand that the patterns or the sequences that I'm showing you, I'm not asking you to define all of the intervals, you know, and that they all have to make some sort of sense. One of the things that people often do that sounds less creative is they'll say, okay, I'm playing over an E major chord, so I'm going to do an E major triad. Now there's nothing wrong with that. That's perfectly fine. But if you do an E major triad over an E major chord, you're really not doing anything special, right? You're just playing the notes of the E major chord broken apart. That's what you're doing. So the point of these shapes I'm going to give you is that they give you the opportunity to play some really unique, colorful sounds in your playing. You can always collapse it back into a pentatonic or something like that. But I'm just asking you when you play these things, don't worry so much about trying to define every note and why it's there. The reason it's there is because it's not the same old, same old. That's why. So let's take a look at the first pattern here. What we're gonna do is we're gonna start down here on the ninth fret of the sixth string, and we're gonna play nine to twelve. And then I'm gonna go to 11 on the fifth string, and then I'm gonna go to nine on the fourth string. And then what I'm gonna do is head out to the 13th fret of the fourth string. So I have two notes on the sixth string, one note on the fifth string, and two notes on the fourth string. And then I'm gonna play one note on the third string, it's gonna be the 11th fret. So I have. And then I'm gonna play two notes on the uh second string. It's gonna be nine to twelve. And then I'm gonna head up and play uh 11 and 14 on the first string. So there's two notes on that one, too. So let me play it nice and slow so you can see it. Okay, a little bit faster. All right. Now, as I play this, I don't have to play the entire shape all the time. The the thing you always have to remember when you're learning patterns or sequences is that when you get to the end of whatever it is that you're doing, you still have to connect it back into something that makes sense to you that you can use musically. So let me show you what I mean. So if I was to play this, I can always draw it back into this pentatonic, this first pentatonic position and do something. You know, whatever it is I like to do, that's entirely up to you. But the point is instead of just playing that all the time, which again there's nothing wrong with, that's perfectly fine. But if you want to shake it up a little bit, if you add this color, it sounds kind of nice. So that's shape number one that we're gonna learn, and we can see that off of the E on the sixth string right here. Right there. Okay, shape number two is gonna exist seeing the E on the fifth string right here. And this shape is gonna look like this. And the way I'm doing this is on the fifth string, I'm not playing the sixth string at all this time. So I'm playing seven to eleven, two notes, on the fifth string. Then I'm going to nine of the fourth string. And then I'm gonna play eight to eleven on the third string. So again, I have two notes, one note, two notes. Then I'm gonna play the ninth fret of the second string. And then I'm gonna play seven to eleven on the first string. So I'm ending on what we could call the major seven. Okay, I'm ending on this D sharp right here, but I can always just go up a half step into my E. Again, whatever you want to do. So I've got this one. And this one sitting right there. Now, what's really cool is I can take this seventh to 11th fret one that I just played. Okay, I'm gonna do exactly the same exact thing, but I'm gonna go up here to the 12th fret of the fifth string. Okay, and I'm gonna play. So it's exactly the same shape. Now, this one I'm starting on A, but if the the visual point is right above me is the E on the sixth string. Now I'm not playing that E, but I can use that as the visual Q to find this. So my first one I found off the pinky on E on the sixth string right here, or third finger, whatever you know, fingers you're using, but that visual cue. The second one I found on E on the fifth string, and the third one I'm finding E on the sixth string, but I'm not playing the E. I'm going to the A on the fifth string, and I'm playing the exact same shape. So this would be 12 to 16, and then 14 on the fourth string, and then 13 to 16, and then 14, and then 12 to 16. So it's a 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 pattern. Exactly the same as this one. See? So it's pretty cool, and they all sound a little bit unique and a little bit different, and you can always tie them back into whatever it is you're visualizing underneath, be it pentatonic or diatonic or whatever it is that you have. Okay. The last one I want to show you, what we're gonna do is we're gonna work off the uh fifth string E as well, but this time we're working to the left of it. We're working toward the head stock. So what I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna play four to seven, and then I play a six on the next string, and then I've got four to eight, and then I end with two five to nines. And you can combine these shapes back and forth together however you like too, but they're they don't have to be fast. Like you can just play them nice and slow and connect them. You know, there's so many really neat things that you can do with these shapes. So they're all connected, they're all part of the E-major pentatonic, E-major diatonic, really um world. Now, if you don't know your diatonics, don't stress over it. Something that you could certainly learn. Um, but just become aware of all of the unique colors and sounds that you've got inside these. So you're not just thinking like, you know, A minor, I should play an A minor arpeggio, or you know, D minor, I should play a D minor arpeggio. I'm not saying that that's wrong. There's nothing wrong with it at all. I'm just saying when you think like that, sometimes what's lacking is the color because you're really just doing the same thing. You know, if you've got a rhythm guitar player that's playing an A major chord and you're playing an A major triad, you're really just doing the same thing, just in a different place on the guitar. But listen, again, nothing wrong with that. This is just a stepping outside those confinements and looking for something larger and more colorful. Right. So anyway, if you struggle with your playing and you, you know, feel like you need some help, you want to expand out from where you are, you want to finally reach the goals that you've, you know, been trying to reach for a long time, but it never seems like you can get there. Do me a favor, check out the Guitar Zoom Academy. There should be a link around here somewhere that you can click on. You can show up without a credit card. We're not gonna try and talk you into buying anything. We're just gonna explain to you how the academy works, see if it's something that fits you. Okay, and then we can talk about what it is and see if you're interested in becoming part of the academy. So take care, stay positive, keep practicing, and I'll talk to you soon, okay?