Angus Young Guitar Methods

I will teach you about two of the major techniques he used in his solos. Angus Young was a master of flawlessly switching from the minor pentatonic to the major pentatonic. The major pentatonic scales he used were(fingerings only):

E-|X-|--|--|X-|
B-|X-|--|--|X-|
G-|X-|--|X-|--|
D-|X-|--|X-|--|
A-|X-|--|X-|--|
E-|X-|--|--|X-|

So in the key of A it would be:

A Major Pentatonic
e-|--|2-|--|--|5-|                        e|14|--|--|17|
B-|--|2-|--|--|5-|                        B|14|--|--|17|
G-|--|2-|--|4-|--|  or an octave higher:  G|14|--|16|--|  
D-|--|2-|--|4-|--|                        D|14|--|16|--|  
A-|--|2-|--|4-|--|                        A|14|--|16|--|  
E-|--|2-|--|--|5-|                        E|14|--|--|17|

You can apply this to any minor pentatonic scale. For example in the solo to Highway To Hell:

   He starts out in the A Minor Pentatonic.
e-|----------5-5-------------------------------------------------------|
B-|----------5-5--------5--5---------5--5--------5--5-----------5--5---|
G-|-7^(9)---------7^(9)-------7^(9)--------7^(9)---------7^(9)---------|
D-|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
A-|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
E-|--------------------------------------------------------------------|


                                        Right here he switchs into the A 
e-|------------------------------------|----------------------| Major Scale.
B-|-7^(8)------------------------------|----------------------|
G-|-7^(8)------------5-----7--5^(7)----|----------------------|
D-|---------------------7-----------5--|-4^(5)----2-----------|
A-|------------------------------------|-------------3--0-----|
E-|------------------------------------|----------------------|


           hold bend               Now he goes back to the A Minor Scale.
e-|-------------5----------------|---------------------5--------|
B-|----------------5-------------|-------5---5-----------5------|
G-|-2----4^(6)--------(6)^4--2---|-------5---5------/5-----5----|
D-|------------------------------|-/5--0---7---7-5------------7-|
A-|------------------------------|------------------------------|
E-|------------------------------|------------------------------|



e-|-------------------------------------|
B-|------11-----11----------------------|
G-|-/12-----12--------------------------|
D-|-------------------------------------|
A-|-------------------------------------|
E-|-------------------------------------|

As you can see he goes back and forth very naturally.

Another technique he uses is moving back and forth between octaves in the same key. What i mean to say is that mid-solo he may go up 12 frets the next octave. He does this on numerous occasions. In the key of A, the root note for the minor pentatonic scale is 6th string at the 5th fret. The next octave would be 12 frets up: 6th string at the 17th fret. This also works for every other minor pentatonic scale. For example, the solo to Let There Be Rock. He starts out with the A minor pentatonic with the root note at the 5th fret on the 6th string.

e |-------------------------------------------------------------|
B |-------------------------------------------------------------|
G |-------------------------------------5--7-7(9)-7-5--7-5~~~~~-| 
D |---7---7---7-\-------7---7---7\----7-------------------------|
A |-------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-------------------------------------------------------------|

e |-------------------------------------------------------------|
B |-------------------------------------------------------------|
G |---5-7-7(9)-7-5-7---5-7-7(9)-7---5-5-----5---5-5---5-5---5-5-|
D |-7----------------7------------7-----7-7---7-----7-----7-----|
A |-------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-------------------------------------------------------------|


e |------------------------------------------------------------|
B |------------------------------------------------------------|
G |---5-5---5-5---5---5-5---5-5---5-5---5-5---5-5---5-5---5-5--|
D |-7-----7-----7---7-----7-----7-----7-----7-----7-----7------|
A |------------------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------------------------------------|


e |------------------------------------------------------------|
B |------------------------------------------------------------|
G |---5-5---5-5---7---7-7---7-7---7-7---7-7---7---7-7---7-7----|
D |-7-----7-----7---9-----9-----9-----9-----9---9-----9--------|
A |------------------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------------------------------------|
                      Right here he jumps up an octave and solos there.
e |-----------------|---------17--------------------------------|
B |-----------------|--20(22)----20-17--------------------------|
G |---7-7---7-7---7-|------------------17-17----19-17-----------|
D |-9-----9-----9---|------------------------19-------19--------|
A |-----------------|-------------------------------------------|
E |-----------------|-------------------------------------------|

   Then he goes back down an octave and finishes the solo.
e |-5-------5-5-------5-5-------5-5-------5-5-------5-------5~~|
B |---8(10)-----8(10)-----8(10)-----8(10)-----8(10)---8(10)----|
G |------------------------------------------------------------|
D |------------------------------------------------------------|
A |------------------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------------------------------------|

e |-12h14p12h14p12h15~~~~~~------------------------------------|
B |------------------------------------------------------------|
G |------------------------------------------------------------|
D |------------------------------------------------------------|
A |------------------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------------------------------------|

I hope this was helpful to you, and knowledge of major and minor pentatonic scales has really improved my solos, as i hope it will improve yours.

Comments

[the_triangle]

woohoo first comment and oh ya its ok

[the_triangle]

cool

[craftercon65]

I seriously dont get all this minor and major pentatonic stuff. I got books and stuff and i still dont get it!. Can anyone explain it to me in english?

[guitarist10]

craftercon65 :
I seriously dont get all this minor and major pentatonic stuff. I got books and stuff and i still dont get it!. Can anyone explain it to me in english?
=====
"Pent" means 5, "pent", I beleive, is the root word for pentatonic. Thus the pentatonic scale is a scale with 5 pitches/octave. If you still dont get it, e-mail me... you should probably make the subject something about guitars or pentatonic scales... or I may ignore it. (my email should be on my profile)

[guitarist10]

Ohh and great lesson btw!

[powerpiker]

nice lesson....good stuff

[nukem14]

I seriously dont get all this minor and major pentatonic stuff. I got books and stuff and i still dont get it!. Can anyone explain it to me in english?

it actually means that there is five notes like a b c d e just repeating

[clint86]

I'de love to see something on Zakk Wylde. I know he bases everything in the Penatonics but it would be cool to see someone break down his stuff. Anyone that doesn't know exactly what is going on in this lesson by that way NEEDS to start practising there penatonics scales. You'll love them trust me!!!

[Blak_Strat101]

can someone please do a guitar lesson on how to burn an electric guitar like one of the greats...

[dc-boy]

omg it all seems so clear now, i have been trying to get as good as him and now i can, well not quite, great lesson, hey wheres my guitar

[guitarist-jake]

the pentatonic scale has 5 notes "penta" including the root note "tonic" really simple c major pentatonic c,d,e,g,a,c, the c minor pentatonic c,d#,e,f#,a#,c just email me for a bit more info on minors or majors be be specific in what you want to know

[warlockking]

um everything in there could have been found in the tab for Highway to hell, or a pentatonic lesson.

[80'smetaladdict]

nice method ive been trying to master anug's technique for awhile now

[80'smetaladdict]

angus's *****

[80'smetaladdict]

but one thing this guy forgot he uses alot of vibrato in his solo's

[Little Angus]

how do you do vibrato on a guitar ive been trying for so long and all anyone tells me is to wiggle my finger . can anyone tell me how?

[sosavpm]

you can do vibrato by pushing your whammy bar inwar and ourtward, or just wiggle your finger

[Little Angus]

if dont have a wammy bar do you just wiggle your finger up and down quickly?

[Johnell]

Little Angus wrote:

if dont have a wammy bar do you just wiggle your finger up and down quickly?

yeah... i guess so.. if u want to simulate the effect off pushing the wammybar down u slide up n down like 5/4/5/4/5/4 and so on real quick.. if u pull it on the other side u get the note to sound higher so the u do it reversed i guess, 5/6/5/6... i think..... :P

[Johnell]

nice lesson to..

[guitarhero421]

dood nice tab thingy

[jjdrummers11012]

cool, but i dont reeally get it...

[ahriman_dk]

nice, thanks for the lesson

[rokknrollldude]

a tip..this was a tony Iommi trick that angus young also used...the minor pentatonic/blues scale is heavy..but go up to a major scale, the come back to minor pentatonic...sounds even heavier

[boreddumb86]

I really liked this lesson. I also noticed Angus likes to use the E minor pentatonic scale a lot like in the song Big Gun off this soundtrack. If I remember right he may use it in Back In Black.

[SG-King]

Blak_Strat101 wrote:

can someone please do a guitar lesson on how to burn an electric guitar like one of the greats...

hendrix always found lighter fluid and a match very useful.

[guitardude2012]

lol that's a good one!!

[Hellscream91]

You forgot to mention part of his method is the duck walk!

[jaffoglide]

Great lesson, has helped me understand pentatonic scales a little more.

One comment, Angus isn't dead (as of this posting, Jan 2008.) He *still* uses these techniques when he plays, unless he has totally reinvented his play style, which I doubt.

[sepaku22]

I would say you gave out a pearl on this lesson. Well done! Everyone else. The roots of Rock n Roll start here.....

[0749hsv1978]

all ac dc solos relate to this patten back in black sink the pink hells bells .... well donme mate

[0749hsv1978]

an angus fukin rocks

[boiler13]

good lesson

[redstrat8]

AC/DC ROCKS.NO THEY WEREN'T NAMED AC DC CAUSE THATS THE ONLY CHORDS THEY PLAY.

[Back in Red]

redstrat8 is right, it's named that cause they saw the AC/DC thing on their sister's sewing machine!! No joke. Nice lesson though.

[chROniCmiKe]

Back in Red wrote:

redstrat8 is right, it's named that cause they saw the AC/DC thing on their sister's sewing machine!! No joke. Nice lesson though.

^^i heard that it was because they went both ways, if you know what im saying, which is basically what ac/dc means in the most rudementary of explanations...

nice lesson by the way, i wish that you would have given more examples though.

[gdavid]

oh thanks .. it will take me a year or to to get it .. but thanks :lol:

[t-moody]

sweet. that realy helps

[BriGuy7727]

The very first part is the A MINOR Pentatonic, not Major, it's a different scale form. The #s on the scales are also not for the A Minor Pentatonic, they're for the F# Pentatonic. A Minor would be (from low string to high string) 5-8, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8, 5-8 & then add twelve to all of those an octave higher.
Your first example in Highway to Hell is also not correct. He uses the A Minor Pentatonic scale throughout, however, the part that you have labeled "A Major Scale switch" is actually just the A Minor Pentatonic in a different position. Instead of starting the scale on the 5th fret on the low E string, he does it from the open position on the A string. He also doesn't go back to the A Minor Scale, he goes back to the A Minor Pentatonic scale in the 5th position.

[BriGuy7727]

The very first part is the A MINOR Pentatonic, not Major, it's a different scale form. The #s on the scales are also not for the A Minor Pentatonic, they're for the F# Pentatonic. A Minor would be (from low string to high string) 5-8, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8, 5-8 & then add twelve to all of those an octave higher.
Your first example in Highway to Hell is also not correct. He uses the A Minor Pentatonic scale throughout, however, the part that you have labeled "A Major Scale switch" is actually just the A Minor Pentatonic in a different position. Instead of starting the scale on the 5th fret on the low E string, he does it from the open position on the A string. He also doesn't go back to the A Minor Scale, he goes back to the A Minor Pentatonic scale in the 5th position.

[zedlep]

The very first part is the A MINOR Pentatonic, not Major, it's a different scale form. The #s on the scales are also not for the A Minor Pentatonic, they're for the F# Pentatonic.

Nah, he has it right. An A major scale is being shown here. You're looking at only from the perspective of a minor pentatonic scale. Keep in mind that the major and minor scales use the same box patterns - minor is just shifted up the fretboard an interval, changing the position of the root note for the pattern. Look at it this way - just work out what where that box pattern would be used in the A major scale, and you'll see it's correct.

[Macan]

Thank you for this it looks so easy now!

[liamduzrocks]

craftercon65 wrote:

I seriously dont get all this minor and major pentatonic stuff. I got books and stuff and i still dont get it!. Can anyone explain it to me in english?

major and minor pentatonic is more or less the same
they just start at different places

X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X

say this is e minor pentatonic
the major pentatonic starts from the 2nd note of the minor
which means e minor pentatonic is also g major pentatonic
i cba to explain it properly lol

[liamduzrocks]

i screwed the Xs up but you dont need em to understand anyway lol

[BMcMahon]

who cares about that fancy shit

[NFR5063]

Correct me if I'm wrong(and I know someone will), but aren't these movable scales that can be played anywhere on the fretboard? The important thing to remember is to go up or down to the next correct position or it will sound "off". This is where the theory comes into play regarding what can precede/follow what. All you really need to know is that when you go to the next position it sounds cool, and if it doesn't then you haven't gone up/down far enough. Your ear already knows what it wants to hear. Also when it comes to vibrato, Angus' is very subtle sometimes. If you listen to AC/DC loud enough you will hear his vibrato where you didn't before. Just press the string down as hard as you can, and wiggle your finger in the direction of the edges of the fretboard. Vary your finger-wiggle speed from fast to slow until it sounds cool to you and remember more pressure is better. Later.

[mr. ...]

BMcMahon wrote:

who cares about that fancy shit

uhh... any body who is halfway decent at guitar dummass

[kraznor]

Blues you can Use is the best book I've ever found that explains the major and minor pentatonic, and how they just shift position on the fretboard. Both are the same pattern, they merely differ in starting position. They are 3 frets difference. IE. the "classic" A pentatonic minor starts on 5th fret, and the same form on fret 2 gives you the A major pentatonic, which is F# minor pentatonic.

Please note that all five forms of the pentatonic wrap around the guitar and repeat.

Indeed, this is a crucial part of understanding how to play rock guitar leads.

[kraznor]

Trying to put what I just said into a tab:
|R| | |x|
|x| | |x|
|x| |x| |
|x| |R| |
|x| |x| |
|R| | |x|

Say that's on the 5th fret, A Minor Pentatonic. This would be A Major Pentatonic, starting on the 2nd fret:

|x| | |R|
|x| | |x|
|R| |x| |
|x| |x| |
|x| |x| |
|x| | |R|

OR, you could just play the A Major pentatonic (form 2, which fits the form above (1)) using the 5th fret as your starting point. It merely changes the form, check it:

| |R| |x|
| |x| |x|
|x| |x| |
|x| | |R|
|x| | |x|
| |R| |x|

Note that R is the root note, A in this case.

Hope that helps clear it up for some/many.