Hopscotch Method. Part 1

Table of Contents

01. Intro
02. Minor Pentatonic box shapes
03. Method Alternative
04. Conclusion

Intro

NOTE: This article is based on the video lesson created by Joe Cefalu, who gives a demonstration of his workout called 'Hopscotch,' exclusively for Shred Academy [website].

I recently watched this video which talks about the "Hopskotch Method," a way of getting out of the boxes of the minor pentatonic. It really works and is a great thing for soloing beginners, so I decided to type them out.

The minor pentatonic scale is used in a wide variety of genres of music. Rock, heavy metal, blues, etc. The most common problem however for beginning soloists is that when they learn a certain box shape of the minor pentatonic, they get stuck within that box and their solos start to sound the same, and it eventually gets boring. Here's a way you can learn more about the 5 shapes of the minor pentatonic, how they fit together on the fretboard, and how you can break down the barriers between those boxes and turn them into a giant box that covers most of the fretboard.

Minor Pentatonic Box Shapes

There are 5 minor pentatonic box shapes. The most common one being:

Fig. 1
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|

Now the remaining boxes follow it like this:

Fig. 2
|-|o|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|

Fig. 3
|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|

Fig. 4
|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|

Fig. 5
|-|o|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|

If we were to play them following each other they would look like this, all along the fretboard:

  F.1  F.2  F.3  F.4  F.5  F.1
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|

You can see that, at the end, it starts back at figure 1, and that theyre all connected.

Now, while improvising, to be able to solo between these boxes seamlessly, you don't want to just play some licks off fig. 1, then switch to fig. 2, etc. You have to try and take two boxes, and merge them into one giant box.

To do this, we will take the 6 strings of your guitar in pairs. E & A, A & D, D & G, G & B, B & E. 5 pairs. Now what we'll do is take the first pair, E & A, and play the part of fig. 1 on those strings, and then play the part of figure 2 on those strings. So in the key of G minor, it would look like this:

e|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|
D|-------------------------|
A|--------3--5--------5--8-|
E|--3--6--------6--8-------|

Then we'll move on to the next pair of strings, A & D:

e|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|
D|--------3--5--------5--8-|
A|--3--5--------5--8-------|
E|-------------------------|

And we'll keep dong that up the 6 strings, so eventually we'll get this from the first 2 figures:

E|--------------------------------------------------------------------3-6-----6-8|
B|----------------------------------------------------3-6-----6-8-3-6-----6-8----|
G|------------------------------------3-5-----5-7-3-5-----5-7--------------------|
D|--------------------3-5-----5-8-3-5-----5-8------------------------------------|
A|----3-5-----5-8-3-5-----5-8----------------------------------------------------|
E|3-6-----6-8--------------------------------------------------------------------|

And if you look at the box shape now, it looks like this:

|o|-|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|

See what we did there was merge fig. 1 and 2, and made a big box. Once you are able to see the notes on the fretboard liek this, you're soloing will open up more than ever. If we do exactly what we did with fig. 1 and 2 to the rest of the figures, we'll come up with these:

Fig. 2&3
E|---------------------------------------------->
B|---------------------------------------------->
G|----------------------------------------5-7--->
D|----------------------5-8------8-10-5-8-----8->
A|----5-8------8-10-5-8-----8-10---------------->
E|6-8-----8-10---------------------------------->

E|>-------------------------------6-8-------8-10|
B|>-------------6-8------8-11-6-8-----8-11------|
G|>----7-10-5-7-----7-10------------------------|
D|>-10------------------------------------------|
A|>---------------------------------------------|
E|>---------------------------------------------|

|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|

Fig. 3&4
E|--------------------------------------------------------->
B|--------------------------------------------------------->
G|-------------------------------------------------7-10---->
D|---------------------------8-10-------10-12-8-10------10->
A|-----8-10-------10-13-8-10------10-13-------------------->
E|8-10------10-13------------------------------------------>

E|>---------------------------------------8-10--------10-13|
B|>---------------8-11--------11-13-8-11-------11-13-------|
G|>----10-12-7-10------10-12-------------------------------|
D|>-12-----------------------------------------------------|
A|>--------------------------------------------------------|
E|>--------------------------------------------------------|

|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|

Fig. 4&5
E|------------------------------------------------------------>
B|------------------------------------------------------------>
G|------------------------------------------------------10-12->
D|------------------------------10-12-------12-15-10-12------->
A|------10-13-------13-15-10-13-------13-15------------------->
E|10-13-------13-15------------------------------------------->

E|>------------------------------------------10-13-------13-15|
B|>------------------11-13-------13-15-11-13-------13-15------|
G|>------12-15-10-12-------12-15------------------------------|
D|>12-15------------------------------------------------------|
A|>-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|>-----------------------------------------------------------|

|o|-|-|o|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|

Fig. 5&1
E|------------------------------------------------------------>
B|------------------------------------------------------------>
G|------------------------------------------------------12-15->
D|------------------------------12-15-------15-17-12-15------->
A|------13-15-------15-17-13-15-------15-17------------------->
E|13-15-------15-18------------------------------------------->

E|>------------------------------------------13-15-------15-18|
B|>------------------13-15-------15-18-13-15-------15-18------|
G|>------15-17-12-15-------15-17------------------------------|
D|>15-17------------------------------------------------------|
A|>-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|>-----------------------------------------------------------|

|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|

Method Alternative

Another way to overcome the barriers between the boxes is to take 1 pair of strings, and go through all the box shapes on those two strings. So lets say, E & A. You would basically play this:

E|----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------------------------------------|
A|------3-5-----5-8------8-10-------10-13-------13-15-------15-18-|
E|--3-6-----6-8-----8-10------10-13-------13-15-------15-18-------|

|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|

And that would also increase your ability to improv and you will see the whole neck in a completely different way. For the rest of the pairs of strings, it would look like this:

A & D
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------------------------------|
D|------3-5-----5-8------8-10-------10-12-------12-15-------15-17-|
A|--3-5-----5-8-----8-10------10-13-------13-15-------15-17-------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|

|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|

D & G
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|------3-5-----5-7------7-10-------10-12-------12-15-------15-17-|
D|--3-5-----5-8-----8-10------10-12-------12-15-------15-17-------|
A|----------------------------------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|

|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|

G & B
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|------3-6-----6-8------8-11-------11-13-------13-15-------15-18-|
G|--3-5-----5-7-----7-10------10-12-------12-15-------15-17-------|
D|----------------------------------------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------------|

|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|

B & E
E|------3-6-----6-8------8-10-------10-13-------13-15-------15-18-||
B|--3-6-----6-8-----8-11------11-13-------13-15-------15-18-------||
G|----------------------------------------------------------------||
D|----------------------------------------------------------------||
A|----------------------------------------------------------------||
E|----------------------------------------------------------------||

|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|-|o|-|o|-|-|o|

Conclusion

Well, that's it for the lesson. The minor pentatonic scale is a major milestone in the transition from rhythmist to soloist, and I hoped this small contribution helped you out along the way.

Comments

[turmoil]

nice one man, cheers

[supergohan931]

I think I was just lucky enough that when I started learning to improvise I looked at all forms of the scale all over the neck and learned that way, instead of just one scale on one position of the neck.

[E-MAN0221]

wow, this can really help me alot man, great job bro, thanx 4 posting it!

[Eddy Hitler]

i havent put this lesson to the test yet , but im very excited about doing so. it looks so simple the way uve described it. ive had trouble understanding stuff like this and it has angered me in most cases. this one looks like it will help alot. great job man , u deserve a gold star , or a high rating , whichever u prefer.

[Rude Mood]

This looks like a great way to get out of that first box, I havent tried it yet but I will, thanks a lot dude!

[Gitter_Wizard]

u could have just posted the vid yano. it says pretty much the same stuff.

[Gitter_Wizard]

oh btw this was awsome srry fogot 2 say yea, bt great
lesson, this will help so many people.

[wookieGTB]

That is a remarkable lesson. Never thought of it that way. Fantastic

[jellyellie]

This rocks - it is sometimes extremely useful to look at things from a different perspective and this snippet of insight offers just that.

[redstapler1228]

very good lesson! i can use a lot of info from here!

[Metal_Injection]

wOOt!! great stuff bro,

[kennethdave]

You are wonder kid....=)

[Stanovavich]

Thank You! I've been practicing scales and they always sound so boring when improvising, now I see why.

[blackmetal619]

great method, i always get stuck in the pentatonic box

[NuckingFutz0r]

Thanks alot that was so helpful!

[workstar]

Good job on the lesson. easy to understand.




I murdered my guitar teacher...

[eljony]

very helpull 4 the begginers
also its important to clarify that the box shapes depends con the root note
i used to play always in A minor pentatoci, 4 all the chords...
its better if u ar playing in G.. to start the box shape in the fret #3 for example..
Good one!
cyaz!

[The Undead]

cool

[MetalMonster34]

This definitely helps!! Finaly i can use some solos like marty friedman

[Hutcho69]

Love it, thanx !!!!

Checked.

[AmplifySilence]

good lesson, i tried to do most of this before, but it still helps

[emosucks16]

thanks man... this helps

[Koolcow]

Sweeeeet, could you do this with modes too????? My friend is a jerk and takes guitar lessons and says he is going to get his guitar teacher to teach him them up and down the neck so that he is "1 step ahead of me". I wanna prove him wrong and learn them b4 him....but i don't take lessons. SO MAKE A LESSON ON HOPSKOTCH MODES!!!!

[NovemberRain273]

Actually you can do it with modes, I was going to write up another lesson but some things came up. I finish school next week so Ill have lots of time on my hands, ill try and make one then.

Thanks for the comments, glad you like it!

[g-unitie]

very nice lesson it improved my overall soloing ability.....props to ya bro

[hannaford]

So is it possible to merge more than two boxes?

[el conrado]

i havnt quite gone thru it but it looks really good and helppful, but on the box systems could you say which note is the root

[Anty 7]

I gave this a 9/10, not a ten because you didn't put the root note....
(a G for most of the article)

nice, I never actually thought of using what you called "Method Alternative", really cool stuff.

[RedAsterix]

the first tab in method alternative is off... the last note should be a 17, not 18

[Mental Militia]

this is really great, i love it. But a small request can someone show me the blues notes in the 4th and 5th box, when i improvise with pentatonic i usually use the blues scale and i need to know those

[Glen'sHeroicAct]

OH... MY GOD.... YES!!! OH YES!!! OH THANK YOU! MY LIFE HAS MEANING! YOU ARE THE BEST! THEY MUST PUT YOU AT THE TOP OF THE CONTRIBUTION LIST! I WILL FOREVER REMEMBER YOUR NAME AND WORSHIP YOU IN EVERY THREAD I FIND! THAAANKK YOOUUU! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! YOU DONT EVEN KNOW! NO! NO! SHUT UP! YOU DONT EVEN! KNOW! MAN! MAAN!!!!!ty

[dazed]

men this is great. it helpep me a lot.. thx

[NovemberRain273]

You shouldnt be thanking be, you should be thanking the man who made the video and who introduced the technique. Joe Cefalu at www.stratcat.net. Im sorry I didnt credit him before.

[riffs66]

Dear Guitarist Pals! I'm thrilled so many of you liked this lesson and found it helpful. Just thought you might like to check out the guy it was plagiarized from: Joe Cefalu: www.StratCat.net This was an exclusive lesson created for the UK guitar site, Shred Academy and the link to follow is: http://www.shredacademy.com/artists/j_cefalu.htm - As ALL of the content (including the same key and almost word for word explanations) were lifted without so much as a word of thanks much less permission of any kind, I was compelled to leave this comment. Still - glad it was so well received. Take Care...

[riffs66]

Guess we missed each other. I posted the above gripe before NovemberRain's post updated. Thanks for dropping my name. Regards, Joe Cefalu

[NovemberRain273]

Yea, guess we did hehe. Really sorry i didnt mention you before hand.

[4string-tsurigi]

thanks to Joe Cefalu and the guy who brought this method to my attention. and he posted a link, which gives credit.

[Nilcerise]

cool lesson
who honestly cares where it came from its here now, so what?

[nightmareangel]

you are god

[Ash on fires]

Im so stoked to try this out...it looks so simple. Props to you.

[viper15]

i can play so many more solo's now thx!

[hippieboy444]

god damn its so amazing how much better I got in like 2 hours

[Mike_Callahan]

thanks alot...this was really helpful for me!Cheers!

[bluesblaster]

cheers, man... thats sick stuff

[Ziggy511]

Very nice lesson. I think i found 1 error though. On the Method Alternative on the E&A string the last note should be a 17 not 18. Not a big deal though it is still an awsome lesson.

[young b]

gr8 lesson dude

[Ceresz]

Awesome lesson man!

[matx33]

wow...this helps...a lot...thanks

[nicotinejunkie]

Great lesson, wish i read it before figuring it out, man that wasn't easy.

[BillBrown]

Thank you for this! It's opened up my eyes!!!

[westo]

why does it sound so weird!!??

[singurel]

hm...i think what you have there is just a complex way of saying something really easy:why would you need to learn all the shapes and stuff?i took a look over this and it kinda` messed up my mind...i find it very complex....by me the simplest solution would be to think of the pentatonic, wrap you mind around it, get all the notes in it.then, i think it`s a lot easyer to play within the range of the pentatonic, just concentrating on getting the notes right rather than bending your mind to remember 50.000 different shapes...isn't it?that`s how i do it

[singurel]

p.s. When i said the range of the pentatonic i ment all the notes you can find all along the fretboard

[notoriousnumber]

Truly, truly wonderful. I have been playing for a couple of years and this is something I have severely looked over. Thank you so much for this in-depth, well explained lesson. Cheers.

[NirvanaNo.1]

Peace man that helped me sooooo much! Thank you so much!

[Metalhead1991]

thx man awsum lesson. i like ur method alternative but i was wonderin if it wud work if u did it with 3 strings. ill try it and see if it works but like from a theoretically wud it be good or wud it sound wrong?

[Acid_x_Rain]

Don't have time to go through all of it at the moment but wikid lesson. Thnx!

[*Spoonman*]

This is the first lession on scales ive read that i actually understood!
i cant' believe i didnt know what it all ment before ,its pretty easy really

[d_lord1]

This is going to sound quite retarded but I am a beginner and don't understand about shapes and modes and stuff. Also, what do the diagrams, e.g. Fig. 1
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|-|o|
mean?

[Dubs1066]

Excellent lesson, explained very well. Keep up the good work.

[leadlix4emblem]

cool. I kinda knew that already lol. Great lesson though. Beginners will love this

[sTx]

God! This is one of the best lessons on how to effectively use minor pentatonics without screwing up your theory.

Cheers,
ST

[Snorglorf]

best pentatonic lesson ever, thanks go to original creator..

[slash10171017]

awesome

[jmilli2]

Watched the video on youtube and then read this... much easier when it's written down

[Zoso92]

great job very usefull technique thanks dude

[GaragePunk]

i like how u layed it all out there instead of trying to teach in little confuing segment good lesson thanks

[sid_1585]

nice presentation dude.....gr8

[røvrebs]

Extremely simple, yet with infinite uses. Great! Also it opens your mind up to all the different patterns and logics on a guitar; helps you find your own best way to remember them. Excellent!

[camspiers]

Cool lesson man. I watched the video, a shame he was more concerned with playing fast then writing melodic phrases. Signs of a player who practices playing more than listening. This is the best pentatonic learning tool I have ever seen though. Well done both of you.

[mike288]

camspiers wrote:
I watched the video, a shame he was more concerned with playing fast then writing melodic phrases. Signs of a player who practices playing more than listening.

well put man

[Irontallica09]

very good, this is exactly the way I learned. I learned the pentatonic in 1 position got bored so learnt them all and mixed it up, did this for the major scale (7 positions, or modes) etc

[yao151]

is it even werth learning the major scales posiotions if you play heavy metal? i have heard that minor scales are what people use for metal solos. please give me some advice

[metalmillitia91]

awesome lesson not confusing like the other ones

[Rambow66]

ok im still confused... i dont know how to read the boxes, can someone please help?

[MadTaco]

Rambow66:

This might help you out -

Imagine Fig. 1 like it was your fretboard with the low E at the bottom. The circles represent where you're fretting a note.

Fig. 1
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|-|o|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o|-|o|-|
|o |-|-|o|

So, for the sake of example, here's the same exact figure with the fretting for G Minor Pentatonic, which most of this lesson is written in -

Fig. 1
|3|-|-|6|
|3|-|-|6|
|3|-|5|-|
|3|-|5|-|
|3|-|5|-|
|3 |-|-|6|

Hope that helps. You should be able to piece together the other boxes after that if you use this as a starting point.

Awesome lesson. I can't believe this kind of stuff isn't more common. It just makes way too much sense. Perfect score.

[DimeZakk9304]

Zakk uses the same idea in his solo's