Vertical Pentatonic Soloing

This post assumes that you have some experience with the Pentatonic Scale and it's "normal" usage.  I find Pentatonic Scales are very easy to remember and they sound great when used appropriatley.  I find that when I use a Major Scale (7 note), I am leaving out some of the dissonent tones which kind of puts me back to a pentatonic in the first place.  Any notes that I need that aren't inherently in the pentatonic I add usually by bending the string a half or whole step.  The only disadvantage to the Pentatonic Scale that I have found is that it is easy to feel 'boxed in'.  I feel myself stretching the box in a vertical fashion (including the pattern above or below it) but still feel as if this is an addition and not the way the scale lends itself to be used.

To combat this I have found a book (Fretboard Knowledge for the Contemporary Guitarist) that describes a technique that I have found very useful.  I have renamed this to vertical pentatonic soloing as these 'scales' or repetitive patterns naturally travel vertically rather than horizontally.  The concept is very simple but is based on two things you need to know. 

1) Roots - You need to know where  your roots are.  This is actually quite simple using the W method.

2) The 2-2 rule.  You can find the same name note from any location on the fretboard by travelling two strings up (towards the high E string) and two frets down (towards the twelveth fret).  This holds true EXCEPT when you are crossing from the 3rd String (G) to the 2nd (B) because these are tuned differently then the rest of the guitar.

These two concepts alone will give you a much better picture of the fretboard.  Now we will take the Pentatonic Minor Scale and break it into 5 smaller boxes (4 notes a piece).  If you know one box, by applying the 2-2 rule this box now moves (vertically) up the fretboard.  This does two things.  Provides a fertile ground for repetition of the note patterns and it naturally moves you up and down the fretboard rather than horizontally.

So as you learn your pentatonics horizontally, take the time to learn them vertically as well.  This will automatically add a dramatic element to your soloing...  You can stay within the pentatonic scale pattern and travel horizontally then using the patterns shown above move up and down the fret board at will!