Chords for Dweezil Zappa Guitar Lesson - 5 Shapes of Freedom

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Alright, let's get started.
First thing we're going to look at is the pentatonic box, the infamous pentatonic box,
the one that people seem to never be able to escape, except for now.
I'm going to show you some really simple things that will allow you to escape that box and
do lots of other things with it.
First let's look at A minor pentatonic.
_ _ _ [G] _
[Em] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _
Alright so, looks pretty familiar.
Let's now talk about the five shapes that I'm going to teach you that will free you
from that pentatonic box.
That's why it's called the five shapes of freedom.
Yes!
Okay, here's what we're going to do.
We're going to look at five shapes that will get you up the neck until you reach the octave
of where you started.
So if we start here in the key of A, _ _ we're going to end up in the key of A up here on
one set of two strings. _ _
_ So we're going to get from here to [C] here with five shapes, including this first one, alright?
So let's have a look.
Get your charts out, press that little PDF button, do what you've got to do, but check this out.
First shape.
[Am] _ _ It's just the top half of this pentatonic box you already know, _ [Cm] _ _ right? _ _
_ _ It's just a three fret shape here. _
[E] _ _ _ So how do we get up the [Gm] neck on these two strings?
We start just to the next step here, which starts on a D note, _ _ _ _ right there.
See [F] look, these two shapes that I showed you are completely symmetrical.
This is three frets to three frets, _ [Em] and this is two frets to two frets, [Dm] _ [Gm] _ _ [Bb] right?
So the next one is going to be two frets to three frets.
And now here's the thing, it can be [Bm] different depending on how you look at it, but because
I'm descending, I'm going to call it two frets to three frets.
If I was ascending, I'd have to say it the other way around.
And here's why.
Two frets, starting on E, _ [Cm] three frets, see that?
_ _ [A] _
So we have two frets to three frets, but if I was ascending, it would be three frets to two frets.
[E] _ But to keep it consistent, we'll just make it descending all the time.
So two frets to three frets. _
[Am] _ _ Our next one is going to be three frets to two [Cm] frets. _ _ _
Alright, there are four shapes right there.
We only need one more, which is this one, another completely symmetrical, _ _ [Gm] _ _ starting on
A, _ [Em] _ [Bm] _ and then we're back to where we [Bb] started, but an octave [Cm] up. _ _ _ _
Alright, it seems like I just gave you a lot of information, because I did.
I'm going to go through it for you a little bit more slowly, but I'll show you that you
can just go _ up _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
[N] the neck, and that is connecting all of these pentatonic things, and you'll
notice a little bit later that you can do this in three octaves, and the shapes never change.
You can be in any key, and the shapes never change.
[G] That's the great thing about this.
It's only five shapes, and you can play up and down the neck and get an octave of patterns
just on one set of two strings, two notes at a time.
So again, let's look at it really quickly.
Five shapes.
First one, _ _ [Em] _ _ we started on C, and it's the top of [Am] this, _ _ _ _ the top of that box you already know.
_ _ [Em] _
_ Now we're going to start on [Gm] D, _ [G] _
_ [Gm] _ just a two fret symmetrical shape.
_ [G] _ _ [E] _ Then we're going to start on E, and this is two frets to three frets.
_ _ [G] _ _
Now this one usually gives people trouble, and this is the one that I always say, you
already know this one because it's the bottom half of this box.
[Am] _
_ _ _ If you were descending, _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
here it is.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [B] So the two fret to three fret and the three fret to two fret boxes are the ones you should
practice the most, because those will be the ones that are most unfamiliar, and those are
the ones that aren't symmetrical.
So here's the first one, the _ two fret to three fret, and _ _ [Am] _ _ [Gm] then three fret to two fret.
_ [Cm] _ These two right here are the ones you should practice the most.
_ _ [A] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Cm] _
_ So that is position three and four, or shape three and four.
_ [A] _ _ [E] _
_ _ [Cm] [B] And then shape five is symmetrical, it's just a two fret one, [E] _ _ [Gb] starting on A.
_ _ [Bb] _ And then we're
back to the one we started on, starting on C an [G] octave up.
_ [Em] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[Bm] _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ So you can see, you can play on one set of two strings, two notes at a time, and use
these shapes and get up and down the neck.
We're going to use that to our