lesson – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

John McLaughlin Pentatonic Guitar Concepts part 1:

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at John McLaughlin’s use of the pentatonic scale.

PART 1:

To begin with, it is a good idea to map out the fretboard of the guitar with an arpeggio.

This way we can ascertain where the different positions are.

Now that we have this, let’s connect two positions together:

John McLaughlin sheet music depicting a guitar piece with notes and highlighted sections. Two distinct sections are marked with colored circles and arrows. — Diagram illustrating a guitar fretboard connecting pentatonic scale positions.

Moving up, we have this interesting scale combination:

Music sheet illustrating John McLaughlin's pentatonic scale with notes labeled for minor third, major third, tone, and semitone. — Musical notation demonstrating the McLaughlin pentatonic scale with highlighted intervals.

Finally, we have another pentatonic combination at the end of the octave:

A musical score showing notes and tablature for guitar, illustrating the pentatonic scale.

PART 2: CREATING COLOUR:

In order to create some magic, John McLaughlin naturally colours the phrase by adding a magic note.

In this example it is the E natural sliding down a semitone to E flat.

Also, the Eb moving down a semitone again, an octave up to D natural.

CREATING A LINE:

To see/hear this in action,let’s create a phrase/line.

We will do this by starting with an A minor arpeggio and an open D string. This has a triad pair inflection.

This open D string also gives our fretting hand a fraction of a second to get into the next position:

John McLaughlin heet music notation displaying a guitar arpeggio with annotated markings highlighting specific notes and techniques.

Another important point-John creates interest, by manipulating the 1st inversion minor chords on the first three strings of the guitar: In this case Cm and Am.

This gives us that spiritual or ethereal sound John is known for. It also, creates flavour and colour out of the basic minor pentatonic scale sound, yielding a more original result. [Please watch video above for demo performance]

Another great idea, is to employ the minor 7th arpeggio to the pentatonic scale:

Musical notation featuring a John McLaughlin pentatonic scale and Am7 arpeggio, indicating different positions on a guitar fretboard. — Chord diagram illustrating the McLaughlin pentatonic scale and Am7 arpeggio for guitar.

Lastly, John is a master at exploiting quartal harmony to create smooth pentatonic lines.

Music notation showing guitarist John McLaughlin's use of quartal harmony at the guitar when improvising — Sheet music illustrating guitar techniques used by John McLaughlin, focusing on quartal harmony ascending

PART 3:

What’s great about using the minor arpeggio as a mapping tool, is that we can add notes of the pentatonic scale in between it. [Resulting in long fluid lines].

Musical notation with notes and tablature for guitar, highlighting a pentatonic scale exercise.

To conclude, we will take the first exercise from this blog and connect it to the pentatonic exercise above.

Sheet music illustrating John McLaughlin's pentatonic scale and various guitar techniques. — Musical notation illustrating John McLaughlin’s use of the pentatonic scale.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just a quick look at how John McLaughlin exploits the common pentatonic scale.

There are many other approaches to this like those found in John McLaughlin’s educational video “This is the way I do it”.

But, the concepts detailed in this blog/lesson work really well as a primer for John’s live performances/improvisations.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

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John McLaughlin’s Pentatonic’s for Coltrane Changes:[Giant Steps]

Posted on November 29, 2025November 29, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at John McLaughlin’s “Pentatonic” guitar concepts for playing over the Coltrane Changes.

Although I am employing alternate picking guitar technique at quite a fast rate, these pentatonic’s simplify things enormously.

THE RHYTHMIC SIDE OF THINGS:

To keep the solo line tight, we will count in a basic manner,

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

This way, you will know where you are in the bar and what chord you are playing over.

To begin with I use the B major pentatonic scale. Next, I employ a simple 2 finger pentatonic scale over D7 and GMaj7.

I then play the second part [same fingering] up a semitone and land on the note D for the EbMaj7 chord, counting 1 2 3 4 in preparation for the next chord.

Sheet music diagram showing giant steps chord names BMaj7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, and EbMaj7, along with tablature for guitar. John McLaughlin version. — John McLaughlin Giant Steps BMaj7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 for guitar players.

For the first three chords I play what could be called “A Dorian Pentatonic”. But, I am not really thinking in that way. [I am just adding the F# note for the 3rd of D7]. This in turn creates a very simple and “Fluid” guitar fingering that is very common to most guitar players and hence easy to play.

Sheet music featuring john mclaughlin guitar tablature for Am7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, EbMaj7, and F#7 giant steps chords. — John McLaughlin giant steps guitar chords Am7, D7, Gmaj7, Bb7, EbMaj7, F#7, and BMaj7.

On the F#7 chord I play an F#7 arpeggio that then resolves into an Eb minor arpeggio for the BMaj7 chord.

John McLaughlin Sheet music showing guitar tablature for the chords BMaj7, EbMaj7, and F#7, with annotations. — McLaughlin Musical notation showcasing the BMaj7 and EbMaj7 chords alongside the F#7 arpeggio.

For then next part, I again employ a simple Pentatonic to get through the first three chords.

This Bb minor leaning works well because over the Bb7 chord it gives us the “Blue note”. Finally we use our A Dorian Pentatonic again to resolve to GMaj7 for our last three chords.

Sheet music displaying John McLaughlin's chord progressions and tablature for Fm7, Bb7, EbMaj7, Am7, D7, and GMaj7 in giant stpes improvisation

Here, I just use C#m pentatonic and F# Pentatonic to land on the D# to nail the change to the BMaj7 chord. Very simple and very common guitar fingering.

John McLaughlin musical sheet showing chord progressions for C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 with annotations for specific notes. — Musical notation highlighting C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 chords for McLaughlin’s giant steps.

For the last part, I employ an Fm9 arpeggio and a C minor pentatonic scale that then goes up a semitone and repeats our C#m7 F#7 to Bmaj7 phrase.

Sheet music displaying Fm7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 John McLaughlin chords with tablature for guitar. — Music notation for Fm7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 chords, illustrating McLaughlin guitar techniques.

But, this time we land on an F# for the 5th of BMaj7.

A musical sheet showing the John McLaughlin chords C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 with corresponding tablature. — John McLaughlin guitar pentatonic’s example

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Understanding Triads and Slash Chords in Music Theory

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

The 12 Major Triads/Slash chords music lesson in theory and practice:

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at altering harmony and cadences with triads, slash and altered chords.

PART 1:

To begin with let’s take a pedestrian V to I cadence,

Now, let’s add some colour to it.

A musical notation diagram showing a V to I cadence with altered substitutions to the Major key, including the slash chords Db/C and C/F for music theory lesson — Illustration of a V to I cadence with altered substitutions, showcasing the Db/C and C/F slash chords.

Here, we can see the slash chord of Db/C resolving to C/F:

The Db/C harmony creates a powerful dominant chord of Csus/b9/b13

Musical notation for Csus/b9/b13 chord with tablature for guitar. Example of slash chord Db/C — Musical notation illustrating the Csus/b9/b13 chord, showcasing its structure and components.

With this in mind let’s now apply this and cadence to the minor key [FmMaj7]

Musical sheet displaying a V to I cadence with altered substitutions for the minor key, featuring Db/C and FmMaj7 slash chords. — V to I cadence illustrating altered slash chord substitutions in a minor key.

Straight away, we can see and hear how easy it is to manipulate and alter the harmony with slash chords.

They also possess a unique flavour and colour that really shines out on the guitar due to the Major triads being very bright. This way they naturally cut through and resonate.

PART 2: Extending 1 simple Triad:

In this example, we will take a simple triad of F Major 1st inversion [F/A]

From this, we will add melodic notes/movement in the top and bottom to extend the harmony, and, finish with a 7sus4 cadence of F/G to Cmaj7#11