Eric Johnson five note pentatonic pattern - what is it?

I heard about this in Troy’s recent Streetwise interview, and I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know what this is. I’m intrigued. Can anyone point me to some example tabs?

go up or down any pentatonic box pattern in quintuplets (this is the hard part for me, sped up quintuplets have a very different feel than other rhythm subdivisions)

EJ’s trick is make the 5th note connect to the first note of the next 5 pattern with a downward sweep, made efficient and natural with downward pick slanting. So the picking looks like DUDUD+DUDUD+DUDUD… if that makes any sense :slight_smile:

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It doesn’t have to be quintuplets rhythmically speaking, but the picking sequence cycles every 5 notes.

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Troy goes into detail here:

And the whole Cascade seminar

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This is true in a general sense if you just want to learn how to play fast 5 note pentatonic sequences. However, when Eric Johnson plays these 5 note patterns he is typically very loose with the timing. He isn’t playing rhythmically displaced 16th notes, and I’d hesitate to call it quintuplets too, since that implies 5 evenly spaced notes per beat. He speeds and drags during these things, which is super cool, but I doubt he’s conscious of this and probably does it all by feel.

Just thought I’d mention it because it’s possible for people to be playing these 5 mechanically correctly but still feel like they’re not getting it and that could send them on a wild goose chase :slight_smile:

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