Full round trip riff — E minor
This riff runs the whole of position 1 of the E minor pentatonic in eighth notes: the first two bars climb from the low root up to the octave then back down, the next two reverse the trip. It's as much an exercise in knowing the box as in picking-hand control: you have to know at every moment where you are relative to the root, in both directions. The most common fingering slip is playing the highest note (or the lowest) twice in a row when you reverse direction.
Tips
At the turnaround, the extreme note isn't played twice: that's the thing to watch.
Work the descent as much as the ascent - most players descend less cleanly for never having isolated it.
Slow metronome once the run is fluent, then steps of 5 to 10 BPM without ever sacrificing steadiness.
Understanding this type of exercise
What this riff trains
It's as much an exercise in knowing the box as in picking-hand control: running the whole of position 1 of the minor pentatonic in eighth notes, both ways, always aware of where you are relative to the root.
Practical tips and common mistakes
- When you reverse direction, the highest note (like the lowest) isn't played twice in a row: that's the most common fingering slip on this kind of run.
- Work the descent as much as the ascent — most players descend less cleanly for never having isolated it.
- Perfectly even eighth notes: the run must not speed up on the way back down.
- Spot the root on every pass — it's the one reference that keeps you from getting lost in the middle of the box.
Tablature
Fretboard position
root note other scale note
The same exercise in other keys
- Full round trip riff — A minor
- Full round trip riff — C minor
- Full round trip riff — G minor
- Full round trip riff — D minor
- Full round trip riff — B minor
- Full round trip riff — F minor
- Full round trip riff — F# minor
- Full round trip riff — C# minor
- Full round trip riff — G# minor
- Full round trip riff — D# minor
- Full round trip riff — A# minor