With the course · in Adam's Academy
Nucleus Patterns
Adam's five boxes and the joins between them, in every key — the spine of The Best Minor Pentatonic Course.
Try it in the Academy → How to use it
Everyone learns the first pentatonic box. Almost nobody learns how to leave it. Adam's Nucleus Patterns are his answer: five boxes, each with a small core — the nucleus — and the joins that carry you from one box to the next without a jump.
The tool draws each box with its nucleus, plays it in any key, and then plays the connected runs: box to box, up and down the neck, so the whole fretboard becomes one shape instead of five.
Who it is for. Students of The Best Minor Pentatonic Course, and any player who solos in one box and knows it.
What opens it. Comes with The Best Minor Pentatonic Course. The course teaches the patterns; the tool is where you drill them.
How to use it
- 1
Pick a box and a key
The five boxes are numbered the way the course numbers them. Choose one and a key; the neck draws the box, with the nucleus marked inside it — the handful of notes the box is built around.
- 2
Play the nucleus, then the whole box
Play the nucleus alone until it is in your hand. Then the full pattern. The nucleus is the part you will find your way back to when you are lost mid-solo, so it comes first.
- 3
Play the joins
The connections take you from one box to the next by the route Adam teaches — the shift that keeps your hand in shape. Play a connected run and watch the neck light from box 1 to box 2 without a gap.
- 4
Run the whole neck
The master run strings all five boxes together, low to high and back. When you can play along with it in one key, change the key and do it again. The shapes are the same; only the fret changes.
- 5
The major nucleus too
Every minor pentatonic has a relative major, and the tool draws it: the same notes, a different home. Switch to it to hear the same box turn from minor to major.
Adam's tips
- Nucleus first, always. It is the part you play when you are not sure where you are.
- Learn boxes 1 and 2 and the join between them before you touch 3, 4 and 5. Two connected boxes beat five separate ones.
- Play the master run with a backing track from the Academy — the House of Blues sets are in the same key family.
- Move the whole thing to a new key every week. The hand learns shapes; the ear learns keys.
Questions people ask
- Where do I get the course?
- The Best Minor Pentatonic Course is in the Academy's course list. The tool opens the moment the course does.
- Is this the same as the Scale Trainer's pentatonic?
- The notes are the same. The Nucleus Patterns are Adam's way of organising them — the nucleus in each box, and the joins — which is the part the course teaches.
- Does the membership open it?
- No. This one belongs to the course, because it is the course's method.
Try it now
Comes with The Best Minor Pentatonic Course. The course teaches the patterns; the tool is where you drill them.
Open Nucleus Patterns in the Academy → What the membership includes
Already a member? Go straight to the tool.
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The caption and the teaser below are written to be lifted as they are.
Everyone learns the first pentatonic box. Nobody learns how to leave it. Adam's Nucleus Patterns: five boxes, the small core inside each, and the joins between them — played in any key until the neck is one shape.
How to leave the first box
The Nucleus Patterns are the spine of The Best Minor Pentatonic Course: five boxes, a nucleus in each, and the joins that connect them. Here is how to drill them in the Academy until the fretboard is one shape.
The video walkthrough
Coming — it follows this script, about 1.3 minutes.
- 10sOpen. Tools, Nucleus Patterns. Box 1, key of A.
- 20sThe nucleus. Inside the box, the nucleus — the notes the box is built around. Play it alone until it is in the hand.
- 20sThe join. Now the connection to box 2. Watch the shift. No jump — the hand stays in shape.
- 20sThe whole neck. The master run: all five boxes, low to high. Play along. Change the key. Same shapes, different fret.
- 10sInto the Academy. This tool comes with The Best Minor Pentatonic Course. The course teaches it; this is where you drill it.
The other tools
The Scale TrainerEvery scale, in every key, in the positions Adam teaches them in — played back at your tempo while the neck shows you where you are.
The Interval TrainerEvery interval, in every key, lit up everywhere it falls on the neck at once — ear training with your fingers.
Fretboard DiagramsBuild any chord voicing or fretboard map Adam teaches, and lay them out into practice sheets you can print, share and hand to a student.