Dont let the word pentatonic scare you off, it just means a five note scale. Blues progressions the minor pentatonic scale can also be used over major chords like in a blues chord progression. In other words, pentatonic 326 contains all of the. Youd think that if the major pentatonic scale were good for one thing, it would be for playing over major chords.
Bass tablature for pentatonic scales by bass lessons. For most guitarists and bassists, using the pentatonic scale is intuitive because the 5th works well as a complement to any note of a scale or chord progression. Playing major pentatonic over the iv chord in the previous part we learned how to connect several major pentatonic patterns to create one large roadmap for the scale. With the chords of the scale chords project, you can create nice chord progressions easily. There is a lot of discussion about the glory of the caged system. To figure out where to place the scale boxes you need to look to the blue notes. So you get to immediately make music, with only knowing a bit of theory. The major pentatonic scale does not have any clashing notes. But did you know that its possible to transform these chords into great sounding melodies and basslines easily. Mastering pentatonic scale theory welcome to the learning pentatonic scales page at gmc run by yours truly, the professor. For example, in relation to an abmin7 chor d, this useful pentatonic contains all of the notes that are outside of the chord and the scale that is usually associated with it, the ab dorian scale.
It wasnt until later that i learned there is a blues scale. With the same principle to make voicings for the f minor pentatonic scale we get example 2. Do you play pentatonic scales on the chords or the key. May 09, 2014 the major pentatonic scale is mostly used in country, folk country rock, blues and jazz. A minor pentatonic root note 5th am pentatonic c note am at d am at e am at g am root 17 am open am at the g a minor pentatonic scale. Minor pentatonic chord progressions in the minor pentatonic scale lesson we learned the intervals that make up the scale and that its basically a minor scale that will work over minor chords. Chords that sound good with e minor pentatonic scale s jguitars harmonizer allows you to easily identify chords and scales that will sound good when played together. Jul 28, 2016 from the c major scale, three pentatonic scales can be derived. How to play the a minor pentatonic guitar scales fender play. Pentatonic scale has notes that when played generate a pleasant melody, even if it is just the. A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave such as the major scale and minor scale pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations. Simply move the minor pentatonic scale 3 frets down and youll. In this lesson i am going to construct some 3 note chord voicings with the pentatonic scale and use those chords to play altered dominants.
Pentatonic scales particularly lend themselves to digital patterns especially if you use the middle two tones as pedal. In other words, play d major over d, c major over c, and g major over g. It only includes five notes rather than the usual seven, so the construction or pattern of a pentatonic scale on your fret board is a lot simpler but with the pentatonic scale its not so much about the notes youre playingwell, of course, you still have. If there is a pentatonic scale in the eb melodic minor scale it has to be a note where the diatonic chord is a m7 chord, and the only option is then the f. Chords that sound good with c major pentatonic scale s jguitars harmonizer allows you to easily identify chords and scales that will sound good when played together. Oneoctave minor pentatonic scale bass scales studybass. The pentatonic scale is frequently used in lots of popular music styles. May 12, 2019 the minor pentatonic scale is the most used scale for soloing and it is used in a wide variety of music styles like pop, rock, country, metal, blues and more. Chords that sound good with e minor pentatonic scales jguitars harmonizer allows you to easily identify chords and scales that will sound good when played together. They are still used all over the world, for example. The lessons on this page are geared towards helping you build a strong understanding of each of the various pentatonic scales, how they are built, how they are related and how they relate to chords and arpeggios when. One of the most common fingerings for the minor pentatonic scale starts on your.
In this video i go over how to connect the major pentatonic scale with chords. The pentatonic scale often has chords that are 4 or 5 semitones apart cea, gce, etc. A tab example has been provided for each of the new patterns. How to use pentatonic scales and barre chord shapes to. Major pentatonic scale pattern 15 for guitar fingering. A pentatonic scale is like any other scale notes separated by intervals, but it contains just 5 tones, hence the greek word pentatonic, which simply means five. Well take a closer look at each of the new patterns below. How to superimpose the pentatonic minor scale over chord progressions in a number of different scenarios. For bm, the pentatonic scale adds the 4th and flat 7.
Indeed, a c major pentatonic scale can be used over a c major chord. When playing the a minor pentatonic scale, youll only ever need to use two fingers per string. Heres a lesson that walks guitarists through learning to play the major and minor pentatonic scale in five positions, all over the guitar fretboard. The f pentatonic can be used over chords dm7, fmaj7 and g7sus chords that contain f. Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations. Its better to think of the pentatonic scale as a cut down scale. Aug, 20 in this video i go over how to connect the major pentatonic scale with chords.
As mentioned in the video, you dont have to memorize the numerical interval labels for the iv chord tones, but hopefully as you were jamming you were picking up. The big list of chords and scale notes scale notes. Chord progressions for pentatonic melodies the essential. The major pentatonic scale is mostly used in country, folk country rock, blues and jazz. The reason is there are notes in each of these scales that directly relate to the underlying chord tones in a standard blues progression. You will be learning two types of pentatonic scales, one is the minor pentatonic scale and the other will be the major pentatonic scale. The minor pentatonic scale is usually what people mean when they simply say the pentatonic scale as it works well over any chord. If you want to connect the chords to the key scale, you may target chord tones within the scale patterns based on the caged shapes. How to play the pentatonic scale on guitar dummies. Above you see the scale boxes for the minor pentatonic scale as they progress up the guitar neck.
Note that there are three major pentatonic scales contained in the seven notes of a c major scale. Connecting the major pentatonic scale with chords youtube. So take any major scale 1234567, eliminate the 4th and 7th notes 12356, and youve got a pentatonic scale. Ive added 12 exercises, as a free download, to rock prodigy that will help you master these chord scale connections. Which chords go along with pentatonic and blues scales.
In the minor pentatonic its notes 1,3,4,5 and 7missing 2 and 6. It also works pretty well over a major and c blues. Once again, bending the minor third up to the major third is a nice bluesy sound. However if i play that pentatonic scale over an em chord progression, then things get interesting. Recall that most scales in western music contain 7 notes e. Is the only way to describe them as majorminor chords but with a different. The shapes of the major pentatonic scale are exactly the same as those of the minor pentatonic scale, except the root note is located else where looking at it from the major scale, if you leave out the 4th and the 7th note of the major. Then again, the blues scale is based on the pentatonic scale. As others have said, you used the minor pentatonic scale instead of the full, natural minor scale, giving you this weird result. The 5 major pentatonic scale shapes positions guitarhabits. The combination of notes from the minor pentatonic scale over the major chords is part of that bluesy sound. Chords that sound good with c major pentatonic scales jguitars harmonizer allows you to easily identify chords and scales that will sound good when played together. Interestingly, the name originates from the greek word penta which stands for five.
Pentatonic scale guitar secrets online guitar lessons. The scale can be us ed very effectively in other ways, too. A minor pentatonic it is important that if you are going to learn to improvise with this scale that you learn how it sounds. This book provides the pentatonic scale fingerings, diagrams, lessons and licks that every guitarist needs to know. The minor pentatonic scale is quite possibly the most used and, suffice it to say, overused scale on the guitar. A minor pentatonic can be used as a lead scale over chord progressions in a minor, c major, and a blues blues can imply a specific, sixnote scale, as well as a chord progression. E d g b e a pentaton c minor scale box 1 glitarsik. The key to understanding the minor pentatonic scale. Language sitemap guitar scale major pentatonic pattern 15 fingering major pentatonic scale pattern 15 fingering in a major root.
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic. Various positions of the major pentatonic scale pattern 15 for guitar with the fingering on the guitar neck. In most cases, as long as the chords used in the progression lie within the same key more on this in a minute. The pentatonic scale is one of the most commonly used in all styles of music. A minor pentatonic contains scale degrees 1, b3, 4, 5, and b7. The open strings themselves even make up the notes of the e minor pentatonic scale. This is a very simple approach to connecting the major pentatonic scale with your triad voicings. How to play over chords only using the pentatonic scale. From the c major scale, three pentatonic scales can be derived.
Each chord of the song could be analyzed in this way using various pentatonics starting from various scale degress,that one started from the 5. Learn to supercharge your blues solos by seamlessly switching. Apr 12, 2014 lets take the notes from a minor pentatonic and try to stick as closely as possible to the 57 formula for each new chord, rooted on each note of the scale. Just search open chords and pentatonic in the rp store. How to play the pentatonic scale beginner guitar hq.
Now its time to use that roadmap to play through one of the most common major key chord changes, involving the iv chord thats 4 chord if you dont know your roman numerals. The chords of the pentatonic scale are the same as the standard minor, so theyd be im, iiim, ivm, vm and vii. The pentatonic scale is the first scale any guitar player should learn. The notes a, c, and e also comprise the a minor triad chord. Thus, the pentatonic scale is a great place to start, because everything tends to sound great. For more chord progressions check out chords and progressions built of the natural minor scale. The pentatonic scale chose 5 from these notes and created another scale, this is why it is called penta. Minor pentatonic scale patterns one of the most commonly used scales in popular music today is the pentatonic scale which is a scale made up of 5 notes. The minor pentatonic scale has a minor third, which may clash with the chords minor third. The dominant 7th pentatonic translates to the locrian mode min7flat5 if you start the scale on a different note. Its a great scale because its fairly easy to play which makes it a perfect beginner scale for soloing, but it also has the functionality to develop, expand, and improve your skills. There are three ways youll want to learn your major pentatonic scale forms. Major pentatonic scales in open position closed mobile major pentatonic scales forms horizontal. Beginner basic question hereive watched a stack of online youtube videos about pentatonic scales.
The shapes of the major pentatonic scale are exactly the same as those of the minor pentatonic scale, except the root note is located else where. It also works around the minor 6 chord from the dorian mode which is a very sweet sounding pentatonic indeed. The minor pentatonic scale, the major pentatonic scale, the minor blues scale, the major blues scale, the voodoo blues scale, the indian pentatonic scale, the dominant pentatonic scale, and the dorian pentatonic scale for. The 2nd note of any minor pentatonic scale is the root of the relative major pentatonic scale. They are still used all over the world, for example traditional music, country music, blues and metal. Pdf pentatonic and blues scales for guitar download full. When the chord changes to iv, we can still play the root scale e. In the diagram below the first pentatonic scale pattern is shown together with four more patterns. In this clip, i use major and minor pentatonic scales that follow the chord progression to improvise a thoughtful and tasteful guitar solo. A minor pentatonic scale 1st position 5th fret the pentatonic scale is about as straightforward a scale as you can get. Use the form below to select one or more scales, hit go, and the harmonizer will tell you what chords will sound good when played with the selected scales.
C pentatonic works over those chords as well as am7, cmaj7. A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale originated in medieval europe that has seven notes per octave such as the major scale and minor scale. But did you know that its possible to transform these chords into. I will explain how each scale is connected if thought of in the correct order. Often, the easiest way to write a song is to begin with a chord progression. There we do have f, ab, bb, c, eb which is the f minor pentatonic scale. This is an introduction to the five basic pentatonic scales. Instead of using g dorian minor 7 pentatonic over the gm7, you could play d dorian minor pentatonic for a jazzier sound which omits the minor 3rd in favor of the 9th. There are a variety of ways to play the a minor pentatonic scale. For example, a common resolution sequence is ii v i 2 5 1, and while the root minor pentatonic scale of that key wouldnt work so comfortably over the ii chord, it would work nicely over the v and i or i chord.
In this video, ill show you 8 7th chords that you can play major and minor pentatonic scales over. In this case, the minor pentatonic scale contains the minor seventh, so that note sounds great. Later, you can start to add in more dissonance as you gain experience. Jan 21, 2017 in this lesson i show how you can use pentatonic scales to add interest and movement to basic chords. However, it also works over sequences of chords chord progressions. The benefit of this approach is that the root, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale are the 3 notes of the major chord. Note that a minor pentatonic has identical notes with c major pentatonic but in different order. Not bad for a scale thats two notes shy of a major scale. We start with two am7 voicingsone based on a 6thstring root and the other on a. The one pentatonic per chord approach to soloing over a. Still, this scales importance cannot be underestimated, as it is used in so many genres of music, from rock and blues to country and bluegrass. Chords that sound good with c major pentatonic scales. Even if you never learn another scale in your life, if you master the pentatonic lol scale, youll go far its that important.
In this lesson i show how you can use pentatonic scales to add interest and movement to basic chords. Play the major or major pentatonic scale based on the chord root. So, let us deconstruct this scale and look at the intervals that make up a minor pentatonic scale. Looking at it from the major scale, if you leave out the 4th and. Since most players are far more familiar with the minor pentatonic scale shapes, this is an easy cheat for getting the major pentatonic notes under your fingers. Cs relative minor pentatonic scale, a minor pentatonic, begins on the 6 th scale degree of the major pentatonic scale shown above. In essence your chords arent actually comprised of thirds, but of larger intervals, because the pentatonic scale cuts out some of the notes from the full scale, and youve skipped over these notes by using it. G major pentatonic guitar scales guitar scales chart.
The first scale you learn is the a minor pentatonic. Chord progressions for minor pentatonic soloing guitarhabits. Lets take the notes from a minor pentatonic and try to stick as closely as possible to the 57 formula for each new chord, rooted on each note of the scale. There are both pentatonic major and minor the minor is slightly more often used. D minor pentatonic has the same notes as f major pentatonic and so it goes. Chords that sound good with e minor pentatonic scales.