Home › Forums › Active Melody Guitar Lessons › Minor Pentatonic and relative Major solos
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July 8, 2012 at 1:25 pm #4103
If you are playing in the key of E major, i was always told that you cant play E minor pentatonic scale ie at the twelfth fret over a major chord. I see in your lesson you play at the twelfth fret then switch the the relative major position three frets up. Is this correct? And does that go for all Keys. ie playing in D at the 10th fret. Can you play the minor pentatonic over a D major chord progression then slide up three to the 7th Fret. Bm pentatonic scale?
Many Thanks
Jason
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July 10, 2012 at 7:59 pm #8173
Hey Jason, great question.. and yes this applies to all keys. So you can always jump to the relative major position from the current minor position by sliding 3 frets down the fretboard.
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July 11, 2012 at 9:11 am #8180
HI Brian
Jason and yourself lost me there?It was the part about relative minors.
I thought Jason was talking about playing E major pent (fret 8-11) then sliding uo to E minor pent (fret 12 – 15)
then he was talking about sliding down 3 frets to play the relative minor (DM =bm). I thought the relative minor was the same position that is If I play E major as above the relative minor (C#) uses the same notes but starts at a different root?Or Have I confused things more
Dr Silver
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July 12, 2012 at 1:04 am #8183
Pictures! We need pictures. Simple fretboard diagrams will suffice.
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July 12, 2012 at 3:02 pm #8184
Hi
Go here to the scalerator and seeWhat I have confused probably is with the word related
Am is the related minor for the key of C
C#m is the related minor for Ethe related minor pentatonic is THE SAME shape and position as the Major pentatonic its just the root (where you should start and end) is different (12th fret E fr E major prnt and 9th fret C#m Pent)
However, if you slide the E major shape up three frets it is now E minor pent (but not the related minor)
Dr Silver
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July 12, 2012 at 8:05 pm #8185
Yes, sorry i probably didn’t explain it to well. It made sense to me though. Yes you have got what i meant Dr Silver. It took me a while to get the whole relative major/minor thing, but now i have it. The Root note is the key, and the shape stays the same. What i wasn’t sure about is whether you could play the minor pen over a major chord progression. IE if you play E D A strumming pattern, could you play the Em pen over the top of that. I was always told you cant play a minor pen over a major chord. But researching i see that it works fine.
Landing on the root note is what matters. Really starting to make some sense after seeing the lesson on here. Just gotta get some good licks going now to add to what i have learnt!
Starting to understand the fret board more now. Think i am getting somewhere!!!!!!!Jason
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July 12, 2012 at 9:23 pm #8186
Hey Jason, you can absolutely play a minor pentatonic scale over a major chord – it will just make it sound bluesy. So if I’m strumming E, D, A – super happy major sounding chords.. but then another guitar player starts playing a minor pentatonic scale over that (in the key of E), it will make those happy chords sound super bluesy – try it and you’ll see what I mean.
Glad it’s starting to click with you – the blues lead guitar course that I sell on here walks you through that and gives you 43 different licks 🙂
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July 13, 2012 at 1:27 am #8189
43 licks –I wish!
I just about have time to do my chores–never mind fun
But at least I am learning other bits as I romp through the forum in between work
Dr Silver
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July 13, 2012 at 2:07 pm #8191
Thanks Brian,
Yep it sure does. Cant believe it. All this time i have only been playing the relative minor of a major. IE Bm pen over a D major. Now i am starting to play with a whole range of chord progressions using both major & minor pen. Your right what other scales do you really need!
As for your blues course, I have seen it on here and may well give it a bash………. will add it to my wish list 🙂Jason
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July 13, 2012 at 4:31 pm #8192
Just try not to get too bogged down in theoretical stuff and let your ear tell you what works and what doesn’t. You’ll find all kinds of cool stuff that you can do – here’s one for you guys to try. So say your’e playing lead in a 12 bar blues in the key of A. The chord progression is A, D, E …. so you’re playing a blues solo in the key of A.. thus utilizing the A minor pentatonic scale, now at the part where the chord switches to the E, play the E minor pentatonic scale.. just over that one chord. Very cool effect. I hear that done w/ blues players from time to time. It gives you a very powerful effect. You wouldn’t want to do it EVERY time, the chord switches.. but occasionally it’s really nice.
You could also use that same technique to play the D minor pentatonic scale when then chord switches to the D part. 🙂 Try it out
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July 16, 2012 at 3:14 pm #8202
Nice tip. Yep i will give it a try. To late for the theory. I really did get myself confused to the point where i was just learning stuff!!!
Now though i find it all starting to come together, and really clicking. I have a Boss loop pedal and have put some basis 12 bar blues progressions in different keys, and then playing the minor / major pen over the top. Really cool. I will see if i can add your tip into my playing. 🙂
Question…… your blues course. I assume the licks and backing tracks can be used with the pen scale? Now that i have cracked it i need some classic licks to play. Will the course help me to move on my playing now i have the pen down?Jason
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July 17, 2012 at 6:34 pm #8212
Yep, now that you have the pentatonic scale down, the blues course covers that, but also gives you 43 different licks that you can use within that scale. I even show how to play those same licks across different styles and different keys… to help drive home the point.
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