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Hello all,
i’ve got a (simple) question.
In case I play a blues in A in a standard I,IV, V progression, do I have to switch the used pentatonic when i change between the I, IV and V chord?
For example: when I use the I chord I play a lick out of the A pentatonic, do I have to switch to the E pentatonic while playing the V chord?And Second question:
When if got a blues lick, how do I know in which key it is?Thanks in advance and greetings from Germany
Marc -
Hi Marc,
It’s a good question. The 1, 4, 5 major blues is actually using the three keys from which each dominant 7th chord belongs (dominant chord is the 5th chord in a key). The beauty of the minor pentatonic scale is that it is a reasonably good fit for all the chords and one that our ears are very used to. So you can definitely play the minor pentatonic, of the root of the 1 chord, over the whole progression. In fact, changing minor pentatonics with each chord doesn’t really sound that good.
There are other options available. You could play the major pentatonic over the 1 chord, and the same key, minor pentatonic over the 4 and 5 chord. You could play a mixed major/minor pentatonic lick over the 1 chord. You could use dominant chord arpeggio shapes to find the appropriate chord tones over each dominant chord and mix in pentatonic licks. You could play the myxolydian mode and switch scales for each chord. You can add the minor third interval to the myxolydian to get a myxo-dorian mode and switch with each chord. Lots to keep us busy at each stage of learning.
For a minor blues, you would strictly play the minor pentatonic or full minor scale over the whole progression (even here there are some different options, depending on the chords).
A blues lick will often start or resolve to the root of the scale being used but that’s not always true. Often you can see where the lick arises from, ie. box 1 minor pentatonic and the root of that box would be the key. Maybe others will have helpful suggestions for this question.
John -
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Hi Marc,
that’s really a good question and, in my opinion, a very essential one. I completely agree with John And Steve.
If you are playing a I, IV, V progression. (let’s assume A7, D7 and E7) you could stay in A min pentatonic, but that would’nt sound very interesting. What’s essential, IMHO, is to point out the chord changes in your solo, so that you get the listener’s attention. For instance you could tweak the 3rd of the I-Chord from C to C#, which indicates, your playing major (pentatonic) scale, or to play the flat 7th over the IV-Chord, which btw is the min 3rd of the I-Chord, therefore you could play minor pentatonic over the IV-Chord. It’s always a good idea to play and to point out those notes, which are within the chords.
Brian has some good lessons regarding the mixing of major and minor pentatonics. I have also shared a video on that stuff. Here’s the link:Another Approach To Mixing Major An Minor Pentatonics (EP276)
Hope that helps a little bit.
EricPS: I’m from Germany, too, living in the “Ruhrgebiet”-Area.
Eric
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I agree thereof too, one LESSON i RECALL.. anytime you see 7th chords just use the mixolydian .. it goes good with dominant 7th chords.. it is the major scale with a flat 7 is all it is! why it works,,just research it.Think Brian did a lesson mixing mixolydian with minor or even major pentatonic scale but the mixolydian scale is THE major scale with a flatted 7.. just remember that when practicing
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It’s a good, perennial question, Marc.
As I see it, there’s two approaches to improvising; first, you can just use the same scale to solo over the whole progression (like using A minor pentatonic over the whole I, IV, V progression in the key of A minor) or you can adapt to the changing chords.This second approach, usually known as “playing the changes” is more challenging because you’re not really changing keys as the chords change, so you have to be careful which notes or scales work or don’t with each passing chord (because you’re still in the original key).
There’s a whole universe of lessons and videos and instructional material on playing the changes, and it can be mind numbing. The simplest way to play the changes with some confidence is to stick to the CHORD TONES of the passing chords rather than using different scales.
For the most part I stick to the first approach, trying soar over the changes using the same scale. If the song is in A minor then I’ll stick to A minor pentatonic or A natural minor. But I’ll try to target chord tones of the passing chords as they hit, without really changing scales.
I’ve spent a lifetime working on your question. -
Thank you all for your answers!
Great to hear that I can just use my minor pentatonic for the whole progession!
I see there will be some more opportunities to challenge me in case i will “finish” one pentatonic 😉Ps: ich bin aus Essen;)
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