Why does Brian use E major and E minor pentatonics over this progression?

[Luca]

Hi,

I was brushing up an old lesson (LEG0027)

Eric Clapton Style Blues Guitar Lesson – LEG027

Brian says that the key is “E” and he’s choosing notes from E major pentatonic and E minor pentatonic, but the chords of the backing track seem to be:

Verse: G A D A
Bridge: A G A G E

or something like that…

Two problems:

1) can anyone tell me if those are the right chords (the tabs only show the lead part, no chords in it)

2) if they are indeed those, why does Brian apply E major and E minor pentatonics? Why the “E” pentatonics maj and min are supposed to work? And why in the world should D and G chords be part of the keyof “E”? I know a bit of theory (borrowed chords and stuffs like that. So theoretical explanation are VERY welcome). If they (D major and G major) are borrowed chords, shouldn’t they clash somehow with the E pentatonic?

Some help? Some idea? Thank you in advance. Maybe an important point is that he switches to the E minor pentatonic over the Bridge: that’s why there are no sour/clashing notes over “A”, “G” and “E” chords. But anyway, waiting for some exchange of ideas.

Luca

[JoLa]

Hi Luca,

I am by far not an expert here but it seems like there is one simple explanation to all your questions – you got the chords (partially) wrong. As Brian mentions at the beginning, the song is in the key of E.

Try playing along the track with verse: E A D E bridge: A B (these chords work for me)

So in the key of E, the only odd ball would be D, although it may not be that odd because D note is part of the E minor pentatonic scale and also the note we add to E chord to make it E7. I will also note that all major chord progressions like that are pretty common in rock music, they “just work” 🙂

There are some folks here really good at theory so I’m sure they will provide a much better explanation.

🎸JoLa

[Mark H]

JoLa wrote:

Hi Luca,

I am by far not an expert here but it seems like there is one simple explanation to all your questions – you got the chords (partially) wrong. As Brian mentions at the beginning, the song is in the key of E.

Try playing along the track with verse: E A D E bridge: A B (these chords work for me)

So in the key of E, the only odd ball would be D, although it may not be that odd because D note is part of the E minor pentatonic scale and also the note we add to E chord to make it E7. I will also note that all major chord progressions like that are pretty common in rock music, they “just work” 🙂

There are some folks here really good at theory so I’m sure they will provide a much better explanation.

Agreed. When determining key I find it helpful to count into the first beat of the bar, i.e. one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-… play.

Re the quick change to D, I also agree with your analysis. It’s the dominant 7th in the blues scale and also the differentiator in the mixolydian scale, so of course it’s gonna sound great.

I hope I haven’t confused the issue, just ask if you’d like clarification and I’ll do my best.

[Jean-Michel G]

Hi Luca,
JoLa is absolutely correct: the chord progression is indeed E A D A
The tonal center is E, but the key is E Mixolydian, not E Major. This is a very common key in folk and rock music.

The scale of that key is E F# G# A B C# D; note the flatted 7th degree compared to the Major scale.
So, the chord progression above is I IV bVII IV, which is one of the most frequent progressions in basic rock.

The obvious scale to improvise over that progression would be E Mixolydan (the scale above), but E Major pentatonic (E F# G# B C#) will obviously also work. E Minor pentatonic (E G A B D) also works because the clash between the minor third and the major third creates the blues context.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
JM

[Luca]

Thank you.

Anyway, JoLa I’m not sure there’s any B chord in the bridge… and Chordify ain’t either: I’ve posted the backing track on youtube (it’s a secret link (you find it only by typing/following the link I’ve posted below – and anyway after this discussion I’ll remove the backing track from Youtube immediately… It’s just for the purpose of this topic):

https://bit.ly/3bNj6Iv

Chordify (which identifies chords from any mp3) thinks that the progression goes like that:

VERSE: (quick)E / A / (quick)D / A
BRIDGE: just A chord (and I would say “A” plus a quick picking of “G” note every 4 measures)

So the only odd chord would be “D major”, but I think that it happens too fast to generate problems by (potentially) clashing with some notes of the E major. Is this also a possible explanation?

[Jean-Michel G]

Luca wrote:

Thank you.
Anyway, JoLa I’m not sure there’s any B chord in the bridge… and Chordify ain’t either:

Chordify is not infallible ^-^

Luca wrote:

So the only odd chord would be “D major”, but I think that it happens too fast to generate problems by (potentially) clashing with some notes of the E major. Is this also a possible explanation?

No. There is no odd chord in this progression… but you have to interpret it correctly.
Please look at the attached PNG. See how each bar begins with an A chord? That and the other chords in the progression seem to point to a progression in A Major. More specifically: [A D A E].
However, when you listen to that progression, the home chord clearly appears to be E, not A.
Moreover, Brian plays E Major pentatonic, not A Major pentatonic, thereby reinforcing the fact that the tonal center is E, not A.

There is no D chord in E Major, so the key can’t be E Major.
But as I said, E Mixolydian (which happens to be the fifth mode of A Major, by the way) offers a D chord, ready for use.

Here are the chords in the E Mixolydian key: E F#m G#° A Bm C#m D
Comparing them with those of E Major key we have: I ii iii° IV v vi bVII
So this progression must be written: IV bVII IV I

[Luca]

TYVM for the deep explanation, I understand everything.

However, Brian seems to rely only on E major pentatonic and E minor pentatonic, even when the D chord pops up: Is it “legit” to solo just with E minor and E major pentatonic – ignoring the E mixolydian scale – altough the progression is in “E mixolydian”? If the answer is “yes, it’s completely fine”, I’ll be fine too and free to go back to my guitar. (If so, please take two minutes to explain why, if you want. I would be grateful) 🙂

[Luca]

Jean-Michel G wrote:

Everything is legit in music, as long as it sounds good 😉

More seriously:
The Mixolydian scale is E F# G# A B C# D.
The E Major pentatonic scale is E F# G# B C# – all the notes fit, obviously.
The E Minor pentatonic scale is E G A B D – all the notes fit, except G
Now combine the two pentatonic scales, and you get E F# {G G#} A B C# D – that’s the blues scale!
As you can see, the blues scale is a Mixolydian scale in which the 3rd is ambiguous, somewhere between the minor third and the major third.

Having said that, there is no black magic here.
If you had a simple progression such as: C C F C G, it would be perfectly OK to use the C Major Pentatonic scale, even when the F chord pops up.

I really appreciate, thank you. <3

[Jean-Michel G]

Everything is legit in music, as long as it sounds good 😉

More seriously:
The Mixolydian scale is E F# G# A B C# D.
The E Major pentatonic scale is E F# G# B C# – all the notes fit, obviously.
The E Minor pentatonic scale is E G A B D – all the notes fit, except G
Now combine the two pentatonic scales, and you get E F# {G G#} A B C# D – that’s the blues scale!
As you can see, the blues scale is a Mixolydian scale in which the 3rd is ambiguous, somewhere between the minor third and the major third.

Having said that, there is no black magic here.
If you had a simple progression such as: C C F C G, it would be perfectly OK to use the C Major Pentatonic scale, even when the F chord pops up.

[charjo]

Hi Luca,
Like J-M said, that I-IV-bVII is such a rock sound and our ears are so used to hearing major and minor pentatonic riffs over that, such that it always sounds good. The E myxolydian brings in the A and D notes that can be used as chord tones over the A and D chords but even without that all those notes that don’t fit are mostly used as passing tones in riffs that usually resolve to the E tonic. One thing I really like about Brian’s lead is how the E minor pentatonic over the repeating A chord creates a strange tension the resolves in such a satisfying way when the main chord riff and E major pentatonic kick back in.
John

[Author]

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